Preface

I have written this book at a time when the global oil consumption averages about 100 million barrels per day or two litres per person. At a price of $50-$130 per barrel, petroleum is one of the most affordable commercial liquid products ($0.3-$0.6/litre). Technological advances and efficiency improvements over the last century have enabled this level of scalability and affordability. However, largely because of the prevalent use of petroleum for energy, global carbon dioxide emissions have reached 100 million metric tons per day, averaging 13 kg per person in the world or 43 kg per person in the US The transition to alternative energy sources suggests that global oil consumption will peak soon, even though proven world oil and coal reserves are sufficient for another 50 and 100 years, respectively.

By 2050, the world population is projected to increase by more than 20% from today's 8 billion to 9.7 billion, and the global gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to more than double. Not only will energy demand grow, but the demand for infrastructure, housing, and consumer goods will also grow. All this demand growth will undoubtedly increase the consumption of raw materials and eventually lead to a material challenge for natural resources and environmental sustainability.

The good news is that the petroleum, gas and petrochemical industries have the technology and assets needed for offshore wind turbines, blue and green hydrogen production, and carbon dioxide capture and storage. They also have the refinery units and technology to produce renewable fuels. These industries are prepared for the journey to complete this crucial energy transition to a lower-carbon world. Lummus Technology introduced the industry´s first net-zero ethane cracker. They announced the launch of a major enhancement to their leading ethane feed steam cracker that can achieve zero carbon dioxide emissions from an ethylene plant.

Strengthening the development of science, chemical processes, and chemical technology in the field of electrochemicals or/and electrofuels also means strengthening the economy and energy independence. We will convert more parts of light hydrocarbons from crude oils and natural gas into petrochemicals with the rise and increased use of electric vehicles. Different analysis predict different changes to gasoline usage due to the electric vehicle evolution. To respond to this trend, national oil companies are adapting their product from hydrocarbons into petrochemicals. It is also possible to consider a zero-gasoline refinery where a refinery is dedicated to producing olefins, aromatics, and synthesis gas production for petrochemicals. Some refineries in Europe will reduce gasoline production and increase production of olefins and aromatics for petrochemicals. Petrochemical processes, hydrocarbon technologies and green engineering have paved the way for incorporation of electrochemical technologies into modern chemical industry.

Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine the global energetic matrix free of fossil transportation fuels, especially in developing economies. Despite this, recent forecasts and growing demand for petrochemicals, as well as the pressure to minimize the environmental impact produced by fossil fuels, creates a positive scenario and acts as a driving force for closer integration between refining and petrochemical assets. In some scenarios the zero fuels refineries grow in the middle term, especially in developed economies.

The focus of the closer integration between refining and petrochemical industries is to promote and take advantage of the opportunities existing between both downstream sectors to generate value to the whole crude oil production chain. The synergy between refining and petrochemical processes raises the availability of raw material for petrochemical plants and makes the supply of energy for these processes more reliable whilst at the same time ensuring a better refining margin to refiners due to the high added value of petrochemical intermediates when compared with transportation fuels. The development of crude-to-chemicals technologies reinforces the necessity of closer integration of refining and petrochemical assets by brownfield refineries aiming to face the new market that tends to be focused on petrochemicals against transportation fuels. It's important to note the competitive advantage of the refiners from the Middle East who have easy access to light crude oils that can be easily applied in crude-to-chemicals refineries. Crude oil-to-chemicals refineries are based on deep conversion processes that require high capital spending, and this fact can put pressure on the refiners with restricted access to capital, again reinforcing the necessity to look for close integration with the petrochemical sector aiming to achieve competitiveness.

At the extreme end of the petrochemical integration trend there are the zero fuels refineries.It is still difficult to imagine the downstream market without transportation fuels, but it seems a serious trend and the players in the downstream sector need to consider the focus change in their strategic plans as opportunity or threat, mainly considering the pressure over the transportation fuels due to the decarbonization necessity and new technologies.

Due to large production of biodiesel and green diesel, there is the possibility of having an oversupply of diesel. If that occurs, diesel can be converted to chemicals. This is a strategy of research aiming to anticipate the oversupply of diesel, where steam cracking of green diesel created olefins and benzene, toluene, and xylenes. Waste materials are targeted as raw feedstocks for biodiesel production. Solid waste from agriculture mining waste are among the most studied materials. With this concept, there are possibilities to synergize a bio-based economy and circular economy. Hence, the adoption of 5R principles (reduce, reprocess, reuse, recycle, and recover) and the use of renewable resources has been consolidated in the daily life of citizens and regulates the actuation of every industrial activity according to the circular economy.

Decarbonization has left numerous challenges for C1-technology. After carbon dioxide capture, the next challenge is carbon dioxide utilisation. The most prospective carbon dioxide utilization will be carbon dioxide hydrogenation to methanol to produce methane (methanation) or methanol. Dry reforming of methane is an interesting application of carbon dioxide as a sustainable C1 source in current commercial processes. We showed in the first edition of Petrochemistry (2020: Wiley) the latest references on kinetics and thermodynamics of carbon dioxide reforming of methane to understand the mechanism of coke formation. The conversion of carbon dioxide to methane and methanol is a strategic topic as methane and methanol are applied as hydrogen storage.

Hydrogen is an ideal electrochemical and electrofuel of the future. One of the main challenges of hydrogen fuelled vehicles is the appropriate technology to produce hydrogen on board the vehicle. There is clear trend to produce hydrogen from carbon dioxide and methane, both of which are greenhouse gases. Numerous governments are promoting green hydrogen from water electrolysis. However, the production cost of green hydrogen is still significantly higher than hydrogen from natural gas. Currently, the cheapest production of hydrogen is still from catalytic reforming and steam pyrolysis of naphtha, producing hydrogen as a by-product.

Storage of hydrogen in porous nanomaterials has stimulated crowded research activity in metal-organic frameworks, hydrides, composites. Storage of hydrogen in liquid form such as blue ammonia has recently been commercialized. This will stimulate more research activities in the transformation of petrochemicals into fuel additive production over novel catalysts. The United States has successfully introduced gasoline blended with 10% ethanol (E10) and is developing 2-methyltetrahydrofuran as a fuel additive. Dicyclopentadiene is used as a feedstock to produce endo- or exotetrahydrodicyclopentadiene. A fuel with such properties as high energy density, lower viscosity, and lower freezing point is desirable to be used in missile-bearing jets at higher altitudes. High molecular weight alcohol and ether fuels with their advanced autoignition propensities and oxygenated molecular structures are promising future fuel candidates for compression-ignition engine application, because they can provide improved combustion efficiencies and reduced pollutant emissions.

Converting Power into Chemicals and Fuels seeks to elucidate the pivotal role of petrochemical processes in actively pursuing the transition from fossil fuel scenarios to more sustainable energy supply systems. The transformation of energy systems into a sustainable future will be impossible without chemical energy conversion. As energy cannot be created, we always deal with conversion processes. Many of them involve molecular or solid energy carriers, thus it is evident that chemical technology is at the centre of the energy challenge. Chemical science can control the energetic costof the conversion of energy carriers.

The global demand for hydrocarbons - as petrochemical feedstock, as fuels for transport and for other uses - is expected to increase until at least 2040. These products have an unrivalled energy density and are easy to transport, making them an ideal means to carry and store energy. While alternatives are being developed for some of their current uses (e.g., in passenger cars, where electrification is expected to play a major role), hydrocarbons remain difficult to replace in heavy-duty and marine transport, in aviation and as a feedstock for...