Public-Private Partnerships Spur Decarbonization Efforts

Government programs, such as the Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP) in the U.S., are helping to advance commercial-scale decarbonization strategies including thermal energy storage, CO₂ utilization and electrification

As the world continues to grapple with climate change, companies’ strategies for managing carbon emissions, adapting to regulatory changes, and transitioning to a low-carbon economy are becoming key indicators of resilience and competitiveness. Decarbonization — the phasing out of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the industrial sector — has emerged as a critical aspect of future business operations in sectors like the chemical process industries (CPI). With wide diversity in its energy inputs and processes, the CPI occupy a unique position: they are simultaneously drivers of the transition to low-carbon energy, producing chemicals and materials that enable other clean-energy industries to decarbonize, while also working to incorporate decarbonization strategies in their own manufacturing operations.

The progress of the Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP) — administered by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE; Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov) — provides examples of how governmental funding support is helping to spur large-scale industrial decarbonization projects across the CPI. While the IDP is only one part of a wider movement, the projects highlight several approaches that are likely to be important to expanding decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors in the future: thermal energy storage; use of waste carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a feedstock; and electrification of process-heat technologies.

Public-private partnerships

This spring, the DoE announced the selection of 33 projects for IDP award negotiations using $6.3 billion in program funding. Funded by U.S. legislation (the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act), the IDP projects are structured as collaborative public-private partnerships in which the selected projects are eligible for a federal cost share of up to 50% of the project cost (non-federal cost share must be at least 50% of the total). According to a DoE spokesperson, IDP projects are aimed at four overarching goals: “deep decarbonization (50–75% emissions reduction per project); timeliness (performance period this decade); market viability (spur follow-on investment in lower-embodied carbon goods); and community benefits (greatest benefit for the most people).” The projects feature a range of approaches to decarbonization, including energy efficiency, industrial electrification, low-carbon fuels, feedstock changes, energy sources including clean hydrogen, material efficiency or substitution, carbon capture utilization and storage, and others.

The goal is to advance deep-decarbonization technologies to technology readiness level (TRL) 9 by the projects’ end, DoE says. Negotiations between the DoE and the selected companies are currently in progress.

A table showing all 33 selected projects under the IDP can be found below.

Thermal energy storage

Recycling of plastic waste has emerged as a central theme of industrial sustainability, but to make a large impact on industrial GHG emissions, the energy required for the recycling process needs to be reduced as well. One of the IDP projects is an example of this. The Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Recycling Decarbonization Project, led by Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.; www.eastman.com), plans to construct a first-of-a-kind molecular-recycling facility in Longview, Tex. capable of taking products that are typically landfilled or incinerated, like polyester trays, colored and opaque bottles and polyester fabrics and turning them into virgin-quality PET — a material that is heavily used for packaging, film and fiber applications. The facility plans to use thermal energy storage, powered by on-site solar power, to decarbonize process heating operations by storing heat for use in the process, such as heating heat-transfer fluids and heating boilers (lowering the need for natural gas).

This will result in a product with 70% lower carbon intensity than fossil-derived virgin PET, and approximately a 90% reduction when including avoided incineration emissions, Eastman says. The thermal battery technology at this scale represents a cross-cutting opportunity to electrify and decarbonize high-temperature process heat across industry sectors, DoE says.

Chris Layton, director of sustainability, specialty plastics, at Eastman explains that the company’s molecular recycling process for polyesters, including PET, uses a methanolysis process, where methanol is used as a reactant to convert PET into the monomers dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) and ethylene glycol. The monomers yielded by plastic waste are purified before repolymerizing them into plastics that are indistinguishable from those originating directly from petroleum, Layton says.

The process can tolerate some contaminants, such as polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene, but works ideally with 95+%-pure PET. Finished PET from recycled plastics result in 20-30% lower greenhouse gas emissions than making the plastics from petroleum, mostly from the elimination of the need to extract, transport and refine the petroleum. Eastman’s methanolysis technology stems from process technology first developed to recycle X-ray film from the company’s earlier history in films and photography.

In April, Eastman announced the Longview site, as well as another facility in the Normandy region of France. Both facilities will eventually produce about 110,000 metric tons per year of PET from recycled PET waste. Eastman currently uses the methanolysis process for recycling bottles at its Kingsport facility (Figure 1).

The new facilities with the thermal energy storage technologies are currently in the engineering phase and are expected to come online in 2027 (Texas) and 2028 (France). Layton says that the decarbonization of process heating at the new facilities will lower the CO₂ generation from 2.2 kg of CO₂ per kg of PET resin produced (at Eastman’s original PET-recycling facility at Kingsport) to about 0.6 kg CO₂ per kg of PET resin produced. The DoE OCED grant of up to $375 million (the total is still being negotiated) will be used to accelerate the scaling of the thermal battery technology.

The recycled PET feedstock for the plants will come from local regions, in an approach Layton calls regional circularity, both from local materials recovery centers (MRFs), as well as waste from other PET recyclers, and polyester fibers from carpet recycling efforts, such as those in California. The PET recycling plants have already secured offtake agreements with beverage companies like Pepsi-Co, Layton says.

Several other examples of IDP projects using heat storage for decarbonization include the following:

ISP Chemicals, LLC, an Ashland Company (Wilmington, Del.; www.ashland.com). ISP leads the Chemical Production Electrification and Heat Storage project, along with the Tennessee Valley Authority (www.tva.com) and Electrified Thermal Solutions (ETS; Medford, Mass.; www.electrifiedthermal.com). The project’s intent is to replace natural gas boilers with electric heat delivered with a thermal battery, reducing GHG emissions associated with steam generation by nearly 70% at Ashland’s Calvert City, Ky. chemical plant. This project intends to demonstrate electrification with thermal heat storage using ETS’s Joule Hive system. The Joule Hive is based on electrically conductive bricks made from a proprietary alumina chromium material that is subjected to doping techniques to increase electrical conductivity. The bricks can achieve near flame temperatures while resisting oxidative breakdown. The project is designed to demonstrate the ability to navigate current challenges with electrification of high-temperature thermal processes, including reliability, efficiency improvements, and the ability to leverage affordable off-peak electricity rates for a 24/7 operation, DoE says.

Kraft Heinz. The Delicious Decarbonization Through Integrated Electrification and Energy Storage project, led by Kraft Heinz (Chicago, Ill.; www.kraftheinzcompany.com), plans to upgrade, electrify, and decarbonize its process heat at 10 facilities by applying a range of technologies including heat pumps, electric heaters, and electric boilers in combination with biogas boilers, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, and thermal energy storage. The company expects that the tailored application of these technologies at each facility will reduce overall energy use by 23% and natural gas use by 97%, leading to a reduction in annual CO₂ emissions by more than 300,000 metric tons.

Diageo Americas Supply Inc. In the Heat Batteries for Deep Decarbonization of the Beverage Industry project, Diageo Americas Supply, Inc. (New York; www.diageo.com) plans to partner with Rondo Energy Inc. (Alameda, Calif.; www.rondo.com) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, Colo.; www.nrel.gov) to replace natural gas-fired heat with Rondo Heat Batteries powered by onsite renewable energy and electric boilers at facilities in Shelbyville, Ky. and Plainfield, Ill. Rondo’s heat batteries use wind or solar power to heat electric heating elements and warm surrounding bricks and store the energy for days with heat losses of less than 1% per day (Figure 2). This project will demonstrate an industrial-heat-and-power model system that could be replicated in many other sectors, as well as food and beverage more broadly, Rondo says. These upgrades would reduce carbon emissions by nearly 17,000 metric tons per year to decarbonize the production facilities for a variety of alcoholic beverages.

Incorporating CO₂ utilization

Carbon-capture technologies have become more widespread, but piping the CO₂ for permanent underground storage can present its own challenges. In many situations, it is more ideal to utilize captured CO₂ as a feedstock for other processes. There are several examples of this within the IDP selectees.

Dow Chemical CO₂ utilization for EV battery chemicals. Led by Dow (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com), this project plans to design and construct a facility on the U.S. Gulf Coast to capture and utilize approximately 100,000 tons of CO₂ per year to produce essential components of electrolyte solutions needed for domestic lithium-ion batteries, according to DoE. This project would demonstrate the capture and utilization of more than 90% of the CO₂ from ethylene oxide manufacturing for use in making carbonate solvents for batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage. Carbonate solvents help enhance battery performance and longevity, Dow says.

Ørsted P2X US Holding LLC. The Star e-Methanol project, led by a U.S. subsidiary of Ørsted A/S (Fredericia, Denmark; www.orsted.com), plans to use captured CO₂ from a local industrial facility to produce e-methanol for marine shipping fuel, or as an input for sustainable aviation fuel. The project consists of multiple components that when combined, lead to a net-neutral CO₂ solution, Ørsted says. This includes building new onshore wind and solar projects in Texas to power the electrolysis of green hydrogen, capturing biogenic carbon from an industrial facility, and synthesizing the captured biogenic carbon with green hydrogen to create e-methanol. The resulting e-methanol will reduce CO ₂ emissions by more than 90% compared to conventional marine fuel, the company says. The facility wiill produce up to 300,000 metric tons of e-methanol per year, DoE adds.

Sustainable ethylene from CO₂ utilization with renewable energy (SECURE). The SECURE project, led by T.EN Stone & Webster Process Technology Inc. in partnership with LanzaTech (Skokie, Ill.; www.lanzatech.com), plans to demonstrate an integrated process to utilize captured CO₂ from ethylene production and convert it to ethanol using LanzaTech’s Gas Fermentation technology. Ethanol will be further converted into sustainable ethylene utilizing Technip Energie’s Hummingbird technology. Project SECURE will be sized for 50,000 tons of annual ethanol production, which will enable 30,000 tons of annual ethylene production, LanzaTech says.

Electrification

Several IDP projects selected for award negotiations involve electrification of various parts of processes that have traditionally been powered by fossil fuels. Here are some examples of this from the food, paper and glass sectors.

Unilever USA. The Decarbonization of Unilever (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.; www.unilever.com) Ice Cream Manufacturing project plans to replace natural gas boilers with electric boilers and industrial heat pumps using waste heat recovery across four ice cream manufacturing facilities in Tennessee, Missouri and Vermont. The facility upgrades are expected to reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 14,000 metric tons per year, DoE says, with a pathway to address 100% of heat-related process emissions. Along with reduced emissions, this project has an extremely high replicability potential and will create a model that could lead to further decarbonization throughout the food and beverage sector where approximately 50% of processing emissions are from low-temperature heating, DoE says.

Libbey Glass. The Flexible Fuel Electric Hybrid Glass Furnace Demonstration project, led by Libbey Glass (Toledo, Ohio; www.libbey.com) plans to replace four regenerative furnaces with two larger hybrid electric furnaces to reduce an estimated 60% of CO₂ emissions associated with the manufacturing of glass tableware products at Libbey’s facility in Toledo. Hybrid glass furnaces combine the energy from fuel combustion (mostly natural gas) with a highly increased proportion of electric power. The benefits of oxygen fuel with electric melting include replacing up to 80% of the melting energy with renewable-sourced electricity, DoE says.

Gallo Glass Co. Gallo Glass (Modesto, California; www.galloglass.com) also received an award to install a hybrid electric furnace that will reduce natural gas use by 70% and increase recycled glass content by 30% in its glass bottle production process.

O-I Glass. The Glass Furnace Decarbonization Technology project plans to rebuild four furnaces across three facilities in California, Ohio and Virginia to reduce Scope 1 CO₂ emissions by an estimated 48,000 metric tons per year. The proposed rebuilds combine five furnace technologies on each furnace, marking the first time that all five technologies have been implemented simultaneously, DoE says. The technologies reduce waste heat and increase electrification, aiming to combine multiple technologies and use them with different glass colors and container types.

International Paper Company. In the Pulp and Paper Energy Efficiency and Electrification Upgrades project, International Paper Company (IP; New York, N.Y.; www.internationalpaper.com) and Via Separations (Watertown, Mass.; www.viaseparations.com) are partnering to decarbonize a thermal process at IP’s Mansfield, La. site using Via’s novel membrane-based technology. Via’s membrane technology uses graphene-oxide-based membranes to replace thermal separations with mechanical separations in removing water in pulp production. The project expects to reduce 75% of CO₂ emissions per gallon of clean water removed. This project plans to not only reduce the facility’s GHG emissions but also to demonstrate the credibility of the membrane technology to scale across the 130 domestic pulp-and-paper mills and other industrial sectors, DoE says.

More IDP projects

In addition the those described above the IDP includes selections of other projects for funding. Here is additional information from DoE about some of the other projects.

ExxonMobil Baytown Olefins plant carbon reduction project. The Baytown Olefins Plant Carbon Reduction Project, led by ExxonMobil, is intended to enable the use of hydrogen in place of natural gas across high-heat-fired equipment using new burner technologies for ethylene production in Baytown, Tex. The equipment modifications aim to enable the use of up to 95% clean hydrogen fuel, according to DoE. When fully implemented, the modifications are expected to avoid 2.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year — equal to more than 50% of the plant’s total emissions — and would reduce criteria air pollutants. Demonstrating clean hydrogen fuel switching in the largest ethylene plant in the U.S. would help de-risk one of the most viable decarbonization solutions for large, existing industrial facilities, prove the use of clean hydrogen in industrial processes, and provide a pathway for decarbonizing the chemical industry, which is responsible for more than one-third of the U.S. industrial sector’s carbon emissions, DoE says. The project would also reduce NOx pollutants to improve local air quality.

BASF syngas from recycled chemical byproducts. The Syngas Production from Recycled Chemical Byproduct Streams project, led by BASF in Freeport, Tex., plans to recycle liquid byproducts into syngas, which will be used as a low-carbon feedstock for BASF’s Freeport operations. BASF expects to use plasma gasification and renewable power to replace natural gas-fired incineration, decreasing carbon dioxide emissions at the BASF Freeport site by up to an estimated 90%. By demonstrating plasma gasification, BASF would enable uptake for a technology that is widely able to recycle liquid byproducts into additional production feedstock like syngas or hydrogen, supporting the transition toward a low-carbon and more circular chemical production.

The Low-Carbon SmartMelt Furnace Conversion project, led by Constellium, proposes to deploy a first-of-a-kind zero carbon aluminum casting plant in the U.S. at its Ravenswood, West Virginia facility. This aluminum rolling facility, which is one of the largest in the world, supplies material to the aerospace, defense, marine, and transportation sectors. The project would install low-emissions SmartMelt furnaces that can operate using a range of fuels, including clean hydrogen. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, the project would improve air quality and worker safety.

Cement manufacturing

Concrete the most highly used human-made material in the world. One component of concrete is cement, which has an energy-intensive process in the way it is traditionally made. In addition, the conventional process involves the reaction of CaCO₃ to CaO, which releases CO₂. The sector is hard at work developing ways to both reduce the energy required to produce the concrete and find new chemistries for cement that don’t release CO₂.

Brimstone Energy Inc. The Deeply Decarbonized Cement project, led by Brimstone, plans to construct a first-of-a-kind commercial-scale demonstration plant that would fundamentally transform the way cement is made. The project would produce 140,000 metric tons per year of decarbonized industry standard ordinary portland cement (OPC) and supplementary cementitious materials, and other co-products, using calcium silicate rocks and alternative production methods to avoid more than 120,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Further validating technology previously supported by ARPA-E, the demonstration project expects to reduce technical risks and prove demand to support the development of future industrial-scale decarbonized cement manufacturing facilities.

Sublime Systems electrochemical cement. The First Commercial Electrochemical Cement Manufacturing project, led by Sublime Systems, plans to build a new, ultra-low carbon cement manufacturing facility in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Sublime Systems’ new method to make cement replaces carbon-intensive limestone with abundant calcium silicate-based feedstocks, resulting in industry-standard cement that is produced electrochemically instead of using high heat. By demonstrating this transformational process that was previously supported by ARPA-E, Sublime Systems would strengthen American supply chains for low-carbon products, increase transparency for product environmental impact and performance, and catalyze industry-wide change.

National Cement Co. The Lebec Net-Zero Cement Plant Project in California, led by the National Cement Company of California, Inc. (NCC-California), plans to produce carbon-neutral cement at the Lebec, Calif. cement plant. Instead of using fossil fuels, the project would use locally sourced biomass from agricultural byproducts such as pistachio shells, replace clinker with a less carbon intensive alternative (calcined clay) to produce limestone calcined clay cement (LC3), and capture and sequester the plant’s remaining approximately 950,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. This project aims to demonstrate how a combination of decarbonization levers can drive emissions associated with existing U.S. cement production facilities to net-zero.

Heidelberg materials Mitchell Cement Plant Decarbonization Project. The Mitchell Cement Plant Decarbonization Project, led by Heidelberg Materials US, Inc., plans to construct and operate an integrated carbon capture, transport, and storage system at their newly modernized plant located in Mitchell, Ind. This project would capture at least 95% of the carbon dioxide from one of the largest cement plants in the nation and store it in a geologic formation beneath the plant property. This project expects to prevent two million tons of carbon dioxide per year from entering the atmosphere and would demonstrate a pathway to decarbonize existing cement plants in the U.S.

Non-IDP decarbonization projects

The IDP represents only a fraction of decarbonization efforts around the CPI. The following are decarbonization projects that are not part of the IDP, but that have similar objectives and approaches to the IDP projects.

Celanese CCU for methanol. In January 2024, specialty materials and chemicals maker Celanese Corp. announced it has begun running a carbon capture and utilization (CCU) project at its Clear Lake, Tex., site as part of its Fairway Methanol joint venture with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. The project expects to capture 180,000 metric tons of CO₂ industrial emissions and produce 130,000 metric tons of low-carbon methanol per year.

Infinium e-fuels. Infinium’s production process uses renewable power (solar, wind or hydro depending on location), waste CO₂ and water as its feedstocks. CO₂ and H₂ are fed into the proprietary Infinium production process which convert these products into drop-in fuels which are chemically identical to its petroleum fuel counterparts. The company differentiates its process from conventional Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, which typically comprises formation of a heavy wax fraction that is then hydrocracked/refined into specification fuels. “Infinium’s ultra-low carbon solution is unique to the eFuels industry as it directly produces liquid fuels onsite at our own facilities, requiring no third-party post-processing or refining in the base design that is typical of competitors’ solutions which adds to operating costs and carbon intensity,” says Robert Schuetzle, Infinium CEO.

The core of the technology includes a two-step reaction. The first occurs inside Infinium’s syngas production reactors with its patented CO2Cat catalyst that converts CO₂ into CO, which when combined with hydrogen, creates syngas. We designed the CO2Cat catalyst and reactor for optimal conversion of CO₂.

Infinium’s technology evolved from commercial small-scale modular gas-to-liquids technology originally developed by Infinium affiliate Greyrock Energy. Infinium sources CO₂ from a variety of partners seeking beneficial reuse of their carbon dioxide waste.

At the Pathfinder project in Corpus Christi, Tex., we are primarily focusing on eDiesel, much of which has been contracted to Amazon for its middle mile fleet, and eNaphtha, says Schuetzle. At Roadrunner in west Texas, the emphasis will be on eSAF part of which will serve the offtake agreement with American Airlines. The company has also announced two projects in Europe, Project Reuze (France) and Project Freya (Norway).

While the price point is higher today, demand for decarbonized fuels has driven a willingness to pay a premium in the market, and costs are expected to decline significantly over the next five to 10 years. Infinium fuels are sold to corporate customers, airlines, and other businesses looking to decarbonize their supply chains and reduce emissions.

TotalEnergies and Air Products Inc. French energy major TotalEnergies and U.S. industrial gases supplier Air Products have signed a 15-year agreement for the annual supply of 70,000 tons of green hydrogen starting in 2030. TotalEnergies said that Air Products will deliver green hydrogen to its Northern European refineries, adding that the contract is the first step towards achieving the company’s objective of reducing net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its oil and gas operations (Scope 1+2) by 40% by 2030 compared to 2015 levels.

Dow Chemical. Dow is undertaking a project in Alberta, Canada to build the first integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives facility with net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions. The Fort Saskatchewan Path2Zero project builds on Dow’s expertise in successfully implementing large projects, such as its TX-9 cracker in Freeport, TX. To achieve net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions, Linde will supply the project with the required industrial gases from a new air separation, pressure-swing absorption, and autothermal reformer complex that they will build at the site. This will also recover and convert the site’s cracker off-gas to hydrogen, which will be used as a clean fuel in the site’s furnaces. In addition, carbon dioxide emissions will be captured and stored, reducing existing emissions by approximately 1 million MTA of CO2e while abating all emissions from the addition of the site’s new capacity.

Covestro AG (Leverkusen, Germany) is partnering with Rondo Energy, Inc. (Oakland, Calif.) to install a heat battery for the first time at Covestro’s Brunsbüttel, Germany site at the end of 2026. The project will then produce 10% of the steam required at the site, saving up to 13,000 tons/yr of CO ₂ emissions.

Elkem ASA (Oslo, Norway) is researching a new concept for silicon production, which aims to eliminate nearly all direct CO₂ emissions. The concept involves capturing and recycling the carbon in the process off gas and reusing it in the production process. Enova has granted Elkem 31 million Norwegian kroner for a medium scale pilot, to be carried out in Kristiansand, Norway. Elkem’s silicon production is based on more than 80% emission-free electricity.

Buzzi Unichem/Nuada. Nuada, a U.K.-based carbon capture technology provider, announced the launch of its pilot plant operation at Buzzi Unicem’s cement facility in Monselice, Italy. Buzzi, an Italian cement company with global operations, is trialling Nuada’s advanced carbon capture technology as a solution to produce low-carbon cement, leading the way in cement industry decarbonisation.

This pilot project demonstrates the performance of Nuada’s next-generation technology in a cement manufacturing setting. Nuada has developed an energy-efficient carbon capture solution by combining advanced solid sorbents (metal-organic frameworks, MOFs) with a mature vacuum pressure-swing adsorption (VPSA) process. This innovative, electrically powered system separates CO₂ from industrial fluegases using pressure instead of heat and offers a promising approach to overcoming the energy, cost and integration challenges associated with deploying traditional carbon capture solutions in industry.