Transportation has long been identified as one of the most challenging sectors to decarbonize. Statista estimates that the transportation sector accounts for 17% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, behind only the power sector, with this number expected to rise in the coming years1.
How to decarbonize this growing sector represents a key challenge, heavily reliant on new and emerging technologies and huge shifts in infrastructure across the world. However, the transportation sector is far from homogenous, with different areas of the sector requiring different solutions.
Decarbonization in light transportation already well underway
The easiest piece of the puzzle is light transportation – for cars, light trucks and two-wheeled vehicles, the transition is already well underway. This is because these vehicles are smaller, they carry lighter loads, and they generally have frequent opportunities to refuel. This means that energy density (the amount of energy contained in a certain weight and volume) becomes less important, paving the way for alternative on-board energy storage like batteries or hydrogen fuel cells. The International Energy Agency estimates that there will be 125 million electric vehicles on the roads by 2030 and that oil demand from light vehicles will peak in the early 2020s2, despite growing numbers of total vehicles on the roads. Here you can read more about Sulzer’s contribution to lithium extraction and battery manufacturing, helping to enable the widespread adoption of EV’s across the globe.
Reduction of CO2 emissions in heavy transportation with sustainable aviation fuels
By far the bigger problem is how to decarbonize heavy transportation – ships, planes and heavy goods vehicles. There is a good reason why oil-based fuels have come to dominate our transportation sector – it is because their high energy density makes them the ideal fuel to carry heavy loads over long distances. The energy density of batteries is orders of magnitude lower than petroleum fuels, effectively ruling them out as a viable option to power larger vehicles over long distances. Put simply, batteries are too heavy and store too little energy relative to their weight for them to be used to transport passenger or cargo planes or ships over thousands of kilometers. Moreover, petroleum fuels’ liquid form means that they are far easier to transport to the point of use than energy stored in electricity, which requires significant infrastructure to transport.
For heavy transportation, there is therefore only one viable alternative – low-carbon fuels that mimic the highly useful characteristics of petroleum fuels in terms of energy density and ease of transportation. Biofuels and synthetic fuels show the most promise, as these fuels can be engineered to deliver the properties of petroleum fuels necessary to power heavy transportation, while producing a fraction of the carbon emissions. Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), for example, can reduce carbon emissions by up to 85% versus their petroleum-based alternatives.
Enabling the production at two of the world's largest biofuel facilities
In 2022, Sulzer was selected by Shell to supply pumps for its major new biofuel facility under construction in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Expected to become one of the largest biofuels production sites in Europe, the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park will create sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and biodiesel from waste. Once completed, the facility is expected to deliver 820’000 tonnes of low‑carbon fuels (LCF) a year, enough to eliminate 2’800’000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually – the equivalent of taking one European million cars of the road3. Sulzer’s industry-leading pumps will enable several critical processes at the facility, including providing boiler feedwater to drive the steam turbine generator.
Enabling the transition to net zeroFebruary 17, 2023Sulzer’s innovative solutions are enabling and accelerating the transition to net zero, by supporting our customers in securing a reliable supply of energy and resources for communities worldwide during the transition phase.
If you can’t eliminate your CO2 emissions, capture them!February 17, 2023Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) has a critically important role to play on the path to net zero. For those emissions that are impossible to completely eradicate through carbon reduction strategies, for example from industrial activities like hydrocarbon processing, Sulzer’s CCUS solutions can help to capture and transform the remaining emissions into valuable resources to be sold and used in a variety of sectors, thereby enabling circularity and the decarbonization of heavy industries.
Delivering reliable energy supply from intermittent renewable sourcesFebruary 17, 2023Sulzer is developing solutions to one of the major challenges that confronts renewable energy forms such as wind and solar – ensuring that the variable renewable energy supply caused by unpredictable weather conditions can be evened out and controlled to match energy demands.
Optimizing manufacturing processes for the automotive electric battery industryJanuary 18, 2023The adoption of electric vehicles across the world is increasing rapidly and this demand needs to be matched by the supply of batteries. As new processing plants and manufacturing facilities are constructed, it is important that they employ the latest in pumping technology to ensure optimum reliability and efficiency.
