Industrial Decarbonisation Pathways

Analysis of decarbonisation pathways for energy-intensive industries in Germany

On behalf of E.ON Research & Technology and for the E.ON Energy Research Center at RWTH Aachen University, FfE is compiling an overview of the German industrial landscape in the status quo and providing an outlook on possible decarbonisation options for selected industrial processes. These are described qualitatively and underpinned with quantitative process parameters.

Motivation

The Deep Decarbonization Pathways project at RWTH University is conducting a well-founded, overall systemic analysis in order to identify a plausible roadmap for a fully decarbonised and at the same time cost-effective energy future for Germany. Specific aspects of the energy transition are analysed in greater depth in various sub-projects.

Objective

The project ‘Industrial decarbonisation pathways’ aims to provide a comprehensive and in-depth insight into the German industrial landscape and possible transformation paths. These are accompanied by an assessment of the given framework conditions and assembled into plausible narrative components. Selected, particularly energy-intensive processes and their alternative process routes are characterised and qualitatively described on the basis of process-specific parameters. The FfE thus opens up a broad funnel of possible transformation options and provides an assessment of the most likely decarbonisation paths in the respective sectors and processes.

Project structure, contents and results

The project is divided into three levels of analysis. Firstly, the industrial sector in Germany is described quantitatively in the status quo based on the development of characteristic key figures, such as the production index, CO₂ emissions or sector-specific energy consumption. In addition, there is a qualitative description of other relevant framework conditions, e.g. regulatory requirements, an outlook on the hydrogen core network or a possible CO₂ infrastructure in Germany. These lead on to a brief description of possible future prospects (‘narrative building blocks’) with regard to the framework conditions and an assessment by the FfE experts of the most realistic developments.

Figure 1: Exemplary excerpt from the profiles characterising the German industrial sector.

The second level looks at the economic sectors in Germany in the status quo and provides an excursus on the future development of data centres. A profile is created for each economic sector with information on the:

Historical development of the production index of the economic sector and associated groups according to WZ classification
Final energy consumption of the economic sector, broken down by energy source.
Emissions of the economic sector, broken down by energy-related and process-related emissions
Energy consumption as a proportion of gross production value (GPV)
Number of companies, employees and turnover of the economic sector and associated groups
Overview of the most important products in the economic sector, as well as associated production processes in the status quo and alternative future process routes

Figure 2: Exemplary profile to characterise the non-ferrous metals industry

The third level was derived from this: Analysing selected products and associated (future) process routes. Two fact sheets were created for each of the products steel, flat/hollow glass, cement, lime, methanol, ammonia and high value chemicals (HVCs).

The first profile describes current and conceivable future production processes step by step. In addition to a brief description, the process routes are supplemented by quantitative information on energy consumption and the resulting emissions. In addition, there is a presentation of the breakdown of available process routes in the status quo, as well as a presentation of the production sites in Germany.

The second fact sheet provides an outlook on future developments based on a projection of production volume development and qualitative assessments of the possibilities of fuel switching, the use of carbon capture and potentially particularly innovative process routes. This is concluded with a summarised expert assessment.

Project partner

E.ON Group Innovation
E.ON Energy Research Center (FCN-ESE) I RWTH Aachen