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Applied Sciences
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Climate Neutral Basic Materials Industries
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Climate Neutral Basic Materials Industries

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 10639

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Stefan Lechtenböhmer

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Wuppertal, Germany; Lund University, Sweden
Interests: cross-sectoral consequential life cycle assessment; material flow analysis; sustainable industry; circular economy; energy systems; climate; transitions; decarbonization; policy; governance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Max Åhman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Lund University, Sweden
Interests: climate policy on the energy sector and deep decarbonization of the energy-intensive industry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to announce a new Special Issue of Applied Sciences on the important issue of Climate Neutral Basic Materials Industries.

The processing of basic materials is responsible for around 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Many basic materials industries operate in challenging circumstances. Strong international competition, capital intensity, economies of scale and long-term investment cycles, high demand for energy, and the need for significant breakthrough technologies create lock-in and barriers for climate neutrality. Overcoming these barriers will require the co-evolution of breakthrough technologies and significant low carbon energy infrastructures, as well as long-term innovation and transition strategies that go beyond incremental processes of change. It also requires international collaboration and a targeted supportive climate policy framework. Progress needs a combination of ambitious targets and strong leadership by industries and governments together with close international cooperation. Further, solutions need to be considered all the way along the value chain of the basic materials with strategies addressing material efficiency, substitution as well as demand-side actions for further developing industry towards a circular economy.

The Special Issue targets research that analyzes scenarios, roadmap concepts, and technologies enabling long-term changes in one or several of these industries or regional clusters.

  • Technological challenges and breakthrough technologies for deep decarbonization of energy-intensive industrial processes together with related business cases and infrastructure needs.
  • Concepts, strategies, and technical solutions on material efficiency, material substitution, as well as demand-side actions for further developing industry towards a circular economy.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Lechtenböhmer
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Max Åhman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Basic materials processing industries
  • Decarbonization
  • Electrification
  • Hydrogen
  • Circular economy

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 4861 KiB  
Article
How Do German Manufacturers React to the Increasing Societal Pressure for Decarbonisation?
by Stefan M. Buettner, Christian Schneider, Werner König, Hannes Mac Nulty, Chiara Piccolroaz and Alexander Sauer
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(2), 543; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12020543 - 06 Jan 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2820
Abstract
From the perspective of manufacturing companies, the political, media and economic discourse on decarbonisation in the recent years manifests itself as an increasing social expectation of action. In Germany, in particular, this discourse is also being driven forward by powerful companies, respectively sectors, [...] Read more.
From the perspective of manufacturing companies, the political, media and economic discourse on decarbonisation in the recent years manifests itself as an increasing social expectation of action. In Germany, in particular, this discourse is also being driven forward by powerful companies, respectively sectors, most notably the automotive industry. Against this background, the present paper examines how German manufacturing companies react to rising societal pressure and emerging policies. It examines which measures the companies have taken or plan to take to reduce their carbon footprint, which aspirations are associated with this and the structural characteristics (company size, energy intensity, and sector) by which these are influenced. A mix methods approach is applied, utilising data gathered from approx. 900 companies in context of the Energy Efficiency Index of German Industry (EEI), along with media research focusing on the announced decarbonisation plans and initiatives. We demonstrate that one-size-serves-all approaches are not suitable to decarbonise industry, as the situation and ambitions differ considerably depending on size, energy intensity and sector. Even though the levels of ambition and urgency are high, micro and energy intensive companies, in particular, are challenged. The present research uncovers a series of questions that call for attention to materialise the ambitions and address the challenges outlined. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Neutral Basic Materials Industries)
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16 pages, 1680 KiB  
Article
Toward Climate-Neutral Heavy Industry: An Analysis of Industry Transition Roadmaps
by Oliver W. Johnson, Gökçe Mete, Felipe Sanchez, Zoha Shawoo and Sara Talebian
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(12), 5375; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11125375 - 09 Jun 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3638
Abstract
Global efforts to decarbonize heavy industry remain insufficiently aligned. While relatively new forms of international collaboration between and among states and companies are emerging, there is still considerable room to embark on more structured knowledge-sharing activities and coherent action among nations. In order [...] Read more.
Global efforts to decarbonize heavy industry remain insufficiently aligned. While relatively new forms of international collaboration between and among states and companies are emerging, there is still considerable room to embark on more structured knowledge-sharing activities and coherent action among nations. In order to assess the concrete needs of an industry transition at scale, this paper analyzes 29 industry transition roadmaps across 13 countries, spanning the value chain of extractive, processing, and end-use heavy industry sectors. We compare and contrast these roadmaps according to the degree of ambition in decarbonization targets, the financial costs of implementing the roadmaps, and the key mitigation measures to achieve decarbonization targets. Importantly, this paper synthesizes and categorizes key policy, finance, and technology requirements called for to enable roadmap implementation. We demonstrate that the implementation of roadmaps across different industries and countries encounters common and comparable barriers and challenges, highlighting the need for international cooperation to facilitate global industry transitions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Neutral Basic Materials Industries)
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Review

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18 pages, 3672 KiB  
Review
100% Renewable Energy for Austria’s Industry: Scenarios, Energy Carriers and Infrastructure Requirements
by Roman Geyer, Sophie Knöttner, Christian Diendorfer, Gerwin Drexler-Schmid and Verena Alton
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(4), 1819; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041819 - 18 Feb 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3235
Abstract
The need for decarbonization raises several questions. How can renewable energy supply for the industrial sector be realized in the long term? Furthermore, how must the existing energy system be transformed to achieve the ambitious climate targets in place? In Austria, the share [...] Read more.
The need for decarbonization raises several questions. How can renewable energy supply for the industrial sector be realized in the long term? Furthermore, how must the existing energy system be transformed to achieve the ambitious climate targets in place? In Austria, the share of renewable energy supplying industrial energy demand currently accounts for only 45% of final energy consumption. This clearly shows that a conversion of industrial energy systems is necessary. Different ambitious perspectives for a renewable energy supply for the Austrian industrial sector are calculated for three defined scenarios (base, efficiency, transition) in this paper. In addition, corresponding requirements for the energy infrastructures are discussed. The scenario results show a range of industrial final energy consumption from 78 TWh (efficiency) to 105 TWh (transition) through decarbonizing the industrial energy supply (cf. 87 TWh in 2019). Decarbonization requires an increasing shift towards electrical energy, especially in the transition scenario, whereas in the base and efficiency scenarios, biogenic fuels play an important role. Comprehensive decarbonization and the associated substitution of energy carriers in industry pose significant challenges for the existing energy infrastructure, its expansion, and optimization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Neutral Basic Materials Industries)
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