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Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It is well-known that energy consumption is increasing around the world on a daily basis. In the construction sector, a highly effective solution for reducing energy consumption involves exploring both modern and traditional buildings designed to adapt to climate changes. One promising approach is to use paper waste and bio-sourced materials as the basis for insulation. The purpose of this study was to improve the sustainability of buildings by using recycled waste materials that have a positive impact on the environment, people, and the economy. A novel insulating material composed of recycled paper waste and Ampelodesmos mauritanicus leaves and fibers was developed and used in non-load-bearing elements. The paper waste was transformed into pulp and mixed with the bio-sourced materials to create a composite material that exhibits excellent insulation properties. The resulting material is lightweight, durable, and cost-effective. Furthermore, different mechanical and thermal analyses were performed on specimens with varying dosage ratios. The results showed that the developed material has good thermal insulation, with a value of 0.027 W/m.K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial energy management is critical to ensuring efficient energy usage, market viability, and greenhouse gas emission reductions. In this study, the aim is to investigate energy management practices in paper and pulp industries (PPI) of Bangladesh. The study identifies several barriers to adopt energy management practices; "Lack of governmental attention", "Inadequate staff awareness" and "limited access to capital" are identified as the major constraints. In addition, HVAC systems and compressed air systems present higher barriers compared to electrical motor and pump systems while looking at the barriers by technology areas. On the other hand, "Owner's demand", "Commitment from the top management" and "Pressure from the customers and different non-Governmental organization" are found to be the dominant drivers of energy management in the studied PPI. Energy management practices can enhance the energy efficiency approximately by 4–5 % according to the study. Furthermore, this study reveals that the majority of PPIs are unaware of the energy service companies (ESCO) with the lack of a standardized system for energy audit, as well as a lack of trust and information, appearing to be the obstacles behind this. • Energy management practices in paper and pulp industries of Bangladesh are shown. • Barriers and drivers to energy management practices in paper and pulp industry are presented. • Barriers to energy efficiency measures by technology area are discussed. • Barriers to consult energy service companies (ESCOs) are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pulp and paper industry (PPI) has several opportunities to contribute to meeting prevailing climate targets. It can cut its own CO2 emissions, which currently account for 2% of global industrial fossil CO2 emissions, and it has an opportunity to produce renewable energy, fuels, and materials for other sectors. The purpose of this study is to improve understanding of the decarbonization prospects of the PPI. The study provides insights on the magnitude of needed annual renewal rates for several possible net-zero target years of industrial fossil CO2 emissions in the PPI and discusses decarbonization opportunities, namely, energy and material efficiency improvement, fuel switching, electrification, renewable energy production, carbon capture, and new products. The effects of climate policies on the decarbonization opportunities are critically evaluated to provide an overview of the current and future business environment of the European PPI. The focus is on Europe, but other regions are analyzed briefly to widen the view. The analysis shows that there are no major technical barriers to the fossil-free operation of the PPI, but the sector renovates slowly, and many new opportunities are not implemented on a large scale due to immature technology, poor economic feasibility, or unclear political environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy needed for the dewatering and drying of wet paper web represents around half of the energy consumption of papermaking processes. The present work examined whether the dewatering and drying of paper could be enhanced during a previous pulp drying process by pretreating the fibers with polyamide-epichlorohydrin (PAE). According to the hypothesis, the cured PAE restrains swelling and water absorption of water-wetted fibers by forming a fiber-bound, self-crosslinked polymernetwork on the fiber surfaces. The hypothesis was tested by adding PAE to never-dried kraft pulp slurry followed by pulp thickening, drying, and final curing of the PAE-resin. After this, the PAE-treated fibers were dispersed in water, and their water retention values (WRV) and Shopper-Riegler values (°SR) were measured. The PAE pretreatments notably decreased the fibers' WRV and °SR, indicating improved water removal of paper web in the paper machine forming and drying section. Compared to chemical crosslinking pretreatments, which also can be used to decrease fibers WRV and °SR-value, a notable advantage of PAE-pretreatment is milder required curing conditions of the PAE, which makes implementation of the method easier in practice. Due to decreased fiber-to-fiber bonding capability, the PAE-treated specialty fibers could take advantage especially as a bulking aid of paperboard, tissue, and absorbent materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Pulp & Paper is the property of China Pulp & Paper Magazines Publisher and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• The 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid is effectively removed by electrocatalytic oxidation. • By activating the lattice oxygen in Ni/WO 2 , a large amount of O 2 − is produced. • The electrocatalytic oxidation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid by Ni/WO 2 is the best at 8 mA cm-2. • The catalyst is simple to manufacture and has a low cost. Electrocatalysis is a promising method for removing harmful substances because it does not involve toxic agents and has low energy consumption. Herein, we have developed a low-cost nickel-tungsten dioxide (Ni/WO 2) grown on carbon paper for the first time. Ni/WO 2 /CP demonstrates remarkable catalytic efficiency for the electrocatalytic oxidation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), achieving a conversion rate of 100 % within 3 h and a total organic carbon (TOC) removal rate of 57 %. After four reaction cycles, the electrode can still achieve a conversion rate of 90.49 %. The exceptional activity of Ni/WO 2 could be attributed to the activation of lattice oxygen in WO 2 by coupled Ni, leading to the generation of a significant amount of superoxide free radicals (O 2 −) and creating numerous oxygen vacancies that serve as the active sites for subsequent 2,4-D oxidation. This work highlights the impact of lattice oxygen on electrocatalytic oxidation and material modification, offering a noble metal-free catalyst for converting harmful substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Pulp & Paper is the property of China Pulp & Paper Magazines Publisher and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A novel approach for paper drying using airborne ultrasound technology is presented. A unique experimental setup is developed, and a systematic study is conducted using 23 factorial design of experiments and Analysis of Variance. Three controlling factors are considered in the experiments including the initial moisture content, basis weight and refining condition. The outcome of the experiments is compared to a previous work on direct-contact ultrasonic drying of paper. The results confirm that similar to direct-contact, for airborne ultrasonic drying, the basis weight/thickness of the sample is the most important factor in ultrasonic drying and it is followed by the effect of initial moisture content. Using linear regression model, a correlation for predicting the total time of ultrasonic drying is provided. Quality of the dried samples is evaluated, and the permeability measurements confirmed the effect of pore characteristics on ultrasonic drying. The analysis for energy consumption reveals that airborne ultrasonic drying is more efficient at higher moisture contents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inks and toners used for printing contain materials, such as polyester, with strong triboelectric properties to enhance the binding effects, making wastepaper, such as magazines and newspapers, good candidates for triboelectric materials. Herein, high‐output power triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) that utilize wastepaper as triboelectric layers (wastepaper‐based triboelectric nanogenerators (WP–TENGs)) are reported. Journal paper and office copy paper wastes are investigated. The results show that the maximum power densities of the WP–TENGs reach 43.5 W m−2, which is approximately 250 times the previously reported output of the TENG with a recycled triboelectric layer made from wastepaper. The maximum open circuit voltage (VOC) and short circuit current (ISC) are 774 V and 3.92 mA (784 mA m−2), respectively. These findings can be applied to extend the life cycle of printed papers for energy harvesting, and they can later be applied for materials recycling to enhance the sustainable development of our society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delves into the dynamic evolution of solids content in a pilot-scale through air drying tissue machine, aiming to enhance comprehension and refine optimization strategies for tissue manufacturing. It focuses on development of solids content throughout the process. Analyzing the interaction between process parameters and solids content provides deeper insights into water removal dynamics. The research employs solid contents monitoring techniques in pilot scale, offering a detailed view of solids content evolution from the wet web's inception to the final tissue product. It significantly highlights the impact of key parameters, particularly pulp refining, on solids content across all positions of the pilot machine. Additionally, the study emphasizes the influence of vacuum system configurations, identifying the relationship between energy expended in the vacuum system and evaporation energy. Furthermore, the results indicate that compression and air displacement dewatering in vacuum boxes are less speed-sensitive compared to heat-driven evaporation in the TAD- and Yankee cylinders. Solid contents at all positions in the tissue machine correlates between various dewatering elements. Optimizing site-specific dewatering and evaporation strategies can potentially save drying energy in the Yankee drying phase which hold promise for enhanced energy and resource utilization, aligning with demands for sustainable manufacturing practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overwintering insects are facing energetic challenges because of food shortage, low temperature, and desiccation stress. Paper wasps of the genus Polistes overwinter as mated adults (gynes) in hibernacula protecting them from predation, snow, and rain but barely from low environmental temperature. In different climates, they face differing overwintering temperature regimes, and therefore they may differ in their energy use. We investigated how much of energy resources built up until autumn is used during diapause dormancy in natural hibernacula by measuring lipid, glycogen, and free carbohydrate content in autumn and early spring in Polistes dominula from temperate European (Austrian) and warm Mediterranean (Italian) climate and Polistes gallicus from Mediterranean climate. Winter energy consumption amounted to ~ 339 and ~ 310 J per wasp in the Austrian and Italian Polistes dominula populations. The smaller Italian Polistes gallicus consumed ~ 247 J. This amounts to 2.62, 2.35, and 1.79 J per day. Of this, the energy demand was mainly fuelled by lipids (84%, 93%, and 90%, respectively), but glycogen stores contributed also considerably (16%, 6%, and 9%). Free carbohydrates decreased only by 0.7%, 1%, and 0.8%. While fat stores seem still sufficient in spring, the wasps depleted most of their carbohydrates. The energy reserves of 396, 400, and 147 J per wasp remaining in spring in the three populations seem sufficient to fuel rest or simple brood care activities for a whole summer but restrict foraging flights to a few hours (~ 3.5–6 h). Results suggest that energy supply might become challenging in expected future climate scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are opportunities to reduce electrical energy demand in unit processes of mechanical pulp-based paper and paperboard production, this may not be financially beneficial. This is generally because energy optimization opportunities connected to reduced refiner electricity demand in mechanical pulping systems also results in less steam available for the drying of the paper. As modern high consistency refiner systems produce approximately one ton of steam for each MWh of electricity when producing one ton of pulp, a reduction in electric energy demand leads to increased fuel demand in steam boilers to compensate for the steam shortage. In this study, we investigated what the financial and environmental situation would look like if we were to expand the system border from a paper mill to a larger system consisting of a mechanical pulp-based paper or paperboard mill, a district heating system with an incineration boiler and a chemical pulp mill. Mechanical pulp production has a wood to product yield of >90%, a high electric energy demand to separate woodchips to pulp and is a net producer of heat and steam while chemical pulp-based production has a wood to product yield of 50%, a low electric energy demand and is a net heat and electricity producer due to the combustion of dissolved wood polymers. The aim of this research is to create useful and robust models of how to use excess heat from certain industry sites to cover the steam shortage in other industry sites by means of utilizing and optimizing the district heating systems connecting these sites. For this purpose, we used a simulation tool which dynamically allows us to evaluate different scenarios. Our results shows that there is great potential to reduce both carbon dioxide emissions and production costs for industry sites and society by means of these tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In the pulp and paper industry, black liquor, which is a biomass resource, is burned to produce electricity. Black liquor is concentrated to 21 wt% water through an evaporator before being burned in a boiler. For the evaporator, a multiple‐effect evaporator (MEE) is mainly used, but it requires a large amount of energy and cost. Therefore, it is crucial to reduce energy and cost of evaporation process. Hence, this study suggested a novel process model that integrated mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) with MEE to increase the energy efficiency. The suggested MVR‐assisted evaporation process was composed of preheating and evaporation processes to effectively concentrate black liquor. In addition, it reduced the steam consumption of MEE by using MVR, which uses relatively inexpensive electric energy in the pre‐evaporation process. In the simulation results, the steam, electricity consumption, and the latent heat recovered from the secondary vapor of the suggested process were quantitatively analyzed to verify the energy efficiency. The results indicate that the proposed process increases substantial energy efficiency compared to the conventional process. Then, the appropriateness of the suggested process was evaluated by the techno‐economic analysis. The total annualized cost (TAC) is determined for both current and potential future economic benefits. TAC of the MVR‐assisted MEE configuration can be reduced by up to 77.54%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toilet paper has been reported as one of the major insoluble pollutant components in the influent of wastewater treatment plants. Toilet paper fibers contribute to a large production of sewage sludge, resulting in a high treatment cost and high energy consumption. To find energy-efficient, cost-effective, and environment-friendly technologies for fiber removal and resource recovery from wastewater, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to analyze the wastewater treatment processes, including a sieving process for removing and recovering suspended solids before the biodegradation units. Based on the LCA results, it was estimated that the sieve screening process saved 8.57% of energy consumption. The construction phase of sieving consumed 1.31% energy cost compared with the operation phase. Environmental impact analysis showed that sieving reduced the impacts of climate change, human toxicity, fossil depletion, and particulate matter formation, which reduced the total normalized environmental impacts by 9.46%. The life-cycle analysis of the removal of toilet paper fibers from wastewater revealed the need to use more efficient methods to enhance the recovery of cellulose fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents studies on the impact of the significant process parameters of a paper machine with a Yankee cylinder on its production capacity and heat energy consumption for drying the paper web. Parameters such as machine speed, web moisture content before and after pressing, parameters of steam supplied to the cylinder and parameters of hot air flowing from the nozzles of the hood were analyzed. The study's results were used to optimize production to improve the energy efficiency and performance of the machine. In order to use the possible methods of improving the production capacity and heat energy consumption, the parameters of the production process were measured and the basic indicators characterizing the operation of the machine were calculated in the Yankee cylinder–dryer hood system. The correct functioning of the machine components and the possibility of their modernization were also analyzed. Technological and construction changes introduced based on the research results made it possible to increase the production capacity by 10% and to reduce the consumption of heat energy per 1 ton of produced paper by 16.3%. The article presents a description of changes in the technology of paper production and modernization of the tissue machine made in the years 2013–2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NiFe2O4 material is grown on carbon paper (CP) with the hydrothermal method for use as electrocatalysts in an alkaline electrolyzer. NiFe2O4 material is used as the anode and cathode catalysts (named NiFe(+)/NiFe(−) hereafter). The results are compared with those obtained using CP/NiFe as the anode and CP/Ru as the cathode (named NiFe)(+)/Ru(−) hereafter). During cell operation with NiFe(+)/Ru(−), the current density reaches 500 mA/cm2 at a cell voltage of 1.79 V, with a specific energy consumption of 4.9 kWh/m3 and an energy efficiency of 66.2%. In comparison, for NiFe(+)/NiFe(−), the current density reaches 500 mA/cm2 at a cell voltage of 2.23 V, with a specific energy consumption of 5.7 kWh/m3 and an energy efficiency of 56.6%. The Faradaic efficiency is 96–99%. With the current density fixed at 400 mA/cm2, after performing a test for 150 h, the cell voltage with NiFe(+)/Ru(−) increases by 0.167 V, whereas that with NiFe(+)/NiFe(−) decreases by only 0.010 V. Good, long-term stability is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Montes is the property of Colegio y Asociación de Ingenieros de Montes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In order to study the cutting performance of the straight edge hob and reduce the cutting power consumption model of the straight edge hob, this paper takes the cutting power of the straight edge hob as the minimum goal, and establishes the mathematical model of the optimization design of the straight edge hob based on the composite optimization method. The mathematical model is solved by MATLAB software. At the same time,the mowing characteristics of a roller blade were studied by investigating the relationship between the hob and the coordination of variables such as rotational speed and roller diameter with the mowing parameters. The parameter analysis of straight edge hob before and after structural parameter optimization is generated, and a design method is proposed based on this. After defining the objective function and constraint conditions, the influence of structural parameters on the power consumption and efficiency of the hob was determined by optimising the complex method; this could significantly adjust the hob parameters to lower its power consumption. The energy consumption of the optimized design is reduced by 11.1 % compared with the original scheme, and the optimization effect is remarkable. The results show that the best working parameters of the hob are cutting speed of 1000 r/min, sliding cutting angle and grinding edge angle of 25~30°. Moreover, practical tests demonstrated the feasibility of using the proposed method to design the straight edge hob to improve mowing performance and hob stability. This study can provide parameter foundation and an optimization method for lowering chopping power consumption of the roller mower blade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of intelligent transportation, the planning of traffic flows that meet energy-efficient driving requirements necessitates the acquisition of energy consumption data for each vehicle within the traffic flow. The current methods for calculating vehicle energy consumption generally rely on longitudinal dynamics models, which require comprehensive knowledge of all vehicle power system parameters. While this approach is feasible for individual vehicle models, it becomes impractical for a large number of vehicle types. This paper proposes a digital model for vehicle driving energy consumption using vehicle speed, acceleration, and battery state of charge (SOC) as inputs and energy consumption as output. The model is trained using an optimized CNN-BiLSTM-Attention (OCBA) network architecture. In comparison to other methods, the OCBA-trained model for predicting PHEV driving energy consumption is more accurate in simulating the time-dependency between SOC and instantaneous fuel and power consumption, as well as the power distribution relationship within PHEVs. This provides an excellent framework for the digital modeling of complex power systems with multiple power sources. The model requires only 54 vehicle tests for training, which is significantly fewer than over 2000 tests typically needed to obtain parameters for power system components. The model's prediction error for fuel consumption under unknown conditions is reduced to 5%, outperforming the standard error benchmark of 10%. Furthermore, the model demonstrates high generalization capability with an R2 value of 0.97 for unknown conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mini‐review summarises and discusses recent findings form the literature on the degradation of carbon‐based electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). It becomes evident that the focus of current investigations is on carbon paper, carbon felt and graphite felt electrodes, which is understandable from a practical point of view. However, the structural complexity of these materials often prohibits doubtless attribution of observed performance reduction (or increase) to changes in the electrode materials. Among the discussed major causes for degradation are formation or change of surface functional groups, changes in the carbon sp2/sp3 ratio, intercalation of ions as well as formation of inhibiting adsorbates. In order to gain deeper insight into the changes of carbon electrodes in VRFBs under relevant operation conditions, the authors suggest reducing complexity of the investigated materials and applying in situ‐studies under well‐defined and controllable conditions on model electrodes. These studies then should be extended towards more practical systems and may finally help to reduce degradation phenomena including enhanced overvoltages and thus could improve cycling and energy efficiency as well as long‐term stability of vanadium redox flow batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The air-drying of resin impregnated paper sheets in industrial lines, formed by a serial array of furnaces, presents a high number of different controllable operational parameters whose adjustment, usually done by the maintenance staff, leads to non-efficient configurations. A model-based numerical tool, which predicts accurately in a few seconds the evolution of the paper temperature and paper grammage along the line for a given combination of the input operational parameters (direct design), was used coupled to an optimization tool to select appropriate operational parameters (inverse design) that ensure a drying process quality (i.e., fulfills an objective grammage profile) with a minimum of energy consumption. The numerical tool was capable of selecting suitable configurations with an energy reduction of up to 50% for several tested industrial cases, making the model an essential tool in the framework of the increasingly relevant role of digital twins in industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-of-the-art manufacturing of tissue paper by Through Air Drying provides excellent product performance, although at a high production cost and energy use. In this work, a laboratory scale vacuum suction box was used to mimic the initial dewatering and the Through Air Drying molding, together with a pilot-scale trial. The purpose was to investigate both how the laboratory scale corresponds to pilot scale testing and investigate how fabric design, basis weight, beating, and fibers affect dewatering and sheet caliper. This study reevaluates dewatering mechanisms during molding, challenging the previous hypothesis of pure air displacement dewatering. Results show a parallel mechanism of compression dewatering and air displacement. The influence of rush transfer is examined, impacting the sheets' visual appearance, thickness, and solids content. Correlations between molding box solids content and headbox freeness emphasize significance of fibers and beating levels. Pilot results confirm the link between former solids and molding box solids. Pilot trials validate the laboratory results, facilitating comprehensive simulation of full-scale manufacturing. This research reveals dewatering mechanisms, highlights operational parameters, and enables effective Through Air Drying process design and refinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The document is a guest editorial introducing selected papers from the VIth Modern Power Systems and Units Conference organized by the Department of Energy at Cracow University of Technology in Poland. The conference aims to exchange knowledge on power engineering, heating, renewable energy sources, and other related topics. The special issue of Heat Transfer Engineering journal features papers on various topics presented at the conference, including biomass as a fuel, platinum catalysts in fuel cells, and environmentally friendly water distillation methods. The papers have been reviewed by experts in the field and aim to foster scientific cooperation and fruitful collaboration in the future. [Extracted from the article]

This paper studies the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions, which is a hot topic in the field of environmental economics. This topic is within the scope of the Frontiers in Environmental Science and is particularly in line with the theme of Environmental Economics and Management section in the journal. Firstly, this paper constructs the Digital Economy Development Index and its variable indicators to measure the development of the digital economy. Secondly, this paper uses urban panel data to reveal the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions, and further adopts IV method to deal with endogeneity issues. Thirdly, this paper performs the heterogeneity analyses depending on the characteristics of the city. The results can provide a basis for formulating differentiated policies. Fourthly, this paper further explores the mechanism by which the digital economy affects carbon peaking. The results show that the digital economy may influence carbon peaking through upgrading of the industrial structure, technical innovation, and energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an urgent need for energy sources with lower environmental impacts to dispose of waste generated by human activities. In this context, a holistic analysis of energy use of waste from agricultural and forestry activities, animal excreta, urban solid waste and sewage, waste from the pulp and paper industry and charcoal in Brazil is presented. Based on a bibliographic review, the current Brazilian panorama is presented in figures giving, a vision of national potential for harnessing bioenergy from this theoretical and technical potential. The QGIS3.24.2 Tisler geoprocessing tool was used to generate potentiality maps from census data of microregions and municipalities available in the IBGE database (2022) and in the Geocentric Reference System for the Americas (SIRGAS 2000). The results of map analysis by micro‐regions of the primary energy from agricultural residues highlight sugar cane, corn and soybeans crops, followed by wastewater and animal excreta. They stood out amont the studied sources of biomass with technical potentials of 53.17, 15.23 and 6.81 GW, respectively. With these results, it is concluded that Brazil could enable around 75 GW installed power, reusing all biomass, potentially 12.5 PJ, without considering the 16 GW already installed from sugarcane and paper black liquor plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Producing tissue paper is an energy-demanding process; a significant amount of energy is expended when removing water by vacuum, mechanical pressing, and thermal drying. Because the water is most energy-demanding to remove in drying, making the preceding step of vacuum dewatering more efficient would benefit the whole process. This article focuses on developing a laboratory-scale method for verifying the nature of diminishing returns of water removal and investigating efficiency strategies of the vacuum dewatering. The theoretical concept of successive vacuum suction boxes with progressing vacuum levels was tested at the laboratory scale in order to show quantifiable results of the previously solely theoretical concept. The results confirmed that vacuum dewatering can be improved by adding progressively higher vacuum levels and that such a practice can benefit both outgoing dryness levels and expended vacuum pump energy. To truly examine the power of progression of vacuum levels, rewetting can be included in the calculations, by using an approximate value collected from pilot or fullscale measurements. For any new fiber mix, pulp type, vacuum level setup, basis weight, etc. the vacuum levels, rewetting, and dwell times need to be tuned to that specific case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has revealed the existence of an energy-efficiency gap – the difference between optimal and actual energy end-use, suggesting that energy efficiency can be improved. Energy management (EnM) is a means for improving industrial energy efficiency. However, due to various barriers, the full potential of EnM is not realised. Several studies have addressed drivers and barriers to energy efficiency but few to EnM. This study aims to identify EnM practices, the most important perceived drivers and barriers for EnM, and relations among them in the energy-intensive Swedish pulp and paper industry (PPI), which has the longest experience internationally of practising EnM systems, and has worked according to the standards since 2004. Our results show that, altogether, the PPI works regularly and continuously with EnM, with a clear division of responsibilities. The highest maturity for EnM practices was for energy policy, followed by organization, investments, and performance measurement. The study also shows that communication between middle management and operations personnel has potential for improvement. The most important categories of drivers were economic, whereas for barriers they were organizational. Nevertheless, knowledge-related barriers and drivers were amongst the most important, suggesting that the absorptive capacity for energy issues could be improved. Image 1029 • Energy is managed continuously, with clear policies and responsibilities. • The main drivers are economical while main barriers are organizational. • Knowledge related barriers and drivers are amongst the next most important. • Employees' absorptive capacity for energy issues could be improved. • Link between energy policy and performance measurement could be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guiding industries to produce in an effective and environmentally sustainable manner has become a key issue for governments around the world. Over the past 15 years, series of regional and industrial development policies have been introduced by the Chinese government. This has influenced the geographical distribution and energy efficiency performance of China’s industries. This paper quantifies the influence of enterprises geographical distribution on energy efficiency improvement in the paper industry and aims at providing some helpful suggestions on industrial development to policy makers. The main results show that, firstly, the paper industry in eastern China shows obvious characteristic of agglomeration. The average location quotient is 1.2278. However, following the industrial and regional development policies, the characteristic of agglomeration is weakening. Secondly, only when agglomeration reaches a certain level (location quotient is above 0.5447) will industrial agglomeration positively impact on industrial energy efficiency improvement (a 1% increase in agglomeration will increase dynamic energy efficiency by at least 0.23%). Thirdly, the regional development policies carried out by the government slow the pace of energy efficiency improvement in China’s paper industry. The empirical results indicate that the government needs to consider regional characteristics and consciously guide industrial enterprises to concentrate in the dominant area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Papermaking enterprises are currently under both environmental pressure and economic pressure for sustainable development in China. Thus, the efficiency, effectiveness, and benefits of resource utilization need to be improved. High-consumption and high-pollution companies should manufacture paper using sustainable methods. This study highlights a resource value flow analysis from the circular economy perspective, developing an extension of material flow cost accounting and modifying it by accounting for environmental damage as well as economic benefits. With reference to the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, this specific case study was conducted to verify the comprehensive utility of resource value flow analysis by establishing decision-making prioritization according to the dualistic diagnosis of "internal resource loss–external environmental damage costs." In general, applying a resource value flow analysis can both reduce resource consumption and minimize environmental damage, enhancing the sustainable development of a process industry with limited resources. Highlights • Material flows and value flows form an interactive unit in the resource value flow analysis model. • The resource value flow analysis model extends the environmental dimension of material flow cost accounting. • A dualistic diagnosis of "internal resource loss and external environmental damage costs" can achieve both economic profits and environmental benefits. • The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle was introduced to strengthen the practical application of the resource value flow analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current challenge facing the European pulp and paper industry is how to materialize the transformation to a bio-economy, as well as to realize the necessary new green innovations. The risks, costs and constraints of doing business will increase, thereby further intensifying competition, but at the same time new business opportunities will open up. This study adopts a three-round dissensus-based Delphi approach in order to explore our key research question of how the pulp and paper industry may change strategically, and what is the potential for value creation in the year 2030. According to our expert panel, the main drivers of competitiveness in 2030 will include energy and material efficiency, sustainability, as well as new innovations in products to serve customer needs better. According to the projected 2030 scenario, the pulp and paper industry will produce more diversified products, focus on higher value-added, and aim at consumer segments with higher environmental awareness. On average, 40 percent of the turnover will according to the panel come from genuinely new products. Strategic cross-sectorial partnerships will have a key role in making this big leap, while simultaneously acknowledging the changing needs of sustainability-conscious customers and other stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions from the Yangtze River Economic Belt are an important element of China's carbon emission endeavor, and a study of its emission reduction pathway can provide a reference for the country's overall management of carbon emission reduction. From the perspective of energy consumption, this paper uses the carbon emission factor method to estimate the carbon emissions of the transportation industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt during 2006–2020, based on the extended STIRPAT model, considering the influence of seven factors, i.e., population size, urbanization rate, GDP per capita, transportation added value, energy structure, energy intensity, and transportation intensity, on carbon emissions. Based on these factors, a scenario analysis, combined with a forecasting model, is used to predict the peak carbon performance of the transportation industry under different development scenarios. The results show that the overall carbon emissions of transportation in the YEB from 2006 to 2020 show a fluctuating upward trend, and the downstream carbon emissions are significantly higher than those in other regions. The main factors influencing carbon emissions from transportation in different upstream, midstream, and downstream regions vary, with both population and economic factors contributing to carbon emissions, while technical factors affect them differently. There are significant differences in the peak carbon performance of transportation under different development scenarios, and the government should take effective measures to work towards achieving the goals of the low-carbon or enhanced low-carbon scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key challenge in prevention of global warming is how to increase energy efficiency, to be able to deal with increased fossil CO2 emissions from rising energy usage. Increasing energy efficiency will decrease energy usage and is in a key role in emission mitigation. The focus is the pulp and paper industry, which is energy-intensive. Development of industrial energy efficiency has been studied before but the role of industrial transformation is still mostly unknown. The knowledge must be improved, to be able to predict future developments in the most effective way. In this research, impact of various production unit closures and start-ups on energy efficiency of the Finnish pulp and paper industry were studied utilizing statistical analysis. Results indicate that about 20% of the Finnish pulp and paper industry energy efficiency improvement between 2011 and 2017 is caused by the major structural changes. The rest, 80% of the progress, was mainly due to improved technology and more optimal operational modes. Additional findings suggest that modern mill start-ups have a significantly greater potential to reduce energy consumption than old mill closures.

Recently, as the use of wearable devices and the demand for eco-friendly energy have increased, many studies have been conducted on triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), which can economically harvest energy. Paper is considered a promising substrate and frame material that can be used to manufacture self-powered TENGs, owing to its flexibility, low cost, and accessibility. Herein, we present a sandwich-structured foldable paper-based TENG (FP-TENG) that comprises flexible materials and uses paper as a substrate. The FP-TENG can generate up to 572 mW/m2 of power via contact–separation of the triboelectric electrified body at the top and bottom. With more folds of the FP-TENG, the triboelectric cross-sectional area increases, and, thus, the electrical output increases. In addition, the proposed TENG exhibits excellent durability without signal degradation under 5000 cycles of repeated pushing motions. To demonstrate its practicality, the FP-TENG was manufactured in the form of a wristwatch Velcro and connected to an electronic watch panel to supply power. Various deformations are possible with origami, and they can drive wristwatches through external forces. Therefore, the FP-TENG is expected to be utilized as a sustainable and promising eco-friendly energy source for small electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrophoretic display (EPD) has been a prevailing paper-like display technology for years, owing to its advantages of flexibility, low-power consumption, and good sunlight readability. However, it is regrettable that the black/white EPD still dominates the majority of the market while a commercially sold full-color EPD is still unavailable. In this paper, we proposed a facile yet feasible method to fabricate a color EPD by a tape-assisted transfer method, which is the first demonstration using transfer method to achieve color micro-encapsulated EPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is the top emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. Pulp and paper industry is one of eight the strictly regulated industries about carbon emission in China. However, estimates of carbon emissions from China's pulp and paper industry have been suffered from remarkable uncertainty. It is summarized that is aroused by the inaccuracy of factors evaluating energy consumption, and the huge gap between the calculation standards for assessing energy consumption in the production process and the actual level recorded in the factories. This paper re-evaluated the carbon emission of China's pulp and paper industry from the perspective of life cycle assessment, and applied more accurate emission factors, taking account of the actual energy consumption of the production process in factories, to estimate the actual carbon emissions in maximum. It is found that the national standards about the energy consumption quota of China's pulp and paper industry is no longer applicable, and the actual energy consumption regulated in the production process is far better than the advanced level given by the national standards. The greenhouse gas emission have been seriously overestimated approximately 12.00%–56.17% by international organizations. • Life Cycle Analysis of the China's pulp and paper Industry is conducted thoroughly. • The pulp flow of China's pulp and paper Industry is analyzed. • Energy regulated in factory is far better than the national standards' required. • Carbon emissions of China's pulp and paper Industry are overestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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With the surging energy price and environmental concerns, measures to improve energy efficiency have attracted increasing concerns of the manufacture sector, especially energy-intensive manufacturing industries such as tissue paper mills. Energy-efficiency scheduling, as a novel energy-efficient method, has attracted the attention of an increasing number of researchers in recent years. Drying process is the most energy-intensive production process in tissue paper mills, which has a great energy-saving potential. This paper aims to reduce the energy costs for the tissue paper mill, consisting of processing energy cost and set-up energy cost, through integrating drying process optimization with energy-efficient scheduling. First, the energy cost model and the scheduling model were built. Then, the energy cost of the drying process of every job in a given scheduling problem was optimized using particle swarm optimization (PSO). Afterwards, the energy cost was further optimized using energy-efficiency scheduling. In addition, a hybrid non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) was utilized to solve the energy-efficiency scheduling problem. Finally, several real scheduling problems from a real tissue paper mill were addressed using the proposed approach to demonstrate its effectiveness in energy saving. The experiment result showed that there is a great energy-saving potential in the drying process, accounting for up to 12.53% of the total energy consumption. Moreover, the maximum energy saving ratio of the proposed approach could reach 9.03%. On the whole, the proposed approach can provide a new energy-saving method for tissue paper mills or other manufacturing industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulp and paper production is an energy intensive process, that accounts for about 9% of industrial final energy use in Italy in 2016. While the energy intensity of the total manufacturing sector has decreased by 51% over the last twenty years, pulp and paper industry has shown a slower improvement, of only 4%. The sector presents wide opportunities for improving energy efficiency and, for this purpose, adequate knowledge of the energy saving potentials and their costs are essential prerequisites to design effective policies. In this paper, after assessing the current technologies and energy performance of the Italian pulp and paper industry, we identify the technical and economic potentials for fuel and electricity savings in the sector. While many studies in this field use data on efficient technologies from available literature, surveys or even theoretical estimates, the added value of this paper is the use of real data coming from 110 energy efficiency measures implemented in the field by the pulp and paper companies under the Italian White Certificates Scheme. The analysis indicates that the energy saving potentials, under conservative technology penetration rates, amount to 0.88 TWh for electricity and 4.47 TWh for fossil fuels consumption: such savings equal 12.6% and 18.6% of the sector electricity and fuel demand, and can be translated into mitigated CO2 emissions of 353 kt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the pulp and paper industry has changed a lot and products have been constructed in quite different methods using new technologies. It can be due to the emergence of challenges and constraints such as shortage of raw materials, energy consumption (fossil fuels, electric, etc.), management of the resulting pollutants, environmental issues, ongoing legal requirements and cleaner production strategies. In Iran, the pulp and paper industry's technological development is not keeping pace with global growth. Iran's pulp and paper mills supply a small fraction of domestic market. The reasons can be due to old technologies being used in factories, aging machinery, low productivity of production systems and lack of coordination with modern technologies. It leads to low-quality of paper products and willingness to buy local products. The aim of this study is to select the most appropriate technologies in the pulp section, due to high impact of pulp quality on the quality of final paper. Using a 2-filterd fuzzy decision-making, hierarchical structure of research is designed to assess technological alternatives according to the selected criteria. Findings show that after passing through two filters, Kraft method was chosen as the most appropriate method. The Kraft process has still many advantages like the high quality of the produced pulp and self-sufficiency in energy supply. This framework offers an appropriate procedure for identifying and selecting technologies that has not been used in past researches. Using this framework facilitates using a clear procedure for evaluating and selecting technology and prevents future losses for organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's paper industry accounts for a larger proportion of the global paper industry and consumes large amounts of energy. Energy conservation and pollution reduction of the industry have become the focus of China's national development strategy. Energy efficiency is an important index which directly determines the amounts of energy consumption and pollution emissions. To understand the energy efficiency evolution of China's paper industry, this paper establishes an input-output data of the paper industry for 29 provinces in China and applies DEA method and econometric models to estimate and comprehensively discuss the energy efficiency issues based on the framework of total factor efficiency. Our results indicate that China's paper industry has a large energy saving potential even though its energy efficiency has improved during the period 1990–2013. The saving potential is about 65% under the meta-frontier and 44% under the group-frontier. Moreover, there are significant differences between different regions in production technology and energy efficiency. The performance of eastern China is better than other regions. But the technology gaps between the different regions are shrinking and converging over time. Finally, some policy recommendations are proposed to improve the energy efficiency of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient waste paper recycling has a significant role in the sustainable environment. Recyclable waste paper as a fundamental ingredient of municipal solid wastes (MSWs) is indeed an 'urban ore'. Waste papers are considered as the solid recovered fuel which is recovered from MSW. Recyclable waste papers are segregated into various grades to produce high-quality products. Moreover, sorted paper streams save energy, chemicals, and water, as well as reduce sludge and rejects. Information technology is widely integrated with the waste management industry into its operations such as recycling, reuse, segregating based on categories and so on. This review article focuses on the life cycle of waste paper and existing waste paper sorting techniques. In the paper industry, many types of sensors are used in different mechanical and optical waste paper sorting systems. Such sensors include lignin, gloss, stiffness, mid-infrared, infrared, and color sensors. In this review, also described the effectiveness of different waste paper sorting systems, and finally, recommended appropriate waste paper sorting techniques based on effectiveness and low-cost implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Pulp & Paper is the property of China Pulp & Paper Magazines Publisher and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)