Assessing Fossil Fuel and Feedstock Use in the U.S. Plastics and Rubber Sector: A Supply Chain Analysis

In plastics and rubber manufacturing, fossil fuels are consumed both as an energy source and as feedstocks that are converted to higher-value products. For example, in the manufacture of polyethylene, natural gas is consumed both as a fuel and as a feedstock during ethylene production. In this work, we expand on the U.S. Department of Energy's Bandwidth Study on Energy Use and Potential Energy Savings Opportunities in U.S. Plastics and Rubber Manufacturing, which quantified onsite fuel consumption and the potential for reducing fuel consumption by increasing energy efficiency in the plastics and rubber sector. The bandwidth study did not quantify fuel consumed upstream in the supply chain or as a feedstock; however, both contribute significantly to a plastic's total fossil fuel requirements. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2014 Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS) estimates that fossil fuels consumed as feedstocks account for approximately 74% of total fossil fuel consumption in the U.S. plastic resin manufacturing sector (NAICS 325211). We employ the Materials Flows through Industry (MFI) supply chain modeling tool, developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), to quantify process fuel and feedstock requirements within the supply chains of the same 10 categories of plastics and rubber commodities covered in the DOE bandwidth report. From these results, we identify supply chains that will have a high feedstock requirement even when energy efficiency is increased. We then use MFI to analyze several alternative plastics supply chains, including those utilizing biomass feedstocks and/or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste upcycling, to determine if these alternatives can potentially reduce both process fuel and feedstock requirements within the supply chains of interest. This presentation will include a case study comparison of supply chain energy consumption for petroleum-derived and bio-derived fiberglass reinforced plastic involving a novel waste PET upcycling technique recently discovered by NREL researchers.