Abatement costs of CO2 emissions in the Brazilian oil refining sector

David A. Castelo Branco, Alexandre Szklo, Gabriel Gomes, Bruno S.M.C. Borba and Roberto Schaeffer

Applied Energy, 2011, vol. 88, issue 11, 3782-3790

Abstract: This study aims at estimating the abatement costs of CO2 emissions of the Brazilian oil refining sector. For greenfield refineries that will be built until 2030, mitigation options include the modification of refining schemes and efficiency gains in processing units. For existing refineries and those already under construction, only mitigation options based on efficiency gains in processing units are evaluated. The abatement cost of each mitigation option was determined on the basis of incremental costs compared with a reference scenario. Two discount rates were applied: one adopted by the Brazil’s government official long term plan (8% p.a.), and another typically adopted by the private oil sector (15% p.a.). Findings indicate that refineries face high abatement costs. The cost of changing the processing scheme of greenfield plants reaches US$100/tCO2 at 15% p.a. discount rate. Even at 8% p.a. discount rate the abatement cost is higher than US$50/tCO2. The most promising alternative is thermal energy management, whose abatement cost equals US$20/tCO2 at 8% p.a. discount rate. However, private investors perceive this option at US$80/tCO2, which is still high. This difference in cost indicates the need for public policies for promoting carbon mitigation measures in Brazilian oil refineries.

Keywords: Brazilian oil refining; CO2 emissions; Abatement costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626191100287X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:88:y:2011:i:11:p:3782-3790

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.04.052

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().