Comparative lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and their reduction potential for typical petrochemical enterprises in China

Petrochemical enterprises have become a major source of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet, due to the unavailability of basic data, there is still a lack of case studies to quantify GHG emissions and provide petrochemical enterprises with guidelines for implementing energy conservation and emission reduction strategies. Therefore, this study conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis to estimate the GHG emissions of four typical petrochemical enterprises in China, using first-hand data, to determine possible emission reduction measures. The analytical data revealed that Dushanzi Petrochemical (DSP) has the highest GHG emission intensity (1.17 tons CO₂e/ton), followed by Urumqi Petrochemical (UP) (1.08 tons CO₂e/ton), Dalian Petrochemical (DLP) (average 0.58 tons CO₂e/ton) and Karamay Petrochemical (KP) (average 0.50 tons CO₂e/ton) over the whole life cycle. At the same time, GHG emissions during fossil fuel combustion were the largest contributor to the whole life cycle, accounting for about 77.31%-94.27% of the total emissions. In the fossil-fuel combustion phase, DSP had the highest unit GHG emissions (1.20 tons CO₂e), followed by UP (0.89 tons CO₂e). In the industrial production phase, DLP had the highest unit GHG emissions (average 0.13 tons CO₂e/ton), followed by UP (0.10 tons CO₂e/ton). During the torch burning phase, torch burning under accident conditions was the main source of GHG emissions. It is worth noting that the CO₂ recovery stage has "negative value," indicating that it will bring some environmental benefits. Further scenario analysis shows that effective policies and advanced technologies can further reduce GHG emissions.