STEPS TOWARDS DEFOSSILIZATION: [1] RETHINKING PETROCHEMICAL PRODUCTION — MARCH 18, 2021 — Kyra Biederman Katy Jessop Shelby Morrison Trey Sheridan [email protected] Professor Jennifer Wilcox, UPenn Professor Peter Psarras, UPenn |1| STEPS TOWARDS DEFOSSILIZATION: RETHINKING PETROCHEMICAL PRODUCTION A Major Qualifying Project submitted to the Faculty of the Department of Chemical Engineering Worcester Polytechnic Institute 100 Institute Road Worcester, Massachusetts, USA 01609 In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science Submitted by: Kyra Biederman Katy Jessop Shelby Morrison Trey Sheridan Project Duration: August 23, 2020 to March 18, 2021 Project Advisors: Professor Jennifer Wilcox Professor Peter Psarras University of Pennsylvania This report represents work of WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its web site without editorial or peer review. For more information about the projects program at WPI, see http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects. |i| ABSTRACT Fossil fuel production and usage is the single greatest contributor to anthropogenic climate change. To stop the world- altering impacts of global warming, CO2 emissions must be cut in half by 2050 and eliminated by 2100. The U.S. processes 19% of global oil and natural gas, the largest capacity in the world; it also has vast resources to defossilize this industry. While there are known renewable energy replacements for fuels, essential petrochemical products such as plastics and fertilizers will require different alternative production methods. This study sought to characterize both current fuels and petrochemical production totals and primary intermediate chemicals by creating a Sankey flow diagram. Over 95% of all petrochemical products are derived from methanol, ethylene, propylene, ammonia, and BTX aromatics intermediates. An analysis of potential alternative production methods was then completed by identifying numerous routes, which depend entirely on waste products (biomass, biogas, CO2) and renewables (energy, H2) for feedstocks. Large scale production of fossil-free petrochemicals is already occurring in some instances and should continue to focus on upstream chemicals. Further expansions will be dictated by the availability of renewable energy, policy, funding, and technological advancement. |ii| TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................................ vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................... viii Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... viii Background ................................................................................................................................................................ viii Methods ..................................................................................................................................................................... viii Findings ........................................................................................................................................................................ ix Where Do Fossil Fuels Go? ........................................................................................................................................ ix Major Petrochemical Products................................................................................................................................... ix Alternative Processes..................................................................................................................................................... x Current Challenges ................................................................................................................................................... xii Outlook and Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... xii NOMENCLATURE ............................................................................................................................................................ xiv INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................................1 BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................................................................2 Why CO2? ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2 CO2 and Climate Change: Where does it come from? .................................................................................................... 2 Refineries ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2 What are refineries? .................................................................................................................................................. 2 What are refinery feedstocks? ................................................................................................................................... 2 How do refineries work? ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Refinery Gas Plants.................................................................................................................................................... 3 What do refineries produce? ..................................................................................................................................... 4 How much is produced globally? ............................................................................................................................... 4 Refineries in the U.S. ................................................................................................................................................. 5 Petrochemical Production ............................................................................................................................................. 6 SANKEY METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................................8 Coal Gasification ........................................................................................................................................................... 8 Ammonia and Methanol Calculations ............................................................................................................................ 8 Refinery .......................................................................................................................................................................10 Petrochemical .............................................................................................................................................................10 Creating the Sankey .....................................................................................................................................................13 CO2 Data ......................................................................................................................................................................14 OVERALL SANKEY DIAGRAM ............................................................................................................................................. 15 PETROCHEMICAL SANKEY DIAGRAM ................................................................................................................................ 16 |iii| SANKEY ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................................ 17 Fossil Fuel Feedstock to Refinery and Coal Gasification ................................................................................................17 Refinery Outputs/Petrochemical Inputs .......................................................................................................................17 Major Final Products ....................................................................................................................................................17 Thermoplastics .........................................................................................................................................................17 Thermosets and Fibers .............................................................................................................................................17