Caleb Woodall PhD

Office of Workforce Management & Administration (FE-16)

Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

U.S. Department of Energy

Host: Evan Granite

Technology Options and Policy Design to Facilitate Decarbonizationof Chemical Manufacturing

Abstract: I will be presenting on my recently published paper titled “Technology options and policy design to facilitate decarbonization of chemical manufacturing,” which can be found here. This paper reviews technology options to decarbonize the production of ammonia, methanol, and ethylene, which together are responsible for about half of all greenhouse gas emissions from the chemical sector. The potential CO2 abatement of each technology is assessed in terms of the marginal cost of CO2 abated. Based on this analysis, carbon capture and storage (CCS) offers the lowest marginal cost and should be highly emphasized to maximize abatement in the near term. Using low-carbon hydrogen and large-scale process, electrification enables much larger emission abatement volumes, but significant cost reductions are necessary to realize their full potential. Other options assessed, such as the use of bio-based inputs and demand-side measures, also offer sizable abatement, but each faces unique challenges. Targeted policies are identified that can capitalize on the current low-cost technologies in the near term and improve the applicability of currently less-actionable technologies in the long term by addressing barriers of cost, lack of infrastructure, resource availability, and technological maturity.

Biosketch: Caleb Woodall works at the US DOE in the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, where he primarily helps manage the University Training and Research Program. This program provides early-stage R&D funding to universities, with a particular focus on HBCUs and other Minority Serving Institutions. Caleb has a strong interest in enabling everyone to contribute to preventing catastrophic climate change through sustainability and carbon management. He earned his BS in chemical engineering at the University of Arkansas and a PhD in chemical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute where he took a multi-faceted approach to advance carbon mineralization including lab-scale experimentation, product utilization analysis, policy development, and youth outreach. He has a deep background in policy and technical analysis of industrial decarbonization and carbon removal through other positions as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center of Global Energy Policy within Columbia University, a science analyst at Carbon Direct, and a policy fellow at ClearPath.