Fredric Bauer

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Associate senior lecturer at Lund University

Being integral to the fossil-based energy order and as a key driver of multiple and intersecting ecological crises, the petrochemical industry faces increasing pressures to transform. This paper examines how major petrochemical companies navigate these pressures. Drawing from literatures on discursive power, narratives, and neoGramscian political e...

The plastic industry is dependent on fossil fuels in various ways that result in strong “carbon lock-in” throughout the value chain and large and growing CO2 emissions. The industry must decarbonize to reach global net-zero pledges. Although a few initiatives have been launched, they primarily focus on plastic waste. Current research has investigat...

Based on an interdisciplinary investigation of future visions, scenarios, and case-studies of low carbon innovation taking place across economic domains, Decarbonising Economies analyses the ways in which questions of agency, power, geography and materiality shape the conditions of possibility for a low carbon future. It explores how and why the ch...

Introduktion Industripolitikens vara eller inte vara har under senare tid diskuterats intensivt i akademiska så väl som politiska kretsar. Intresset för industripolitik har återväckts genom klimatomställningen, en intensifierad global konkurrens om marknadsandelar inom grön teknik, samt det allt sämre säkerhetsläget. Alla stora ekonomier har i någo...

Using oil, gas, and coal to produce platform chemicals on an enormous scale, the petrochemical industry constitutes a core part of the global energy order. Given demand growth for petrochemicals, the sector is set to become increasingly important to fossil fuel interests. Arguing that internationalised networks help structure the social metabolism...

Ethylene is one of the most important products in the emissions-intensive petrochemical industry. Decarbonizing the ethylene industry is thus important for achieving global carbon neutrality. This study is the first to explore future long-term zero-emissions production pathways for the ethylene industry in China, the world's biggest ethylene produc...

Chemicals is the industrial sector with the highest energy demand, using a substantial share of global fossil energy and emitting increasing amounts of greenhouse gasses following rapid growth over the past 25 years. Emissions associated with energy used have increased with growth in coal dependent regions but are also commonly underestimated in re...

Plastic waste has come to the forefront of academic and political debates as a global problem that demands an urgent solution. Promoted by policymakers, academia, and corporations alike, the circular economy model presents a viable path to reach more sustainable levels of development. Emerging and disruptive technologies can catalyse the transition...

Analyses of the future for manufacturing and heavy industries in a climate constrained world many times focus on technological innovations in the early stages of the value chain, assuming few significant changes are plausible, wanted, or necessary throughout the rest of the value chain. Complex questions about competing interests, different ways of...

The continued expansion of plastics production all over the world entrenches modern societies and life styles deeper in the dependence on fossil resources. This research note develops the main aspects of the carbon lock-in in the plastics industry and how it extends into many aspects of contemporary life. With data collected from trade press and re...

The target of zero emissions sets a new standard for industry and industrial policy. Industrial policy in the twenty-first century must aim to achieve zero emissions in the energy and emissions intensive industries. Sectors such as steel, cement, and chemicals have so far largely been sheltered from the effects of climate policy. A major shift is n...

The objective of this paper is to outline and discuss the key elements of an EU industrial development policy consistent with the Paris Agreement. We also assess the current EU Industrial Strategy proposal against these elements. The “well below 2 °C” target sets a clear limit for future global greenhouse gas emissions and thus strict boundaries fo...

The present report presents a conceptual assessment model or framework for policy relevant analysis of low carbon transitions. The aim of the study is not to present specific guidelines for how to design assessments of low carbon transitions, but rather to give food for thought on aspects that should be regarded in the design process. The exact des...

The breaking with regime logics is one of the key leverage points to enable a socio-technical transition. Understanding how, and under what conditions, this may happen is thus an important task for transition studies. Recent research on socio-technical regimes has shown that they may be less geographically bound than previously assumed. Regimes may...

This information brief for investors aims to present research based information about a complex and heterogeneous industrial sector and the role for investors to support a sustainable development for plastics.

Transition narratives are stories promoting particular pathways for development, promoting specific actions, strategies, and interventions to enable certain outcomes in socio-technical transitions. Narratives centered around biorefineries take a significant role in the growing bioeconomy discourse, yet they express remarkably different visions for...

The bioeconomy has become a central concept in many strategies for future economic development, emphasising an increasing need for collaboration across industries and sectors for innovation. This paper unpacks aspects of collaboration in the bioeconomy by looking at the development of innovation networks for biorefinery technologies from 2004 to 20...

The concept of a bioeconomy can be understood as an economy where the basic building blocks for materials, chemicals, and energy are derived from renewable biological resources. Biorefineries are considered an integral part of the development toward a future sustainable bioeconomy. The purpose of this literature review is to synthesize current know...

The paper presents a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of production of ammonia using wind power. The ammonia is intended to substitute for nitrogen fertilizer produced from fossil resources. The studied system is designed to supply a rural community with fertilizer based on renewable energy and is, therefore, smaller than industrial fossil ammo...

The paper presents a new thermochemical process for the production of isobutanol, which is an excellent biobased gasoline blendstock. The main feedstock for the process is glycerine, obtained as a byproduct in biodiesel production, being used together with methanol. The process was modeled in Aspen Plus. The process design is characterized by a hig...

This paper presents a novel process for n-butanol production which combines a fermentation consuming carbon dioxide (succinic acid fermentation) with subsequent catalytic reduction steps to add hydrogen to form butanol. Process simulations in Aspen Plus have been the basis for the techno-economic analyses performed. The overall economy for the nove...

The gas produced in a biomass gasifier contains high amounts of tars which have to be removed prior to downstream utilization. Calcined dolomite is catalytically active for tar cracking reactions and resistant to sulfur poisoning. In this study, calcined dolomite was used as bed material in a reverse-flow reactor for cracking of tars in a model syn...

The utilization of biogas produced from organic materials such as agricultural wastes or manure is increasing. However, the raw biogas contains a large share of carbon dioxide which must be removed before utilization in many applications, for example, using the gas as vehicle fuel. The process – biogas upgrading – can be performed with several tech...

Glycerine is a chemical with a wide variety of uses. There are over 2000 known applica- tions in cosmetics, foodstuffs, fi ne chemicals, and other industries. With the recent boom for liquid biofuels however, glycerine – which is a by-product mainly of biodiesel production – has become abundant. New uses for the chemical are being researched, but l...