Industry is often termed ''hard to decarbonize'' because a vast, inhomogeneous array of processes comprise the sector. But developing new, decarbonized process heating technologies represents a single, broadly applicable pathway to eliminating a large portion of sectoral emissions-and approximately one-fifth of global CO 2 emissions, overall. We begin this perspective with a brief review of the demand for and cost of industrial heat. Then, we highlight key challenges and R&D needs in developing zero-carbon industrial heating technologies. Technologies in four pathways are discussed:(1) zero-carbon fuels, (2) zero-carbon heat sources, (3) electrification of heat, and (4) better heat management. Finally, we identify crosscutting challenges to the development and adoption of zero-carbon industrial heat technologies, the solution to any of which would constitute a significant breakthrough on the path to industrial decarbonization.
The thermochemical conversion of biomass via gasification offers a promising approach to producing fungible substitutes for petroleum-derived fuels and chemicals. The kinetic study of the gas-phase reactions of biomass gasification is key to understanding fluidized bed biomass gasification (FBBG). Under typical operating conditions for air-blown FBBG (700−1000 °C), tars exist in the product gas in significant quantities (2−50 g/Nm 3 ). Predicting the formation and evolution of tars in a FBBG reactor model is particularly important as they introduce several operational and cleanup challenges in practice. However, such predictions require implementation of detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms due to the large number of species and competing conversion pathways involved. A detailed gas-phase mechanism has been proposed by the CRECK modeling group at Politecnico di Milano encompassing the secondary pyrolysis, cracking, and oxidation reactions of the devolatilization species of biomass, as well as the oxidation and combustion reactions of the resultant gas-phase hydrocarbon species. In this work, a one-dimensional reactor network model (RNM) of an air-blown fluidized bed gasifier utilizing this detailed chemistry model is developed and validated for the prediction of major gas-phase species and tar compounds. It is found that this RNM is able to accurately predict the syn-gas production and total tar concentration given a modification of water gas shift and/or CO oxidation kinetics to account for catalytic effects of the biomass ash and char. Additionally, validation of the predicted tar composition is attempted against available experimental measurements. Good agreement is achieved for single-ring aromatic and oxygenated tar compounds, while it is found that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are underpredicted by more than an order of magnitude. Finally, the conversion pathways of representative devolatilization products of biomasslevoglucosan, xylofuranose, and p-coumarylare analyzed in the context of syn-gas and tar formation routes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.