The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is hosting a webinar on October 21, 10 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. CT, that will examine the market and technological drivers for transitioning thermochemical processes to electrochemical to help achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Experts will discuss what short- and long-term impacts on emission are expected from converting thermochemical to electrochemical processes and what type of R&D is needed to close technological gaps.
Achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 will require new approaches to chemicals and materials manufacturing, whose two sources of emissions—direct emissions from fossil feedstocks used in the manufacturing process, and indirect emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels to generate process heat—reportedly represent up to 28% of global emissions.
Converting incumbent thermochemical processes that use fossil fuel-derived process heat to electrochemical processes that use carbon-free electricity would make a significant impact on industry emissions and energy efficiency, but many technological hurdles remain.
The webinar will also feature a live tour of the state-of-the art facilities and technologies available to industry partners at the Argonne National Laboratory, including its newly expanded Materials Engineering Research Facility.
For more information or to register, go here.
>> Related: Chemical Processing recently wrote about efforts targeting thermal processes such as cracking that now use fossil fuels (See: "Interest In Electricity Heats Up.")
