Editorial Cleaning up industry’s biggest emitters

STEVENGISLAM |

Cleaning up industry’s biggest emitters

While July’s news that the Amazon rainforest now emits more CO2 than it absorbs failed to make a big splash on the news agenda, it should have acted as a stark warning signal that we need to up our game if we are to mitigate the worst excesses of climate change. While there is only so much that we can do to influence Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s government – the current custodians of the majority of what was once known as the “lungs of the world” – there have been developments here in Europe which provide cause for optimism.

Indeed, two of the world’s biggest polluting industries, steel and construction, which were, and to some extents still are sluggish when it comes to emissions reduction, have started to show signs that that a change may be in the air.

We first focus on one of Industry’s most notoriously hard-to-abate sectors - Steel. With its high strength-to-weight ratio and relatively low production costs, steel is an invaluable material for numerous sectors. However, with the sector accounting for around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the pressure is on for the industry as a whole to green up and make itself fit for a carbon-neutral future.

Based at the voestalpine steel plant in Donawitz, Austria, the HYFOR (HydrogenBased Fine-Ore Reduction) pilot project, operated by Primetals Technologies, slashes emissions by as much as 90%, partly through being powered by 100% hydrogen, but also thanks to its ability to directly feed in iron ore fines and concentrates, thus sidestepping the beneficiation phase.

I spoke to Dr Alexander Fleischanderl, Head of Eco Solutions at Primetals and one of HYFOR’s architects, about the pioneering pilot and the future of the steel industry. Read the full interview on page 6.

With the automotive and consumer electronics sectors looking to move away from complicated and increasingly chaotic supply chains, and the European Commission keen to decrease its reliance on China for critical raw materials that are vital for the energy transition, many across the bloc watched with great enthusiasm when its first major lithium project entered the feasibility phase.

Located close to Dresden, Germany, and operated by Zinnwald, the site is set to form an important stepping-stone for EU-sourced lithium for chips and batteries, testing the water for similar future projects.

Ash Jones spoke to Zinnwald CEO Anton du Plessis in a wide-ranging interview on page 10.

In 2018, only 20.7% of manufacturers rated themselves as being “highly prepared to address the emerging business models the Fourth Industrial Revolution brings”.

Construction is known to be a major source of air pollution, a problem that is closely linked to a number of health issues including cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer and respiratory problems.

Our focus on Hybrid Electronics comes from Danish Sherwani, a SAP S/4HANA Solution Architect at Delaware UK in which he argues that despite Industry 4.0 being almost a decade old, plenty of manufacturing companies have been slow to adopt the emerging technologies and reap the benefits.

If manufacturers wish to remain competitive in an ever-changing marketplace, says Sherwani, it will become increasingly important that they harness these burgeoning technologies and forge a path forward. Read Danish’s full article on page 12.

The Construction and Engineering section of the magazine also has a double focus this month - Both from our very own Ash Jones. With Covid-19 bringing issues of public hygiene into the front of public consciousness, and the climate crisis becoming ever-more critical as the race to 2050, quite literally, heats up, the construction industry has had to step up its game.

Construction is known to be a major source of air pollution, a problem that is closely linked to a number of health issues including cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer and respiratory problems. The IEA argues that a 6% decrease in building emissions year-on-year is needed to meet global energy targets, and with the pandemic as a permanent backdrop, there has been an increased focus on ventilation and filtration.

Read Ash’s interview with Don Donovan, the President of HVAC and air filtration company Camfil, on page 14.

In his construction focus, Ash spoke to Liviu Tudor, founder of Genesis Property and President of the European Property Federation, about his “office of the future”. Located in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, and operated by Swedish telecoms company Ericsson, the office was awarded the maximum 5-star ‘IMMUNE Building Standard’ rating by Brussels-based Healthy by Design Building Institute for the building’s ability to deal with health crises.

Through a series of sensors that measure the indoor environmental parameters such as air, humidity, temperature or CO2 levels, data on the building's performance is collected in real-time allowing operators to adjust the conditions of the building to a healthy performance level. Read the full interview with Liviu Tudor on page 16. n