The commitment to limit global warming to a maximum of two degrees Celsius requires a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors. Energy-intensive industries are responsible for most industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Several projects have, therefore, been initiated to minimize greenhouse gas emissions in energy-intensive industries.
Current technologies are based on carbon-containing energy sources such as coal and natural gas. In the future, these should be replaced by low-CO2 alternative energy sources, such as hydrogen and electricity. Alternatively, CO2 emissions can also be captured and stored or reused in other processes.
In addition to the ecological advantages of alternative technologies, economic factors must be considered, which can lead to an increase in the specific costs of producing basic materials. Production costs are highly dependent on the country-specific prices of the input factors. Regional differences in energy prices are particularly relevant. Companies are confronted with the need to consider this when making strategic decisions about restructuring or setting up new production networks.
A techno-economic evaluation of alternative production networks for selected basic materials from energy-intensive industries will be carried out as part of a bachelor's or student research project. The focus should be on comparing production networks in which a high proportion of value creation occurs outside Germany, and most value creation occurs within Germany. For this purpose, suitable modeling and evaluation of alternative production processes must be carried out.
If you are interested, please contact Yannik Graupner.