California’s Industrial sector accounts for 33 percent (or 661 billion cubic feet) of the state’s natural gas consumption. The industrial sector also contributes 23 percent of the State's GHG emissions and has the second highest emissions reduction potential for meeting the 2030 targets as set forth in SB 350.
Process heat accounts for about 85 percent of industrial natural gas use in California and includes high-temperature industrial processes such as drying, smelting, curing, and forming. Typical industrial process heating equipment includes boilers, furnaces, and evaporators, which produce heat via combustion reactions. These highly exothermic chemical reactions convert air and natural gas to heat and combustion products. Air includes about 80 percent nitrogen, which is an inert compound that does not contribute to the heat produced by combustion reactions. Because of this, the exhaust gas is substantially diluted, and a substantial share of energy is used to heat nitrogen, resulting in energy losses of up to 70 percent. Diluted flue gas impairs carbon dioxide capturing since equipment must be oversized in order to process nitrogen too. These disadvantages could be resolved using advanced combustion technologies, such as oxy-combustion, that remove nitrogen from the air used for combustion.
The development of this solicitation is guided by the California Energy Commission’s Natural Gas Research and Development Program Plan for fiscal year 2019-2020. This solicitation pertains to the Energy Efficiency program area under the plan.
The purpose of this solicitation is to fund projects that will demonstrate increased efficiency of the oxygen-enriched combustion for industrial applications, or improve economics of equipment for oxygen production.
Projects must fall within the following project groups:
- Group 1: Demonstration of oxygen-enriched combustion for industrial applications; and
- Group 2: Test advanced oxygen production with improved economics.
CEC staff will hold a Pre-Application Workshop on October 22nd.
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