Innovation Project Aims to Cut 15% of Process Industry CO₂ Emissions in Denmark by 2030

How do you move process industry away from natural gas and oil – without compromising operations and economics?

That is what the innovation project RAPIDH (Renewable and Affordable Process-Integrated District Heating) sets out to answer. The goal is for the process industry in Denmark to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 15% by 2030 by using, among other things, district heating as a central part of the solution – with concepts that can be scaled to the rest of Europe and, in the longer term, globally.

“In the process industry, a 15% reduction is a big number – we are talking large boilers and very high energy consumption. If we can document that district heating can be part of the solution mix and take over some of the process heat that would otherwise be produced from fossil fuels, it will make a real dent in Denmark’s total emissions. Often, companies look exclusively towards electrification. But in many areas, district heating can be an important part of the energy mix – especially in Denmark, where district heating already plays a key role,” says Ole Andreassen Kofoed, Head of Industry at consulting engineering company Artelia.

New opportunities in energyPRO

RAPIDH is developing a new process tool for the software platform energyPRO as well as a decision-support solution that makes it faster and easier to analyse what happens if a company switches from fossil fuels to, for example, district heating, heat pumps, electricity or solar PV. At the same time, the tool improves the possibilities for integrating both surplus heat and process heat with district heating.

“This makes it possible to optimise and improve energy efficiency not only between the district heating system and a single company, but also across industrial areas in a city, where some companies have surplus heat and others have a demand for process heat. In this way, RAPIDH supports more efficient use of energy across the entire energy system. Essentially, it is about the competitiveness of the European industrial sector, as integration with district heating systems can offer security of supply and affordable and sustainable energy,” says Hanne Kortegaard Støchkel, project development manager at DBDH.

The solution is tested and demonstrated in concrete Danish and German cases in the process industry and the district heating sector, with the ambition of supporting the green transition throughout Europe and, eventually, worldwide.

“With this approach, we can see the entire energy system at once – both process plants and the district heating network,” explains Linn Laurberg Jensen, Team Lead for Energy Systems at EMD.

“In practice, we build a digital twin of the company’s current setup and add scenarios on top: What happens if we connect to district heating, reduce gas consumption or add solar PV and an electric boiler? It makes it easier to show where savings can be realised and which solutions actually pay off – also from an ESG perspective.”

Rising CO₂ taxes make it costly to stay on gas

Part of the project is to strengthen dialogue and knowledge sharing between industrial companies and district heating utilities.

The project also has clear educational potential, as the knowledge built up and the new models in energyPRO can be used at relevant educational institutions.

For example, future operations and energy managers can train in analysing complex energy systems, optimising the interaction between process plants and district heating, and assessing the impact of CO₂ taxes and new investment scenarios.

“Companies are asking for quick, robust calculations on both economics and CO₂. And this is happening at a time when CO₂ taxes and ESG targets are increasing the pressure, and we are seeing great interest in solutions that can point the way away from CO₂-intensive energy sources. We see an overwhelming interest from industry, and we have not even met one person We have yet to meet anyone in industry who thinks this is a bad idea,” says Ole Andreassen Kofoed. 

At EU level, the transition of both industry and the heating sector is a prerequisite for reaching climate and energy targets, and RAPIDH supports synergies between the two sectors by linking process energy and district heating more closely together. With a strong EU focus At the same time, the EU is strongly focused on boosting the competitiveness of European industry through energy efficiency, lower CO₂ emissions and more robust energy solutions – the RAPIDH project is spot onall areas where RAPIDH offers concrete support. 

With the Danish green tax reform, it has been politically decided that the CO₂ tax on process energy from fossil fuels will gradually increase from around DKK 350/tonne in 2025 to DKK 750/tonne in 2030 for companies outside the EU Emissions Trading System. 

RAPIDH is carried out in a partnership between Artelia, EMD International, Energy Cluster Denmark, DBDH and NRW.Energy4Climate and is supported by the Danish Energy Agency through the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP).