Assessment of strategies for CO2 abatement in the European petroleum refining industry

Petroleum oil refineries account for almost 8% of the total CO2 emissions from industry in the European Union (EU). In this paper, the European petroleum refining industry is investigated and the prospects for future CO2 abatement in relation to associated infrastructure are assessed. A more efficient use of the adjacent infrastructure, e.g., district heating networks, natural gas grids, neighbouring industries, and CO2 transport and storage systems, could provide opportunities for additional CO2 emissions reduction. It is shown that access to infrastructures that can facilitate CO2 abatement varies significantly across countries and between individual refineries. The assessment shows that short-term mitigation options, i.e., fuel substitution and energy efficiency measures, could reduce CO2 emissions by 9–40 MtCO2/year (6–26% of the total refinery emissions). It is further shown that carbon capture and storage offers the greatest potential for more significant emission reductions in the longer term. However, the potential for CO2 capture varies significantly depending on the choice of technology, CO2 source, and scope of implementation (5–80% of the total refinery emissions).

► The EU petroleum refining industry must reduce its CO2 emissions significantly.
► Access to infrastructures which could facilitate CO2 abatement varies considerably.
► The potential for short-term CO2 emission reduction is 9-40 MtCO2/year.
► In the longer-term, emissions could be reduced by 13-80% if implementing CCS.
► If CCS is limited to CO2 emission clusters only, the reduction potential is 5-30%.