Comprehensive Showcase of Global Low Carbon Chemicals & Fertilizers Innovations & Startups
From CLIMAFIX, the leader in climate innovation intelligence
Low Carbon Chemicals & Fertilizers Introduction:
The chemicals sector has a significant carbon footprint for two reasons. One, most chemicals use oil as the main feedstock and thus come with embodied carbon. The other part of the industry’s CO2 emissions come from the production processes of chemicals – mostly due to the amount of energy used to produce key building chemical blocks such as ethylene, and in some cases also from CO2 emissions that are y part of the reaction process – the prominent example is the production of hydrogen from methane.
The global chemicals sector (excluding emissions from the fertiliser value chain) generates about 600 million tons of CO2 emissions annually. Of this, ethylene production alone emits about 220 million tons of CO2 emissions per annum, methanol about 150 million tons per annum, and polypropylene about 120 million tons of emissions per annum.
The world uses millions of tons of synthetic fertilisers every year. And the fertiliser production value chain has a very high CO2 footprint. A part of the CO2 emissions in fertiliser production happens during hydrogen production, which is currently done through the steam reformation of methane. CO2 emissions also take place during the production of ammonia. About 850 million tons of CO2 are emitted annually by the fertiliser industry value chain, with about 350 million tons from the production of hydrogen and 500 million tons from the ammonia production process.
Decarbonizing the sector would require decarbonizing hydrogen production – possibly through green electrolysis – and also reducing the energy requirements for ammonia production, or electrifying ammonia production and using renewable power for electrification. All these efforts are in their initial stages.
The 2020-2030 period will witness decarbonization efforts and innovations through reducing the amount of energy needed for chemicals production, electrifying some of the production processes (for instance, ethylene and ammonia production), recycling end chemicals and plastics so that lower amounts of chemicals need to be produced in the first place, and use of bio-based raw materials instead of petroleum. Currently, there’s significant progress in three of the four – energy efficiency in chemical production, recycling, and bio-based chemical alternatives. Electrification of key chemical production processes is at a very early stage but could see action post 2025.
The Low Carbon Chemicals & Fertilizers Innovations & Startups Report provides insights on the following:
- Current & Emerging Technologies
- Innovation & Startups Analysis
- Urgency of this Decarbonization Avenue
- Unique Solutions Derived from Startups
- Commercialization Potential
- Scalability
- Highlights of Prominent Innovations & Startups
- List of 10 High-Impact Startups
For each startup, the following inputs are provided:
- Product
- Key benefits
- Technology & process
- Videos
- Links to founder profiles
- Links to prominent news & analyses about the startup
The Low Carbon Chemicals & Fertilizers Innovations Report is part of CLIMAFIX 500, a comprehensive global climate innovation and startup report.
