Methodology for estimating greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions in the Industrial Processes and Product Use sector.
The industrial processes and product use sector includes all greenhouse gas emissions arising from technological processes of products and raw materials production. In the preparation of the greenhouse gas emission balance in the Slovak Republic, it is important to analyse individual technological processes and disaggregate emissions from fuel combustion (in heat and power production) and emissions from technological processes and industrial production. Basic methodologies according to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and the EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook 2023 were used to calculate historical emissions.
The emissions of air pollutants covered by the industry sector come from industrial processes, but also from combined combustion and technological processes, which are unified and reported as a basic unit (source). Emissions and operation data are reported directly by the operator and are recorded in the NEIS database. In some cases, it is not possible to divide emissions into separate emissions from combustion and emissions from technological processes. The national emission inventory of air pollutants is processed from multiple sources in order to cover all potential sources of pollution.
Emissions from the use of solvents are based to a significant extent on balance sheets within the NEIS database. The data in the database are filled in by the operators themselves, who measure or estimate information on emissions based on a procedure approved by the district authorities. The NEIS database contains only emissions from large and medium-sized sources. Emissions from small sources are estimated based on data from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic using the methodological procedure according to EMEP/EEA GB 2023. The solvent content in products is given by the national methodology.
Activity data consist of the amount of product produced, e.g. the amount of cement produced for a specific year. An emission factor is also needed. In industrial processes, the emission factor expresses the amount of greenhouse gases (in kt) released by producing a specific amount of product (in a mass unit, e.g. T, kt). For example, how much CO2 is produced by producing one tonne of cement. When considering the final emission levels, the yield factor also needs to be taken into account.
The general assumption for emission projections in the IPPU sector is the assumption of equipment lifetime and availability of input materials. The main driving force is the development of GDP. In industrial processes, the largest decrease can be expected mostly only due to a decrease in the production of a specific product. However, such a decrease is not expected, but through various modernization processes we can reduce or capture (CCS technologies – “carbon capture and storage”) a significant amount of emissions. In Slovakia, the largest share of emissions from IPPU is from iron and steel production.