Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU)

Overview

Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU), covers greenhouse gas emissions occurring from industrial processes, from the use of greenhouse gases in products, and from non-energy uses of fossil fuel carbon.

Greenhouse gas emissions are produced from a wide variety of industrial activities. The main emission sources are releases from industrial processes that chemically or physically transform materials. (Examples include the blast furnace in the iron and steel industry, ammonia and other chemical products manufactured from fossil fuels used as chemical feedstock, the cement industry, aluminium production, and HCFC-22 production). During these processes, many different greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC_s), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and other fluorinated compounds such as trifluoromethyl sulphur pentafluoride (SF₅CF₃) can be produced and emitted. In addition, greenhouse gases often are used in products such as refrigerators, foams or aerosol cans. For example, HFCs are used as alternatives to ozone depleting substances (ODS) in various types of product applications. Similarly, sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and N2O are used in a number of products used in industry (e.g., SF₆ used in electrical equipment, N₂O used as a propellant in aerosol products primarily in food industry) or by end-consumers (e.g., SF₆ used in running-shoes, N₂O used during anaesthesia). A notable feature of these product uses is that, in almost all cases, significant time can elapse between the manufacture of the product and the release of the greenhouse gas.

Technical Working Group

Christopher Thomas Warburg
Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA)
Chair