Practical Pathways To Clean & Green Energy

Pravin has worked in the Projects industry for over three decades and has been recognized as an expert in people processes, organizational structuring, people connections,cost reviews/control/reduction, manufacturing operations, and many other areas.

BACKGROUND:

A lot of work is going on at feverish pace to change the source of energy from Carbon to Non-Carbon (often called Green Energy). This transition in energy source to non-carbon has become necessary because of the dramatic changes in the climate patterns and rainfalls that have manifested in the recent years. Every day, we see pledges of becoming carbon neutral or Net Zero by Heads of Countries or Heads of Large Corporations. All this is necessary & vital for the survival of Human Race on our planet.

We also come across news of path breaking new technologies being developed for production, management, usage & storage of Green Energy. The range of technologies include Green Hydrogen, Ammonia, Fuel Cells, Electrolysers, cultivated biomasses, Gasification, Wave power, battery& other storage technologies, & the like. The focus of most of these developments is to make the Green Energy affordable by using new & innovative techniques. Despite the urgency demonstrated by all of us, we seem to be a little away from getting commercially affordable Green Energy, especially for poor & developing countries. It will be some time before these new technologies become commercially affordable for the poor & developing countries.

While the whole world is looking forward to availability of affordable Green Technologies, majority of the existing energy producers & users are staring at the devastating prospect of their investments in the Energy infrastructure becoming obsolete & worthless! The world is caught in a peculiar situation. While waiting for emergence of the cost effective Green technologies, we will continue to harm the planet & once they emerge, we have to write off a lot of our long term investments!

Practical Pathways To Manage The Energy Transition:

In the given situation, it is necessary for the world to find energy transition pathways that satisfy the following conditions

• Pathways that start minimising the environmental impact while we wait for the economically viable Green Technologies to become available

• Pathways that make the existing Energy infrastructure suitable for Green Technologies & minimise the cost of write-offs

We have a great example of a Practical Pathway created by the automobile Industry. The approach of Hybrid Vehicle has provided this Practical Pathway. The Hybrid vehicle allows users to cut emissions by up-to 50 percent while waiting for the EVs to become viable with progressive deployment of charging infrastructure& extension of driving range. Based on my experience of more than 38 years in the Energy Industry, I believe that a similar ‘Hybrid’ Practical Pathway is also available for Energy users to meet the twin objectives of immediate start of emission reduction & prevention of future loss of investments. I give below a few examples of our own ‘Hybrid’ solution:

A. Adapt The Existing Combustion Equipment For Lowering Emissions:

We can make the following changes to existing equipment

• Increase efficiency – This is the easiest &fastest way of reducing emissions & can be implemented at small incremental cost.

With new diagnostic & remote operated Data based tools, we have scope to improve efficiencies of generation, transmission & utilization of Energy by 10-12 percent immediately. This can cut the emissions by 10-12 percent.

• Reduce emissions – This can be done by retrofitting the existing combustion equipmentwith lower emission technologies such as Low NOx burners, FGR etc. to reduce NOx emissions by 50+ percent. Addition of FGD systems would also reduce the Sox emissions by 80+ percent.

• Increase reliability –When we have unreliable equipment, we often run two equipment, both at part load, to take care of possibility of trip of one of them. This results in equipment running at lower efficiency giving higher emissions. Increasing reliability would automatically reduce such unwanted emissions. Remote monitoring, Data Analytics and more can be used to improve the reliability of the equipment.

B.Modify Existing Combustion Equipment To Accept New Green Energy Sources:

It is possible to modify & retrofit existing combustion equipment to utilize New & Carbon neutral Energy Sources.

Solid Fuel fired units: The solid fuel fired units can be modified to partially use other carbon neutral energy sources like a variety of biomass, process wastes, municipal waste, and many. All such these modifications will bring down emissions by up-to 50 percent.

Oil & Gas fired units: The oil & gas fired units can be modified to partially use other carbon neutral energy sources like Hydrogen, Ammonia, Biogas, liquid & gaseous process waste, and more. All such these modifications will bring down emissions by up to 50 percent.

"The range of technologies include Green Hydrogen, Ammonia, Fuel Cells, Electrolysers, cultivated biomasses, Gasification, Wave power, battery& other storage technologies, & the like"

C. Harness Waste Coming Out Of Industrial Processes:

Many industrial processes generate waste that has potential to be used as displacement of Carbonous fuels. Thesewastesare currently being disposed off without recovering the energy content. There is a great potential for using these industrial wastes to displace corresponding amount of Carbonous fuels in fired equipment. This waste is of different types as under: Hot waste gases: Several exothermic industrial processes emit gases at high temperatures. These gas streams contain useful energy which can be converted to steam or power by using Heat Recovery Technologies & low Temperature Power Organic Rankine Cycle and many. This heat recovery has potential to cut emission by over 50 percent.

Solid process waste: Several industrial processes produce solid wastes. A few examples of these include Spent Coffee Grounds in Instant Coffee plants, Non-Recyclable Solid Waste in recycled Paper plants, Char in Sponge Iron Plants, Bio Char in Ethanol plants, Saw Dust in Plywood plants, Pith in Paper plants, Spent Wash from Distilleries, & the list can go on.Most of these wastes are either being dumped in land fill or are being incinerated with external energy and without recovering their energy content. A scientifically built combustion system for such waste can recover all the energy in environmentally safe manner & would displace millions of tons of coal that is being burnt for producing energy in these plants.

Liquid/Gaseous process waste: Several industrial processes produce Liquid/Gaseous waste. A few examples of these include Tar from Phenol plant, Methanol & other liquid Hydrocarbons from Chemical plants, Off Gases/flare Gases from Chemical plants, Bio Gas from digesters, & the list can go on. Most of these wastes are either being released in air or are being incinerated with external energy and without recovering their energy content. A scientifically built combustion system for such waste can recover all the energy in environmentally safe manner & would displace millions of tons of coal that is being burnt for producing energy in these plants.

Conclusion:

I believe that, while it is immensely important to continue to focus on development of commercially viable Green Technologies, it is equally important to find Practical Pathways for quicker & easier Energy transition that focus on immediate reduction in CO2 emissions & that minimise losses in the value of existing Energy infrastructure.I have given a few examples of such Practical Pathways that will permit the Energy Transition to start right away without waiting for availability of commercially viable technologies. I am sure, if all the energy producers &users look harder, they will find a lot many Practical Pathways to Clean & Green Energy. I would call this as the Energy Industry’s ‘Hybrid’ solution!.