B3 Opportunity Assessment
Electrification & renewables to displace fossil fuel process heating Report at a glance
Final Report RACE for Business Program Research Theme B3: Decarbonising industrial process heating Project Code: 20.B3.A.0121 ISBN: 978-1-922746-02-3 October 2021 Project team University of South Australia Michael Evans Martin Belusko Ming Liu Patrick F. Keane Ke Xing Tim Lau Frank Bruno Queensland University of Technology Alireza Taghipour Thomas Rainey Aaron Liu Wendy Miller
Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity Jarrod Leak Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Jack Nihill Cameron Stanley Gary Rosengarten Abhijit Date Ruhul Amin Bruce Bonney University of Technology Sydney Jihane Assaf Jahangir Hossain
The Reliable Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre (RACE for 2030 CRC) is a 10-year, $350 million Australian research collaboration involving industry, research, government and other stakeholders. Its mission is to drive innovation for a secure, affordable, clean energy future. https://www.racefor2030.com.au
Project partners
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Decarbonising industrial process heating
Report at a glance
Theme B3: Decarbonising industrial process heating What is the report? The opportunity assessment report provides a pathway for decarbonising process heating in Australia. It provides a review of current market status and technology options while identifying market potential and relevant barriers, to inform the future direction of research activities to support industry in achieving decarbonisation reliably and affordably. Why is it important? Industry consumes nearly half of the total end-use energy produced in Australia, 37% of which is used in process heating. Fossil fuels currently account for 90% of all process heat energy consumption, making this a significant contributor to Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonising industrial process heating is therefore a critical step in reducing these emissions.
What did we do? In preparing the report, the project team: • identified technology options which, when combined, can deliver 100% decarbonisation at lowest cost • analysed the potential of these options to displace fossil fuels in manufacturing, food processing and building • investigated barriers to achieving the potential of our modelling scenario and categorised them as technical, economic, knowledge and regulatory, and • recommended research activities to overcome these barriers. What difference will it make? The actions recommended in the report aim to deliver: • reduced energy costs of up to $600 million per year • a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across industry sectors by 2035, and • improved energy reliability for industry. These actions will accelerate the necessary transformation required to achieve complete decarbonisation of industrial process heating. What’s next? The report identifies short-, medium- and long-term research opportunities. Proposed activities include increasing the availability of useful information, technology demonstrations to de-risk solutions, awareness and engagement activities to provide confidence, and investigation of new funding models that support industry-led adoption of technologies.
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Decarbonising industrial process heating