Technology Transitions towards U.S. Industrial Decarbonization: Ammonia Production and Paper Recycling System
There is no path to net-zero that doesn't involve deep decarbonization of industry. Dr. Jin's research is at the cutting edge of methods that can accelerate this transition. By combining process optimization, life-cycle assessment, and climate scenario modeling techniques, Dr. Jin shines a light on the quickest and most robust pathways for better policy.
—Eric Masanet, Professor, Bren School
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ABSTRACT
The U.S. industrial sector is considered a “hard-to-abate” sector for decarbonization because of the diversity of energy inputs that feed into a heterogenous array of industrial processes and operations. In 2020, the industrial sector accounted for 33% of the nation’s primary energy use and 30% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The U.S. chemical manufacturing industry is one of the most energy and emission intensive sectors. This project implements a bottom-up system model with high technical and economic resolution to assess potential least-cost pathways to achieve a deep decarbonized U.S. ammonia industry by 2050. In addition, several scenarios are generated to explore the range of possible pathways arising from different technical, economic, and policy assumptions. The methodology and analyses presented in this study provide important insights into the optimal transition pathways towards decarbonized ammonia production, providing fundamental insights for policy makers on required actions and investments to achieve the net-zero emissions target for the ammonia industry.
Dramatic changes in global recovered paper markets, triggered in large part by Chinese import restrictions, challenge the U.S. to find sustainable pathways for increasing the domestic paper recycling rate. This study presents a technology-rich process model of the U.S. domestic paper recycling industry to assess energy consumption, carbon emissions, and system costs. This study suggests that national paper recycling goals can be achieved by recovering 80% of recyclable papers from households and commercial stores, while trading all exported bales to domestic recovery with additional investments in processing capacity expansion.
BIO
Enze Jin earned his Ph.D. in Environmental and Ecological Engineering from Purdue University in 2019. His research interests focus on the assessment of sustainability performance for agricultural, food, and bioenergy systems by integrating environmental and socioeconomic impacts. He has years of experience in system modeling for industrial sustainability using life cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, and system dynamics. His current research at UCSB is focusing on identifying the least-cost decarbonization pathways for the chemical industry and pulp and paper recycling system. Before joining the group at UCSB, Enze worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Delaware (UD) for one year and he played a leading role in analyzing and mapping the energy footprint of food production at UD.