C Factors Pinpoint Resource Utilization in Chemical Industrial Processes

This Full Paper illustrates the use of the C factor (CO2/product mass ratio) as a parameter to evaluate the CO2‐burden of a product. The C factor contains information of the total amount of CO2 emitted in order to produce a product, and thus enables a direct comparison of different processes from a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ChemSusChem 2009-01, Vol.2 (12), p.1152-1162
Main Authors: Voss, Bodil, Andersen, Simon Ivar, Taarning, Esben, Christensen, Claus Hviid
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomass
carbon dioxide
Carbon Dioxide - chemistry
Chemical Industry - methods
Fossil Fuels
Methods
Organic Chemicals - chemical synthesis
renewable resources
sustainable chemistry
synfuels
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Summary:This Full Paper illustrates the use of the C factor (CO2/product mass ratio) as a parameter to evaluate the CO2‐burden of a product. The C factor contains information of the total amount of CO2 emitted in order to produce a product, and thus enables a direct comparison of different processes from a CO2 aspect. We illustrate how this simple concept can be used to evaluate different resource types and processes. The C factors for different chemicals such as methanol, synfuels, and acetic acid are calculated for oil, coal, natural gas, and biomass. Based on these calculations, the combination of biomass and natural gas is an attractive alternative to coal, leading to products that have significantly lower C factors. The C factor is suggested as a metric for fast evaluation of the CO2 burden of chemical processes. The C factor contains information of the total amount of CO2 emitted in order to produce a product, and thus enables a direct comparison of the CO2 aspect of different processes. We illustrate how this simple concept can be used to evaluate different resource types and processes.
ISSN:1864-5631
1864-564X
DOI:10.1002/cssc.200900215