2023 AIChE Annual Meeting
(398g) Decision Making of Optimal Decarbonization Routes for Industry
With the pressing need to address climate change, industries are increasingly seeking low-carbon energy systems to reduce their carbon footprint. Given the wide range of low-carbon energy systems available, the process of selecting the most optimal for a given situation can be a complex task that requires multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). This involves consideration of a multitude of factors, including economics, technical feasibility, and environmental impact. However, the introduction of new technologies in an ever-evolving environment, coupled with volatile energy markets and the evolution of global emissions trading schemes (ETS), creates a high level of uncertainty. To make secure long-term investments in low-carbon energy systems, it is crucial for companies to consider these temporal variables. We present a review of low-carbon energy systems, with applications to specific industrial cases, analysing the decision making, technical and economic challenges that industries will encounter in achieving net-zero emissions now, and in the future.