IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v236y2019icp540-550.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intensive carbon dioxide emission of coal chemical industry in China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, You
  • Yuan, Zengwei
  • Margni, Manuele
  • Bulle, Cécile
  • Hua, Hui
  • Jiang, Songyan
  • Liu, Xuewei

Abstract

As the largest producer of coal chemical products in the world, China faces tremendous pressure to reduce its carbon emission. An accurate quantification of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission of coal chemical industry in China is therefore necessary. However, due to the variety of coal chemical products and limitations of CO2 emission factors, the total CO2 emission of coal chemical industry has yet to be determined. In this study, local CO2 emission factors of coal chemical products in China are published based on first hand data from twenty-three coal chemical enterprises and the total CO2 emission of China's coal chemical industry is extrapolated. The provincial-level spatial distribution of the CO2 emission of coal chemical industry is presented to assist the government in identifying key emission reduction areas. Additionally, scenario analysis of CO2 emission for China’s modern coal chemical industry in 2020 is conducted to determine whether the development of the modern coal chemical industry will have a significant impact on future CO2 emission, as well as the effect of carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies on the reduction in carbon emission. The estimate shows that the total CO2 emission of the coal chemical industry in 2015 was 607 million tonnes (Mt), accounting for approximately 5.71% of China’s total CO2 emission. The figure is higher than the total annual CO2 emission of a country such as Canada (555 Mt) or Brazil (486 Mt). Quantifying the emission of the coal chemical industry is therefore critical to understand the global carbon budget. The spatial distribution shows that Shandong, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi release one-third of the coal chemical industry’s total CO2 emission. Considering the development of the modern coal chemical industry, its CO2 emission is predicted to be as high as 416.52 million tonnes in 2020. However, the CO2 emission could be reduced by 317.98 million tonnes when carbon capture, utilization and storage are applied to process and energy systems simultaneously. This paper quantifies the CO2 emission of the coal chemical industry in China for the first time, identifies key chemical products and the provinces in which they are produced, explores the carbon reduction potential by scenario analysis, and provides specific data to support the assessment of effective CO2 reduction policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, You & Yuan, Zengwei & Margni, Manuele & Bulle, Cécile & Hua, Hui & Jiang, Songyan & Liu, Xuewei, 2019. "Intensive carbon dioxide emission of coal chemical industry in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 540-550.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:236:y:2019:i:c:p:540-550
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.12.022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261918318415
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.12.022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yu, Suiran & Tao, Jing, 2009. "Economic, energy and environmental evaluations of biomass-based fuel ethanol projects based on life cycle assessment and simulation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(Supplemen), pages 178-188, November.
    2. Zhu, Bing & Zhou, Wenji & Hu, Shanying & Li, Qiang & Griffy-Brown, Charla & Jin, Yong, 2010. "CO2 emissions and reduction potential in China’s chemical industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 4663-4670.
    3. Cai, Bofeng & Wang, Jinnan & He, Jie & Geng, Yong, 2016. "Evaluating CO2 emission performance in China’s cement industry: An enterprise perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 191-200.
    4. Liu, Zhu, 2016. "National carbon emissions from the industry process: Production of glass, soda ash, ammonia, calcium carbide and alumina," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 239-244.
    5. Li, Hengchong & Yang, Siyu & Zhang, Jun & Kraslawski, Andrzej & Qian, Yu, 2014. "Analysis of rationality of coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) production in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 180-188.
    6. Zhang, Qi & Xu, Jin & Wang, Yujie & Hasanbeigi, Ali & Zhang, Wei & Lu, Hongyou & Arens, Marlene, 2018. "Comprehensive assessment of energy conservation and CO2 emissions mitigation in China’s iron and steel industry based on dynamic material flows," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 251-265.
    7. Shan, Yuli & Liu, Zhu & Guan, Dabo, 2016. "CO2 emissions from China’s lime industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 245-252.
    8. Zhou, Wenji & Zhu, Bing & Chen, Dingjiang & Zhao, Fangxian & Fei, Weiyang, 2014. "How policy choice affects investment in low-carbon technology: The case of CO2 capture in indirect coal liquefaction in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 670-679.
    9. Ding, Yanjun & Han, Weijian & Chai, Qinhu & Yang, Shuhong & Shen, Wei, 2013. "Coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG): A solution to China’s energy security and CO2 reduction?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 445-453.
    10. An, Runying & Yu, Biying & Li, Ru & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2018. "Potential of energy savings and CO2 emission reduction in China’s iron and steel industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 862-880.
    11. Yi, Qun & Wu, Guo-sheng & Gong, Min-hui & Huang, Yi & Feng, Jie & Hao, Yan-hong & Li, Wen-ying, 2017. "A feasibility study for CO2 recycle assistance with coke oven gas to synthetic natural gas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 149-161.
    12. Yue, Hui & Worrell, Ernst & Crijns-Graus, Wina, 2018. "Modeling the multiple benefits of electricity savings for emissions reduction on power grid level: A case study of China’s chemical industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 1603-1632.
    13. Wang, Haikun & Zhang, Yanxia & Lu, Xi & Nielsen, Chris P. & Bi, Jun, 2015. "Understanding China׳s carbon dioxide emissions from both production and consumption perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 189-200.
    14. Zhu Liu & Dabo Guan & Wei Wei & Steven J. Davis & Philippe Ciais & Jin Bai & Shushi Peng & Qiang Zhang & Klaus Hubacek & Gregg Marland & Robert J. Andres & Douglas Crawford-Brown & Jintai Lin & Hongya, 2015. "Reduced carbon emission estimates from fossil fuel combustion and cement production in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 524(7565), pages 335-338, August.
    15. Sheng Li & Lin Gao, 2016. "Greenhouse gas emissions from synthetic natural gas production," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(3), pages 220-221, March.
    16. Shen, Weiguo & Cao, Liu & Li, Qiu & Zhang, Wensheng & Wang, Guiming & Li, Chaochao, 2015. "Quantifying CO2 emissions from China’s cement industry," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1004-1012.
    17. Xie, Kechang & Li, Wenying & Zhao, Wei, 2010. "Coal chemical industry and its sustainable development in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 4349-4355.
    18. Zhou, Wenji & Zhu, Bing & Li, Qiang & Ma, Tieju & Hu, Shanying & Griffy-Brown, Charla, 2010. "CO2 emissions and mitigation potential in China's ammonia industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3701-3709, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wu, Rui & Geng, Yong & Cui, Xiaowei & Gao, Ziyan & Liu, Zhiqing, 2019. "Reasons for recent stagnancy of carbon emissions in China's industrial sectors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 457-466.
    2. Nadiia Charkovska & Mariia Halushchak & Rostyslav Bun & Zbigniew Nahorski & Tomohiro Oda & Matthias Jonas & Petro Topylko, 2019. "A high-definition spatially explicit modelling approach for national greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes: reducing the errors and uncertainties in global emission modelling," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 907-939, August.
    3. Yue, Hui & Worrell, Ernst & Crijns-Graus, Wina, 2018. "Modeling the multiple benefits of electricity savings for emissions reduction on power grid level: A case study of China’s chemical industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 1603-1632.
    4. Jing-Ming Chen & Biying Yu & Yi-Ming Wei, 2019. "CO2 emissions accounting for the chemical industry: an empirical analysis for China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 99(3), pages 1327-1343, December.
    5. Wang, Yutao & Yang, Xuechun & Sun, Mingxing & Ma, Lei & Li, Xiao & Shi, Lei, 2016. "Estimating carbon emissions from the pulp and paper industry: A case study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 779-789.
    6. Jie, Dingfei & Xu, Xiangyang & Guo, Fei, 2021. "The future of coal supply in China based on non-fossil energy development and carbon price strategies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    7. Yue, Hui & Worrell, Ernst & Crijns-Graus, Wina, 2021. "Impacts of regional industrial electricity savings on the development of future coal capacity per electricity grid and related air pollution emissions – A case study for China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(PB).
    8. Yi, Qun & Wu, Guo-sheng & Gong, Min-hui & Huang, Yi & Feng, Jie & Hao, Yan-hong & Li, Wen-ying, 2017. "A feasibility study for CO2 recycle assistance with coke oven gas to synthetic natural gas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 149-161.
    9. Chen, Yuhong & Lyu, Yanfeng & Yang, Xiangdong & Zhang, Xiaohong & Pan, Hengyu & Wu, Jun & Lei, Yongjia & Zhang, Yanzong & Wang, Guiyin & Xu, Min & Luo, Hongbin, 2022. "Performance comparison of urea production using one set of integrated indicators considering energy use, economic cost and emissions’ impacts: A case from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PC).
    10. An, Runying & Yu, Biying & Li, Ru & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2018. "Potential of energy savings and CO2 emission reduction in China’s iron and steel industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 862-880.
    11. Shao, Tianming & Pan, Xunzhang & Li, Xiang & Zhou, Sheng & Zhang, Shu & Chen, Wenying, 2022. "China's industrial decarbonization in the context of carbon neutrality: A sub-sectoral analysis based on integrated modelling," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    12. Jiancheng Qin & Hui Tao & Minjin Zhan & Qamar Munir & Karthikeyan Brindha & Guijin Mu, 2019. "Scenario Analysis of Carbon Emissions in the Energy Base, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-18, August.
    13. Yuan, Rong & Behrens, Paul & Rodrigues, João F.D., 2018. "The evolution of inter-sectoral linkages in China's energy-related CO2 emissions from 1997 to 2012," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 404-417.
    14. Mingquan Wang & Lingyun Zhang & Xin Su & Yang Lei & Qun Shen & Wei Wei & Maohua Wang, 2019. "Assessing the technology impact for industry carbon density reduction in China based on C3IAM-Tice," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 99(3), pages 1455-1468, December.
    15. Luo, Zongwei & Dubey, Rameshwar & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Childe, Stephen J. & Papadopoulos, Thanos & Hazen, Benjamin & Roubaud, David, 2017. "Sustainable production framework for cement manufacturing firms: A behavioural perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 495-502.
    16. Lin, Jiang & Fridley, David & Lu, Hongyou & Price, Lynn & Zhou, Nan, 2018. "Has coal use peaked in China: Near-term trends in China's coal consumption," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 208-214.
    17. Duan, Cuncun & Chen, Bin & Feng, Kuishuang & Liu, Zhu & Hayat, Tasawar & Alsaedi, Ahmed & Ahmad, Bashir, 2018. "Interregional carbon flows of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C), pages 342-352.
    18. Shan, Yuli & Liu, Jianghua & Liu, Zhu & Xu, Xinwanghao & Shao, Shuai & Wang, Peng & Guan, Dabo, 2016. "New provincial CO2 emission inventories in China based on apparent energy consumption data and updated emission factors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 742-750.
    19. Sheng Zhou & Alun Gu & Qing Tong & Yuefeng Guo & Xinyang Wei, 2022. "Multi‐scenario simulation on reducing CO2 emissions from China's major manufacturing industries targeting 2060," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(3), pages 850-861, June.
    20. Wang, Jie & Xiong, Yiling & Tian, Xin & Liu, Shangwei & Li, Jiashuo & Tanikawa, Hiroki, 2018. "Stagnating CO2 emissions with in-depth socioeconomic transition in Beijing," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1714-1725.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:236:y:2019:i:c:p:540-550. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.