Barriers and drivers for process innovation in the petrochemical industry: A case study

Process innovation and energy efficiency improvement are among the key options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in petrochemicals production. This case study presents some of the main drivers and barriers to activities aimed at improving existing processes and developing new processes in the petrochemical industry. Interviews, statistics and related literature were used. The results suggest that as far as strategic scenario planning is concerned, feedstock economics of new processes is of strategic importance, while energy efficiency is much less important. This explains why firms see new processes as strategic innovations, although they are often less energy efficient than existing processes.