There are two main reasons why the chemical process industry should be motivated to reduce energy consumption and CO 2 emissions: rising concerns in companies, the public and scientifi c community about climate change or global warming, and the increasing fraction of energy in manufacturing costs. ‘ Climate change ’ [1] in this context, means a change of climate, which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods
