The EU is aiming for a 20% cut in Europe's annual primary energy consumption by 2020, where in 2010, 25% (292 Mtoe) was by industrial users (EC Eurostat, 2012). The work of the SETIS Technology Map on energy efficiency and CO2 reduction in industry has to date been to focus specifically on three energy-
intensive industries, which between them accounted for almost 43% of the EU-27’s final energy consump- tion within industry in 2010: cement, iron & steel, and pulp & paper.
Each of these industries has now developed a roadmap modelling different scenarios as to how to in- crease energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions with reference to best available technologies and in
comparison to high efficiency reference plants:
• For the cement industry, the results show that, by implementing technological improvements available, a thermal energy improvement of around 10% is possible between 2006 and 2030. This corresponds to a decrease of about 4% in CO2 emissions from clinker manufacture. However, the
results are relatively insensitive to higher CO2 and fuel prices, indicating the large number of eco-
nomically feasible retro-fits already available (EC, 2010b).
• For the iron and steel industry, the modelling identified large improvements possible for both primary and secondary steel production routes. For primary steel a reduction of 14-21% of CO2
emissions is possible, with a reduction of around 11% available within secondary steel produc- tion. These equate to an energy reduction of around 10%. Higher CO2 and fuel prices could moti-
vate further reductions to some extent (EC, 2012a).
• For pulp and paper, the results of the modelling show that a reduction of 50-60% of CO2 emis- sions is possible by 2050 - given the right circumstances regarding investment patterns and avail- able and emerging technologies. However, to achieve an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions, break-
through technologies will have to be developed and available for implementation by 2030 (CEPI, 2011).
The following sub-sections provide a summary of the initiatives and interventions available for each industry. Many of these include retro-fits, site specific interventions, alternative fuels and materials, and emerging technologies, which are not currently available. Due to the more piecemeal nature of these interventions, and consequently the lack of an appropriate scenario to model, the results are more de- scriptive than quantitative. Nonetheless the research conducted did not identify a reliance on critical or scarce materials. Instead the technologies appear to be making use of more common materials such as aluminium, copper, stainless steel, plastics etc. Many of these materials have been identified in other technologies and have therefore been captured elsewhere in the analysis.
3.9.1 Cement industry
For the cement industry, the main processes identified include: • decrease of the proportion of clinker in cement • use of alternative fuels
• site-specific energy efficiency measures • deployment of CCS
• fluidised bed technologies.
The first two processes are defined as co-processing, i.e. utilising waste products within the cement production process. The benefits of this are reducing the raw material and fuel requirements of cement production and reducing the associated emissions; as well as improving the competitiveness of the indus- try. On the substitution towards alternative fuels and materials, CEMBUREAU the European Association reports the following progress (Table 49):
• On alternative fuels, the European cement industry used the energy equivalent of approximately 26Mt of coal in 2006 for the production of cement. This represented a substitution rate of 18%
across Europe away from fossil fuels (CEMBUREAU, 2009). A significant proportion of these alter- native fuels were waste materials that might otherwise have been destined for incineration of landfill. By incorporating these alternative fuels the calorific value of the waste is utilised in the production process, as well as being effectively decomposed through the high burning condi- tions. In addition, the ash generated can be used as an alternative raw material in the production of clinker. If current trends continue for the use of alternative fuels these could amount to CO2
reductions of 18Mt CO2 by 2020 and 23.5 Mt of CO2 by 2030 (EC, 2011c).
• On alternative raw materials an estimated 14.5Mt per year were utilised in the production of cement, representing a substitution rate of approximately 5% of the total raw materials (CEM- BUREAU, 2009). These alternative raw materials include contaminated soil, coal fly ash and blast furnace slag. The effect of using these raw materials is to reduce the need for the quarrying of traditional raw materials such as clay, shale and limestone; hence reducing the environmental footprint of these activities. On the reduction of clinker content within cement, the JRC technolo- gy map estimates that if these trends continue these could amount to CO2 reductions of 4.7 MT
CO2 by 2020 and 8.0 MT of CO2 by 2030 (EC, 2011c).
As for site-specific energy efficiency measures these incorporate a wide range of possible activities, (EC, 2010c) some of which will include improved process control, alternative fuels and raw materials (covered above), co-generation or combined heat and power (see Section 3.5) and carbon capture and storage (also covered elsewhere). Fluidised bed technology is currently being researched as a potential break- through technology, although it is possible deployment is considered to be relatively far in the future.
Table 49: EU cement co-processing Type of co-processing Average EU
substitution rate
Alternative fuels 18%
Alternative raw materials 5% Alternative constituents 12%
Source: CEMBUREAU, 2009
This review of energy efficiency in the cement industry therefore did not identify any particular role for critical metals, but rather a continuation of best practice in the industry.
3.9.2 Iron and steel industry
For the iron and steel industry, the main sub-technologies identified include: • integrated production – dissemination of BAT
• electric arc furnaces, direct-reduced iron and smelting reduction • ultra-low CO2 steelmaking (ULCOS).
The dissemination of BATs for integrated steel production focuses in the following areas: • Improved and optimised systems to achieve smooth and stable processing by using:
o process control optimisation including computer-based automatic control systems o modern, gravimetric solid fuel feed systems
o preheating, to the greatest extent possible, considering the existing process configura- tion.
• Recovering excess heat from processes, especially from their cooling zones. • Optimised steam and heat management e.g. CHP, insulation and heat recovery. • Applying process integrated reuse of sensible heat as much as possible.
Alternative production processes such as electric arc furnaces have significantly lower energy use (by around 80%); however, their adoption is limited by the availability of scrap. In 2011 42% of steel produc- tion in Europe was from electric arc furnaces (up from 40% in 2007), (EUROFER, 2012). Worldwide post- consumer steel recovery rates were at 83% with industry targets steel recovery of 90% for 2050 (Table 50).
Table 50: Post-consumer steel product recovery rates and targets by sector
Sector Recovery rate 2007 (%) Recovery rate 2050 (%) Life cycle in years Construction 85 90 40-70 Automotive 85 90 7-15 Machinery 90 95 10-20
Electrical & domestic appliances 50 65 4-10
Weighted global average 83 90 N/A
Source: World Steel Association, 2012
The European steel industry has embarked on a co-operative R&D initiative to enable drastic reduction of at least 50% carbon dioxide emissions from steel production. Four processes are currently being demon- strated, although commercial deployment in not expected until the late 2020s (World Steel Association, 2012):
• ULCOS-BF process – top gas recycling in combination with CCS: Blast furnace top gas recycling re- lies on separation of the top gas so that the useful components can be recycled into the furnace as a reducing agent. The CO2 is captured and stored.
• ULCOWIN: Alkaline electrolysis of iron ore: Electrolysis is commonly used to produce metals oth- er than steel and requires large amounts of electricity. The process would depend on a CO2-lean
electricity source such as hydro or nuclear power.
• ULCORED - advanced Direct Reduction in combination with CCS: Direct-reduced iron is produced from the direct reduction of iron ore by a reducing gas produced from natural gas.
• ULCOS Smelting reduction (HIsarna) in combination with CCS: Hlsarna combines a melting cy- clone for ore melting and a liquid-bath smelter vessel for final ore reduction and hot metal pro- duction. It produces fairly pure CO2, which can be captured allowing for major CO2 reductions.
Construction of the HIsarna pilot plant was completed in 2011 and hot commissioning began the same year at Ijmuiden in the Netherlands at an 8 tonne/hour scale.
3.9.3 Pulp and paper industry
For the pulp and paper industry, the main sub-technologies identified include: • CHP generation (covered in Section 3.5)
• use of recycled fibres in integrated paper production
• innovative drying technologies and mechanical pulping optimisation • bio-route: integrated bio-refinery complexes.
On the use of recycled fibres, recovered paper and board has increased considerably over the past two decades and recovered paper now represents around 44% of the total raw materials in the industry. This corresponds to the increasing EU recycling rates of paper and board, which have increased from 52% in 2000 to a current level of around 70% in 2010. These recycling rates are the highest of any geographic region anywhere in the world (CEPI, 2011).
A number of site-specific type energy-saving measures are possible such as CHP (covered in Section 3.5), innovative drying technologies and mechanical pulp optimisation:
Electricity consumption has fallen in the industry by 6% since 2010, with direct CO2 emission hav-
ing fallen by 20% and indirect emissions by a third over the same period.
• Leading machine supplier, Metso, advertise various energy saving techniques for installation (Metso, 2012):
o Process optimizer for the automation of mechanical pulping with the effect of reducing fibre property variation, increasing production volumes and an energy saving of up to 5% o PowderDry dryers designed for high drying capacity. These high intensity and energy ef-
ficient air dryers can lead a reduction of 50% in energy consumption
o New generation refiners for paper and board stock preparation to replace two existing traditional refiners and deliver 40% savings in electrical energy.
Figure 4 shows the industry pathway for CO2 emissions reduction by 2050. Much of the immediate reduc-
tions are based on the interventions mentioned above. After 2030, breakthrough technologies such as integrated bio-refinery complexes are expected to make a contribution.
Figure 4: EU pulp and paper industry CO2 emissions reduction projection 1990 - 2050 (in million tonnes)
Source: CEPI, 2011