The Department of Energy, publishing the roadmap, also announced $104m funding to advance industrial decarbonisation.
Industry represents 30% of US primary energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, equating to 1,360MT in 2020.
Petroleum refining, chemicals, iron and steel, cement, and food and beverage are the ‘big five’ emitters, representing just over half of energy-related CO2 emissions and 15% of economy-wide emissions.
Chemical manufacturing will need to electrify processes and use hydrogen, biomass, or waste as fuel and feedstocks for manufacturing, the roadmap states.
Most US refinery CO2 emissions are from five large energy-consuming processes: hydrocracking, atmospheric distillation, catalytic cracking, steam methane reforming, and regenerative catalytic reforming.
To achieve net zero goals, the petroleum refining sector can embrace clean hydrogen or biofuels, and capture CO2 for either long-term storage or utilisation.
Iron and steel, one of the most energy-intensive sectors, should transition to lower-carbon fuels and pilot demonstrations for transformative technologies such as hydrogen-steel production, electrolysis of iron ore, and CCUS.
Advancing electrification of process heating, evaporation and pasteurisation processes can improve energy efficiency of the food and beverage sector.
Key recommendations include advancing early stage R&D, investing in multiple process strategies, scaling demonstrations, addressing process heating, integrating solutios and conducting modelling and systems analyses.
The industrial sector is among the most difficult to decarbonise. In 2021, it accounted for one third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions—more than the annual emissions of 631m gasoline-fueled passenger vehicles.
The decarbonisation drive builds on the $62bn Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act ($10bn for clean energy manufacturing tax credits and $5.8bn for industrial facilities).
Linde plans to more than double its green liquid hydrogen production capacity in the US, with a new 35MW plant in Niagara Falls, New York. Click here for more details.