Climate change is the primary environmental concern the world faces today. While root causes and possible consequences still remain debatable; there is growing consensus about the need to take comprehensive action. Within the United Nations framework convention on climate change, over 190 nations aim to “prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with Earth’s climate system”. Several mechanisms including an international cap-and-trade system have been proposed and widely implemented.
Petrochemicals are chemicals products derived from petroleum and other non-renewable resources. These chemicals are generally not burned but utilized through other processes with generally a consumer product as an end result. There are two basic classes of petrochemicals; olefins including ethylene, acetylene and propylene and aromatics including benzene, toluene and xylene isomers.
Olefins represent the larger of the two classes in production; almost any plastic, most paints and useful chemicals start their life cycle as ethylene and/or propylene; going through many chemical processes to become usable end products for mankind.
Ethylene is the most heavily produced hydrocarbon on our planet; at 2006 alone 109 million metric tonnes have been produced across 55 countries. It is the primary feedstock for producing almost any petrochemical, most plastics and used in ripening agricultural produce. In order to meet ever growing demand for ethylene, new production facilities are being added in persian gulf countries and China. Economics of ethylene production has been at the forefront of cheaper and environmentally sustainable petrochemicals debate. Right now, the primary way to produce ethylene is to steam crack light hydrocarbons (introducing extreme heat and pressure) such as naphtha or ethane followed by quenching (reducing heat very quickly); a process that generates substantial carbon footprint, is very energy intensive and have very low efficiencies of conversion (approximately 25 percent
for naphtha). Considering the dual waste of intense heating for a few seconds and rapid cooling; it goes without saying that ethylene production process’s carbon dioxide intensivity is a major source of regulatory problems for petrochemicals industry.
Acetylene was a major petrochemical feedstock up to 1960s where cheaper methods of ethylene production came through. Globally, around 400,000 metric tonnes are being produced while employing various methods of production such as hydrolysis of calcium carbide, partial combustion of methane and by-product of ethylene production. Among these calcium carbide based production is the most prevalent method and remains to be the main source of feedstock for chemical industry including polyvinyl chloride manufacture in China. Acetylene is a highly flammable gas with very high energy densities involved in burning and as a result heavily utilized for welding.
Primary problem with calcium carbide based production of acetylene is the high energy density and ensuing carbon intensivity of the process. To put into perspective, calcium carbide processing energy needs in United States is the primary factor for Niagara Falls hydroelectric power construction project during the late 19th century, far out pacing residential, commercial or other industrial needs.
Need for sustainable production of petrochemical feed-stocks is recognized under Kyoto framework and substantial enforcement policies are undertaken in Europe. However without a green petrochemical production technology in place, all cap-and-trade can accomplish is to shift industrial production from a region of enforcement (Europe or USA) to a region of non-enforcement (Asian or Latin American countries). This is where Quantum Ingenuity’s conversion technology comes in; adoption of our technology by the industry will accomplish what carbon trading intended in the first place.
When need for a product is in place and there are no alternatives, all cap-and-trade can accomplish is to shift geography of production. As Napoleon used to say “Do not forbid what you have no ability to prevent”. End result is seeming compliance on paper in Europe while industry escaping to “greener pastures” of Asia, Africa and Latin America in droves .
In order to bring a purely market based solution to this global problem, several economists suggest a voting-with-consumer-dollars idea. This idea in a nutshell suggests that if consumers really care about carbon intensivity of a product, they can buy the alternative which has less or no carbon impact. This idea has no real working chance in practice within this context because feedstock information is not available to end-users of most plastics, paints and other petrochemical driven products. Voting with dollars always rely on the implicit assumption of having informed options which consumers do not have with petrochemical driven end-products.
Real change can occur only when there is a viable alternative. We at Quantum Ingenuity have a production system that produces carbon-neutral petrochemical feed-stocks at economically competitive rates employing our technology. Industrial implementation of our core technology will pave the way for a sustainable future in petrochemicals production.
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