Abstract
Decarbonization of the industrial heat demand through electrification could contribute significantly to climate change mitigation efforts. In the US industry, thermal processes accounted for 75% of the total final energy demand in 2018, of which 17% is consumed by conventional industrial boilers (excluding cogeneration) for steam generation. Electric boilers have a small share in the US industrial steam generation due to several techno-economic reasons. This study employs a bottom-up approach to investigate the sector-level and state-level techno-enviro-economic potentials of deploying electric boilers in the US industry in different timeframes. The results show that the technical potential energy and CO2 savings by electrifying industrial boilers are 595 PJ and 200 MtCO2 per year in 2050, respectively; however, these incur additional costs in each sector. Although there may be individual cost-effective opportunities for electrifying boilers in specific industrial sites, the overall costs are high in all industrial sectors and states due to the large disparity between electricity and combustion fuel prices. To overcome the highlighted techno-economic barriers, a comprehensive action plan for different stakeholders is also formulated. This study provides novel insights that should inform policymakers’ and executives’ decisions about the electrification of the current and future US industrial boiler systems.
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Notes
Boiler efficiency does not only depend on the type of technology (e.g., fire-tube or water-tube and/or whether or not an economizer is present) employed in different sectors but also varies by the type of combustion fuels used in these sectors. In addition, sector-specific boiler size distribution and part load conditions also affect boiler efficiencies. The weighted average sectoral boiler efficiencies in Fig. 9 are reflecting on all these aspects.
Since the carbon-neutrality of biomass fuels is debated due to the concerns about origin of biomass feedstock supply, its sustainable aspects, and whether the associated air-quality impacts from biomass utilization are tolerable, this study does not consider biomass fuels as carbon–neutral.
The boiler-related CO2 emissions in different industrial sectors exclude indirect emissions due to electricity use in boilers.
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Acknowledgements
The work described in this study was conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and supported by the US Department of Energy Advanced Manufacturing Office under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The authors would like to thank Joe Cresko of US DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, Colin McMillan of National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Eric Masanet of University of California, Santa Barbara, Jingyi Zhang, and Carrie Schoeneberger of Northwestern University for their contributions. The views and opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the US Government or any agency thereof, or The Regents of the University of California.
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The authors’ roles are as follows:
Dr. M. Jibran S, ZUBERI: Conceptualization, methodology, data curation, resources, formal analysis, visualization, writing—original draft.
Dr. Ali HASANBEIGI: Conceptualization, methodology, data curation, writing—review and editing.
Dr. William R. MORROW: Supervision, project administration, funding acquisition, resources, writing—review, and editing.
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Highlights
1. Bottom-up approach to study the sector- and state-level potentials of electric boilers.
2. The potential energy savings by electrifying ind. boilers are 595 PJ p.a. in 2050.
3. The potential CO2 savings by electrifying ind. boilers are 200 Mt p.a. in 2050.
4. Ind. boiler elec. can initially increase the CO2 emissions by 43 Mt p.a. in 2018.
5. The costs are high due to the large disparity between electricity and fuel prices.
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Zuberi, M.J.S., Hasanbeigi, A. & Morrow, W. Electrification of industrial boilers in the USA: potentials, challenges, and policy implications. Energy Efficiency 15, 70 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-022-10079-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-022-10079-0