Innovations in Hightemperature Processes: Paving the Way for a Climate-Neutral Industrial Site in Germany
Düsseldorf Cooking steel melting glass and burning cement: The particularly hot processes of the German industry operate at temperatures of up to 2000 degrees Celsius. This consumes a lot of energy, which mainly comes from fossil sources such as oil, gas, and coal. This contradicts Germany's goals to become a climate-neutral industrial site by 2045 and leads to a paradox: Without the hot production processes, an energy transition is not possible. Antoine Koen, Cleantech Analyst at the Thinktank Future Cleantech Architects (FCA), explains, 'We cannot achieve the energy transition without high-temperature heat.' The processes are necessary to produce the cement for the concrete foundations of wind turbines, the steel for the towers of wind turbines, and the silicon for solar cells. Glass, steel, and cement cannot be avoided; the three climate culprits must become CO2-neutral as quickly as possible. However, the hotter the process, the fewer mature green technologies are currently suitable for it. Yet, there is great potential to reduce emissions in high-temperature processes. Heat production accounts for 50% of global final energy consumption according to calculations by the FCA. So far, a quarter of this comes from renewable sources, which are not CO2-neutral in this case. The climate-friendly quarter does not come from wind or solar power but mainly from the use of biomass, which is burned to generate energy, releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In addition, the large remainder is supplied by using fossil fuels. As a result, industrial heat production constitutes 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, totaling 8.5 gigatons per year. Companies and startups have developed innovations throughout the entire value chain to counteract climate change. Promising procedures have been presented to make the three biggest CO2 emitters in the industry go green now.
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