The EPS currently reports the fuels, electricity, and heat (steam) purchased and consumed by each industry. However, some industries transform some of those fuels into a different, intermediate energy carrier before consuming that energy carrier. The examples I'm aware of are:
refineries separating some chemicals from crude oil as refinery fuel gas (RFG) and burning the RFG for energy
natural gas processing plants separating some chemicals (to produce pipe-line quality gas) and burning the separated impurities for energy
steelmaking blast furnaces producing and burning blast furnace gas (BFG)
refineries and fertilizer plants producing hydrogen (H2) on-site via SMR or coal gasification, then using it
pulp & paper, and wood & wood products industries consuming biogenic byproducts derived from their input materials
lots of industries producing electricity on-site and consuming it on-site
lots of industries produce heat (steam) on-site and consume it on-site
On 10/27/23, Al Armendariz asked if we could get the EPS to report the quantity of RFG consumed at refineries. If we want to add this feature, I think it makes sense to generalize it to cover more intermediate energy carriers than RFG. I'd divide them into five categories:
Unusual fossil-derived chemicals and mixtures: includes RFG, BFG, and gases separated from natural gas processing
Biogenic byproducts: from pulp & paper, wood & wood products
Hydrogen
Electricity
Heat/steam
I think it's clear we would not want to include 5 (heat/steam) on an intermediate energy carriers graph, as most industrial energy use goes into making heat. It would dominate the graph and is not what people are interested in tracking when they talk about intermediate energy carriers like refinery fuel gas.
There's a better argument for including the other four items on an intermediate industrial energy carriers graph. We could include all of them or only some of them. At the least, I'd say that refinery fuel gas, blast furnace gas, and gases separated by natural gas processing plants would be the top priority.
We would likely need a new "industrial intermediate energy carriers" graph, because including these intermediate energy carriers on the same graph as purchased energy inputs could create double-counting (and even if not, could be confusing).
The EPS currently reports the fuels, electricity, and heat (steam) purchased and consumed by each industry. However, some industries transform some of those fuels into a different, intermediate energy carrier before consuming that energy carrier. The examples I'm aware of are:
On 10/27/23, Al Armendariz asked if we could get the EPS to report the quantity of RFG consumed at refineries. If we want to add this feature, I think it makes sense to generalize it to cover more intermediate energy carriers than RFG. I'd divide them into five categories:
I think it's clear we would not want to include 5 (heat/steam) on an intermediate energy carriers graph, as most industrial energy use goes into making heat. It would dominate the graph and is not what people are interested in tracking when they talk about intermediate energy carriers like refinery fuel gas.
There's a better argument for including the other four items on an intermediate industrial energy carriers graph. We could include all of them or only some of them. At the least, I'd say that refinery fuel gas, blast furnace gas, and gases separated by natural gas processing plants would be the top priority.
We would likely need a new "industrial intermediate energy carriers" graph, because including these intermediate energy carriers on the same graph as purchased energy inputs could create double-counting (and even if not, could be confusing).