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Assessing the potential of decarbonization options for industrial sectors
Open accessAbstract
Industry emits around a quarter of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper presents the first comprehensive review to identify the main decarbonization options for this sector and their abatement potentials. First, we identify the important GHG emitting processes and establish a global average baseline for their current emissions intensity and energy use. We then quantify the energy and emissions reduction potential of the most significant abatement options, as well as their technology readiness level (TRL). We find that energy-intensive industries have a range of decarbonization technologies available with medium to high TRLs, and mature options also exist for decarbonizing low-temperature heat across a wide range of industrial sectors. However, electrification and novel process change options to reduce emissions from high-temperature and sector-specific processes have much lower TRLs in comparison. We conclude by highlighting important barriers to the deployment of industrial decarbonization options and identifying future research, development, and demonstration needs.
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“The economic viability of electrifying process heat, haul trucks, processing equipment, and hydrogen use also heavily depends on electricity prices. 21”
From Decarbonizing lithium-ion battery primary raw materials supply chain (2024) · cites this paper as [21]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Gailani, A., Cooper, S., Allen, S., Pimm, A., Taylor, P., & Gross, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Leeds (GB)
- UK Energy Research Centre (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Gailani, Ahmed
- Venue
- Joule
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2024-03
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 576-603
- ISSN
- 2542-4351 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4391406497
- Cited by
- 146
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 64 · 2025: 67 · 2024: 15
- FWCI
- 9.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Joule (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Natural Environment Research Council
- UK Research and Innovation
- UK Energy Research Centre
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/R035288/1, EP/S029575/1)
- Economic and Social Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Energy Efficiency and Management
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Metals and Alloys › Iron and Steelmaking Processes
- Keywords
- industrial decarbonization, greenhouse gas emissions, technology readiness level, energy-intensive industries, low-temperature heat, electrification, process change, high-temperature processes, emission intensity, energy consumption, deployment barriers
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