Decarbonising industry - the good, bad and ugly

Pamela Largue spoke to Tim Byrne, Vice President of ClimateBright at The Babcock & Wilcox Company, about the pressure on decarbonising industry, as well as the costs and challenges hindering progress.

Hard-to-abate sectors must embrace new decarbonisation technology to stay ahead of the curve, despite the complexity of emission sources and the costs of cost of going green.

"Industry emissions come through process and energy generation," explained Byrne, which makes decarbonisation difficult and expensive to do. "But there are solutions available," he added.

"When it comes to CO2, you can remove it, avoid it, reduce it, you can use it for beneficial use or store it." However, Byrne suggests that no matter the choice, the solution must balance affordability with flexibility.

Byrne added that it is critical that the industry integrates decarbonisation technologies with process technology to ensure operational obligations continue to be met.

A tough landscape to navigate, but Byrne is positive.

"Soon, companies will be able to integrate multiple technologies. [Considering] the technology investment and development over the next decade, I think in 2030 we will look back and see a massive injection of technology into the market to solve the problem."

Also of interest:
Tangible opportunities to decarbonize industry – Babcock & Wilcox
Is Germany’s grid renewables ready?