A syngas network for reducing industrial carbon footprint and energy use

This paper makes a case for building syngas networks as a means of contributing to the reduction of industrial carbon footprints. After exploring historic and conventional approaches to producing syngas (or synthesis gas) from fossil fuels on increasingly large scales, the paper looks at ways of producing it from renewable sources and from surplus resource (or waste) from industrial, domestic, urban and agricultural systems. The many ways of converting syngas into power, industrial heat, fuels, chemical feedstocks and chemical products are then outlined along with the associated syngas purification requirements. Some of the processes involved provide an opportunity for cost-effective capture and storage of CO2. Pathways through this range of possibilities that enable a net reduction in energy footprint or in CO2 emissions are identified and exemplified. Recognising that those opportunities are likely to involve industrial facilities that are distributed spatially within a geographic area, the case for building an interconnecting syngas network is explored. Issues surrounding sizing the network, timing its growth, determining ownership and access arrangements, and planning/regulatory hurdles are found to be similar to the analogous case of building an industrial CO2 network, with the added complication that the term “syngas” tends to be used to cover a fairly wide range of gas compositions.