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The pulp and paper industry is highly energy-intensive. In mills that use chemical pulping, roughly half of the higher heating value of the cellulosic material used to manufacture the product typically is incinerated to generate steam and electricity that is needed to run the processes. Additional energy, much of it non-renewable, needs to be purchased. This review considers publications describing steps that pulp and paper facilities can take to operate more efficiently. Savings can be achieved, for instance, by minimizing unnecessary losses in exergy, which can be defined as the energy content relative to a standard ambient condition. Throughout the long series of unit operations comprising the conversion of wood material to sheets of paper, there are large opportunities to more closely approach a hypothetical ideal performance by following established best-practices.

The pulp and paper industry, one of Canada’s largest and most important industries, produces many by-products, some of which are used to produce electricity and steam for mill operations; however, the by-products are not used economically. The industry has been facing financial challenges and, therefore, an appropriate means of converting by-products to value-added products is highly desired. In this study, we explore nine pathways for the conversion of black liquor, the major by-product of the industry, to different value-added final products. These include steam, electricity, dimethyl ether, Fischer-Tropsch liquids, mixed alcohols, methanol, acetone, butanol, ethanol, and lignin. The most economical conversion pathway is selected based on the internal rate of return (IRR) calculated through a techno-economic assessment. Lignin production through the fractionation of black liquor is the most attractive scenario. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses were performed on the IRR for the lignin production scenario to evaluate the effect of different parameters on overall performance and assess the accuracy of the results. The sensitivity analysis shows that lignin price and operating costs are the most influential parameters on IRR. This study offers insights into options of revenue generation for the pulp and paper industry through the innovative use of its by-products.

Due to increased use of variable renewable energy sources, more capacity for reserves is required. Non-generating resources such as large industrial consumers can arbitrage energy prices and provide reserve capacity by exploiting the inherent flexibility in selected industrial processes. A large enough industrial consumer can capitalize on this flexibility through optimized bidding in electricity markets. In this work, the day-ahead cost minimization of a risk-averse pulp and paper mill (PPM) is formulated as a two-stage stochastic problem, considering thermodynamic and electrical constraints of the PPM. The bids in the energy and reserve markets are optimized subject to price uncertainty. The results of a case study in Sweden display a significant economic benefit in exploiting the flexibility of PPM. The expected cost of the pulp and paper mill resulting from different strategies are compared and the risk adversity of the PPM is investigated. We show that reserve offers can significantly improve the profitability of the PPM. QC 20200604

Obtaining cellulose from recyclable waste paper contributes to the sustainability of forest resources, water and energy savings, and the reduction of environmental pollution. However, waste paper collected under inappropriate conditions for recycling can be degraded in a short time, thus becoming economically useless. This study examined the factors affecting source-separated collection processes of waste paper in Istanbul hotels, as well as the correlation among these factors. The economic value of the assumed benefits of source-separated waste paper was also calculated. To achieve these objectives, various inputs and methods were used, including the percent tabulation technique and the chi-square independence test. As a result, it was determined that 70% of managers and employees of Istanbul hotels were sensitive to recycling waste paper, but they were not aware of the entire benefits of waste paper recycling. It was also determined that because of waste paper recycling, 18 thousand trees, 5 million kWh of electricity, 3 thousand tons of water, and 1.3 thousand tons of fuel oil were saved, and the generation of 27 thousand tons of CO2 was prevented annually. Hotels in Istanbul provide the economy with an annual average of 752 tons of waste paper, which corresponds to 78% of the foreign trade deficit of Turkey’s paper and paper products sector in the last five years.

China's paper production accounted for nearly a quarter of the world's total paper production in 2010. In this study, 23 energy saving technologies applicable to the pulping and papermaking process in China are identified and analyzed. The conservation supply curve (CSC) method is employed to assess the technical and economic aspects of energy conservation. The fuel CSC for Chinese pulp and paper industry shows the cost-effective and technical fuel conservation potential is 180 PJ and 254 PJ, accounting for 27% and 38% of total fuel used in 2010, respectively. The CO 2 mitigation potential related to the cost-effective fuel efficiency is 17 Mt CO 2 and the technical potential is 24 Mt CO 2 . The electricity CSC shows the technical electricity conservation potential is 2316 GWh, representing 4% of total electricity consumption. All of the electricity efficiency measures are shown to be cost-effective in this study. The CO 2 mitigation resulted from electricity efficiency is around 2 Mt CO 2 . In addition, sensitivity analyses for the parameters of penetration rate, discount rate, and energy price are conducted to assess their influence on the final results.

Pulp and paper is considered to be the fourth most energy-intensive industry (EII) worldwide. However, as most of the CO2 emissions are of biomass origin, this sector has the potential to become a carbon-negative industry. This study proposes a new concept for conversion of the pulp and paper industry to carbon negative that relies on the inherent CO2 capture capability of the Kraft process. The techno-economic performance of the proposed carbon-negative system, based on calcium looping (CaL) retrofitted to a pulp and paper plant, was evaluated. The effect of CaL design specifications and cost assumptions on the thermodynamic and economic performance were evaluated. Under the initial design assumptions, the reference pulp and paper plant was shown to turn from electricity importer to electricity exporter with the cost of CO2 avoided equal to 39.0 €/tCO2. The parametric study showed that an increase in the fresh limestone make-up rate resulted in a linear increase of the specific primary energy consumption for CO2 avoided (SPECCA) and a reduction in the amount of electricity exported to the electric grid. This translates into an increase in the price of pulp and newsprint, and the cost of CO2 avoided. This study has also demonstrated that the pulp and paper industry has high potential to become carbon negative. It has been shown that carbon capture and storage would become economically viable in this industry if the negative CO2 emissions are recognised and a negative CO2 emissions credit of at least 41.8 €/tCO2 is implemented.

The paper industry is heavily using energy during all the phases of the manufacturing process. This is especially the case in Nordic mills where pressure ground wood is the source of fiber. The purpose of this case study is to show how energy consumption behaves on a monthly basis in a Finnish paper mill that has several paper machine lines. The research examines different categories of energy usage, as well as the overall costs. The results show that the monthly energy usage varies significantly. The electricity consumption of the case mill is rather steady, but there is significant monthly variation in steam and natural gas consumption. Moreover, steam and electricity unit costs increased significantly when coming to the end of the research period. The longitudinal case data shows that it is difficult to enhance energy consumption per produced unit at the paper mill. One reason for this is the bleak demand outlook for the end products, which often result in downsizing and closing operations inside the integrated unit.

In pulp and paper production black liquor is burnt to recover base chemicals and to generate electricity and steam which is e.g. used in papermaking machines. In the event of paper tearing excess steam has to be condensed usually. We propose a latent thermal energy system to recover that energy and re-use it in the papermaking machines. A storage model was developed and experimentally verified by a lab-scale prototype. For the specific process, we designed a tube-bundle storage using thermally conductive HDPE as PCM and show that up to 30 MWh can be recovered per day. Finally, we describe the potential of storages to improve energy generation and efficiency in plants.

The subsector of pulp and paper presented in 2013 an electric power consumption of 9.3% of electricity consumption in the industrial sector in Brazil. It experienced a significant growth of production in the last 20 years, exceeding 160%, and their consumption of electricity increased by 130%, reaching the level of 19,594GWh. Due to its characteristics, with a known structure and production processes, and its importance in the country's industrial sector, this subsector was selected for study in this paper, to evaluate the behavior of its long-term annual electricity demand, at the horizon of 20 years ahead, in energy efficiency scenarios through bottom-up approach. This approach is data intensive and requires data with good quality; it consists of a hierarchical structure that enables to check how specific actions can affect the results at each level and its effect on higher levels.

Since the Second World War, the pulp and paper industry has become one of the most important industries in the world based on its economic benefits. Unfortunately, it is usually associated with high water usage and high electricity expenditure. Currently, pulp and paper mills are faced with various challenges forcing them to follow stringent environmental regulations and adopt sustainable waste management strategies as well as utilizing best available technologies to treat the effluent. While the discharge of hazardous effluent is certainly a growing concern, the pulp and paper industry is making great progress in reducing the quantity of wastewater it expends along with the amount of hazardous materials found in the effluent. This chapter provides a brief overview of waste generation and management in pulp and paper mills, and it also discusses the combined novel and conventional aerobic effluent treatment methods.

Dewatering on the paper machine takes place by gravity, suction, pressing, and evaporation. Optimizing the operation of the vacuum system is important, since the electricity consumption of the vacuum pumps might be one-fifth of the total electricity consumption of the paper machine. Vacuum dewatering involves large volumes of air penetrating the web. The present study presents four sets of measured air flow rates useful for designing industrial equipment. The mass flux of air increases with increasing applied vacuum and decreases with increasing basis weight. Paper technological parameters, such as fiber size and fiber flexibility, also influence the mass flux.

The Swedish pulp and paper industry accounts for half of industrial final energy use in Sweden and 2.3 % in EU-27. On the basis of a disaggregated set of physical production data, a Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index decomposition method is applied to disentangle the influence from activity, structure and energy efficiency improvement (EEI) on its fuel, electricity and primary energy use. An extended analysis tracks the fossil energy use and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to discern past and present developments of industrial decarbonisation. In 1984–2011, the total production output increased by 49 %, whereas growth in primary energy use was limited to 26 %. Compared with an activity-based scenario, 50 PJ of primary energy use has been avoided through EEI and 6 PJ through structural change. The production has become oriented towards more electricity-intensive but less fuel-intensive segments. The electricity use EEI was negligible until year 2000 but sizeable thereafter as it started to outpace the counteracting impact from structural change. Results are consistent with previous bottom-up evaluations, and the policy context is further elaborated in a discussion about the role of relevant energy and climate policies in facilitating the enhanced EEI observed over the last decade.

This article carries in essence, the experience lived by the author over 15 years as the head of an association that decided aware lay people and electricity professionals about the risks that electricity offers, in order to reduce the number of accidents of this nature. Using the accident data collected by ABRACOPEL - Brazilian Association for Awareness of the Electricity Danger, and compiled in a document entitled Statistical Yearbook of Electrical Origin Accidents, it was possible to carry out specific actions, using languages aimed to each type of public, accidents target. The conclusion that many accidents can be avoided with low information is part of this work. Also, will be presented some actions that are being or have been carried out over these 15 years, and the results obtained.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, since the introduction of the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System 2.01 in 2011, half of all private industry workplace electrical fatalities occurred within the construction industry. Between 2011 and 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recorded that 378 cases of electrical fatalities occurred during construction projects. OSHA reports show that the greatest number of electrically related fatalities occurred in alterations or rehabilitations and in new projects or addition builds. Many of these construction projects were for single-family, duplex, or commercial building projects. In examining incidents where contacted voltage was recorded, 57% of fatalities occurred when a worker contacted an energy source of over 1,000 volts. Contact with energy sources of 480 volts and 7,200 volts accounted for the greatest number of fatalities. Gaining a better understanding of the jobs being completed and the source of energy contacted can help identify the behaviors and actions that need to be addressed to lower the number of electrical fatalities in the workplace.

A life cycle assessment was conducted using IMPACT2002+ to estimate the environmental impact of producing printing and writing paper, which is entirely made with wastepaper. To confirm and add credibility to the study, uncertainty analysis was conducted using Taylor series expansion. Printing and writing paper produced from wood pulp was assessed for comparison. Compared with the wood pulp contained scenario, printing and writing paper made from wastepaper represented environmental benefit on non-carcinogens, respiratory inorganics, global warming, and non-renewable energy categories. In both scenarios, the technologies significantly contribute to the potential impacts of non-carcinogens, respiratory inorganics, terrestrial ecotoxicity, global warming, and non-renewable energy. The influence of the technologies on the way other categories affect the environment was negligible. Improved efficiency in electricity consumption, decreased transport distance from raw material buyers to suppliers, and change in the end-life treatment of solid waste from landfill to incineration are the key factors in reducing the overall environmental impact.

This paper presents the study of the feasibility of incorporating lignocellulosic nanofibers (LCNF) to paper in order to maintain the relevant physical properties and increase the number of cycles that paper can be recycled in the technosphere in a more circular economy. For that purpose, the effect of mechanical refining in recycling processes was compared with that of the novel LCNF addition. In this sense, the behavior of a bleached kraft hardwood pulp when recycled was investigated, as well as the effects of each methodology. Since there are many issues to be considered when trying to replace a technology, the present paper analyses its feasibility from a technical and environmental point of view. Technically, LCNF present greater advantages against mechanical refining, such as higher mechanical properties and longer durability of the fibers. A preliminary life cycle assessment showed that the environmental impacts of both systems are very similar; however, changing the boundary conditions to some feasible future scenarios, led to demonstrate that the CNF technology may improve significantly those impacts We acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish and Economy and Competitiveness Ministry to the referenced projects: CTQ2012-3686-C02-01 and CTM2011-28506-C02-01

This paper studies allocation of fuel costs and CO2-emissions to heat and power in a CHP plant producing heat to an integrated pulp and paper mill and electricity to the liberalized electricity markets (or to the mill by the market price). The CHP plant and the mill are considered to be two separate economical units and both the mill and the CHP plant perspectives are discussed. Fuel costs and CO2-emissions are allocated using the energy, exergy and market based methods. The CHP plant purchases black liquor and bark from the mill. It also purchases oil from the markets to cover the whole fuel demand of the plant. The results indicate that the marked based method can be recommended as a “neutral” cost allocation method, because with that, the energy producer is not collecting extra margins from selling steam. This means that heat pricing is cost based. The results also indicate that depending on the emission factor and efficiency of alternative energy production form, the marked based method or the exergy method allocate the lowest CO2-emissions to heat. Therefore, the use of market based method for allocating costs and CO2 emissions can be recommended in order to use one single approach in both.

The U.S. pulp and paper industry consumes over $7 billion worth of purchased fuels and electricity per year. Energy efficiency improvement is an important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. There are a variety of opportunities available at individual plants in the U.S. pulp and paper industry to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner. This paper provides a brief overview of the U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR(R) for Industry energy efficiency guidebook (a.k.a. the Energy Guide ) for pulp and paper manufacturers. The Energy Guide discusses a wide range of energy efficiency practices and energy-efficient technologies that can be implemented at the component, process, facility, and organizational levels. Also provided is a discussion of the trends, structure, and energy consumption characteristics of the U.S. pulp and paper industry along with a description of the major process technologies used within the industry. Many energy efficiency measure descriptions include expected savings in energy and energy-related costs, based on case study data from real-world applications in pulp and paper mills and related industries worldwide. The information in this Energy Guide is intended to help energy and plant managers in the U.S. pulp and paper industry reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective manner while maintaining the quality of products manufactured. Further research on the economics of all measures?as well as on their applicability to different production practices?is needed to assess their cost effectiveness at individual plants.

The article studies the opinions of paper producers in Finland and Norway and Finnish power producers about the eco-labelling of electricity and its possible effects on pulp and paper industry. The point of departure in the study is how large industrial consumers mediate concerns of environmental issues to the producers. Based on interviews of environmental, energy/power and marketing sector representatives of the companies the article analyses different views related to the criteria of green labelling, green electricity and papermaking, energy sources as image sources, environmental image of papermaking and the threats and opportunities the companies face in the changing international context. The analysis of the interviews is contextualised in the endogenous market based regulation framework of electricity market regulation.

Rising demand for paper has resulted in increased number of trees being chopped around the world. The loss of forest lands due to rampant tree cutting has caused a steady increase in the earth's temperature, changed the weather pattern and ultimately threatened the world's ecosystems. One way to mitigate these problems is through efficient paper recycling. To ensure that maximum recycling is achieved, proper mixing of different types of paper of different fiber contents should be considered. This work presents a new generic graphical method for simultaneous targeting and designing of a maximum paper recycling network. The first step is to establish the maximum paper recycling target using a graphical approach called the source–sink composite curves. Next, source–sink allocation curve and network allocation diagram are constructed to design the maximum paper recovery network. The graphical tool allows a designer to graphically visualize, explore, evolve and systematically select the best paper recycling network. Application of the method in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia campus yields a new fresh fiber target of 1464 tons/year. This is a potential reduction in 43.7% fresh fiber and translates into an annual reduction in 38 622 chopped trees and a potential savings of up to 4.5 GWh of electricity and 30.1 × 103 m3 of water.

North American pulp and paper mills are facing tremendous challenges, which may necessitate major mill modernizations. An example is process modification to reduce dependency on purchased power, which is an expensive resource. Such modifications may have environmental implications at the mills’ sites, on their product life cycle, and on other interconnected systems, and therefore, systematic tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) need to be applied. Different LCA system boundary approaches can be used for such process design applications, and these approaches need to be compared to determine their respective benefits and limitations in this context. This study compares setting the system boundary according to a cradle-to-gate approach [attributional LCA (ALCA)] and a system expansion [consequential LCA (CLCA)] approach using a case study, which deals with implementing cogeneration and increased de-inked pulp production at an integrated newsprint mill. A case study considering various process options to reduce purchased electricity at an integrated newsprint mill is defined. These options include implementing cogeneration and increasing de-inked pulp production. The environmental impacts related to these process options are analyzed using two LCA methodologies. The first one consists in setting the system boundary according to a cradle-to-gate ALCA approach, while the second one uses a differential CLCA approach (system expansion). Comparisons of the two methods are based on different parameters: inclusion/exclusion of the indirect environmental consequences, selected allocation procedures, and effect of using the average versus the marginal technology for power production. Both the ALCA approach and the CLCA approach indicate that the process options are beneficial. However, the results show that indirect environmental consequences, which are assessed only with the CLCA approach, can be opposite to direct effects (e.g., the results can indicate an improvement of the direct impacts and a deterioration of the indirect ones). In addition, environmental impacts obtained by modeling the average or the marginal technology may be very different. Using an ALCA approach often necessitates the use of an arbitrary allocation procedure, which can greatly affect the results. On the other hand, ALCA can be used to perform “hot spots” identification, which, at this time, is not possible with CLCA. The cradle-to-gate boundary approach, which is usually used in the literature for pulp and paper process design applications, may not always be the most appropriate to determine the environmental consequences of implementing different process options. However, at this time, there is no method based on CLCA allowing for “hot spots” identification, and thus, a combined approach may be required for process design. It is shown that the choice of the system boundary can significantly affect the results. More specifically, the usage of different allocation procedures in ALCA leads to different interpretation of the results, which does not occur when using the CLCA approach. CLCA provides more complete information for decision making for the cases where most of the consequences occur outside the life cycle of the product investigated. Research opportunities include developing methodologies to integrate ALCA and CLCA for improved process design applications and mechanisms for reducing uncertainty in CLCA.

In this paper, a cellulose-based Electro-Active Paper (EAPap) energy scavenging transducer is presented. Cellulose is proven as a smart material, and exhibits piezoelectric effect. Specimens were prepared by coating gold electrodes on both sides of cellulose film. The fabricated specimens were tested by a base excited aluminum cantilever beam at resonant frequency. Different tests were performed with single and multiple parallel connected electrodes coated on the cellulose film. A maximum of 131 mV output voltage was measured, when three electrodes were connected in parallel. It was observed that voltage output increases significantly with the area of electrodes. From these results, it can be concluded that the piezoelectricity of cellulose-based EAPap can be used in energy transduction application.

Black liquor gasification–combined cycle (BLGCC) is a new technology that has the potential to increase electricity production of a chemical pulping mill. Increased electricity generation in combination with the potential to use biomass (e.g. bark, hog fuel) more efficiently can result in increased power output compared to the conventional Tomlinson-boiler. Because the BLGCC enables an integrated pulp and paper mill to produce excess power, it can offset electricity produced by power plants. This may lead to reduction of the net-CO2 emissions. The impact of BLGCC to offset CO2 emissions from the pulp and paper industry is studied. We focus on two different plant designs and compare the situation in Sweden and the US. The CO2 emissions are studied as function of the share of recycled fibre used to make the paper. The study shows that under specific conditions the production of “CO2-free paper” is possible. First, energy efficiency in pulp and paper mills needs to be improved to allow the export of sufficient power to offset emissions from fossil fuels used in boilers and other equipment. Secondly, the net-CO2 emission per ton of paper depends strongly on the emission reduction credits for electricity export, and hence on the country or grid to which the paper mill is connected. Thirdly, supplemental use of biomass to replace fossil fuel inputs is important to reduce the overall emissions of the pulp and paper industry.

In this paper, we examine the utilization of mathematical programming tools for optimum energy management of the power plant in pulp and paper mills. The objective is the fulfillment of the total plant requirements in energy and steam with the minimum possible cost. The proposed methodology is based on the development of a detailed model of the power plant using mass and energy balances and a mathematical formulation of the electrical purchase contract, which can be translated into a rigorous mixed integer linear programming optimization problem. The results show that the method can be a very useful tool for the reduction of production cost due to minimization of the fuel and electricity costs.

The Japan Paper Association (JPA) has been actively working to save energy since 1997 when it established its “Voluntary Action Plan on Environmental Issues”. JPA declared its policy of restraining CO2 emissions as one of the actions : By 2010, reduce the unit of purchased energy for paper products by 10% from that of 1990 level.JPA has been following through on activities in saving energies from fiscal 1998-1990 as a basic period, and has been making its results public every year. For the convenience of complying data, targets were changed from the calendar year to the fiscal year midway. The following are the results for fiscal 2000 : Unit of purchased energy in fiscal 2000 was smoothly reduced by 7.2% from the level in 1990. However, the reduction in a unit of CO2 emissions remained 4.9% because cost competitive coals have been largely used.Paper and paperboard production increased by 13. 1% in fiscal 2000 compared to that of 1990 level, whereas, increase in CO2 emissions remained at 7.6% from the 1990 level. A breakdown of the 5.5% reduction from 13. 1% to 7.6% shows that the pulp and paper industry decreased by 4.2% and electric companies contribute to reducing the remaining 1. 3% (from effective generating and transmission electricity).According to 29 companies that replied to our questionnaires, a total of 23.1 billion yen was invested in energy saving measures for fiscal 2000 and the crude oil equivalent of energy saved reached 176 thousand kiloliters per year. As far as the estimation from 27 companies, 93.0 billion yen will be invested and 4, 884 thousand kiloliters per year will be saved from 2000 onwards.

The efficiency of a bioelectrochemical treatment system (BET) to treat complex paper and pulp wastewater at two different pH conditions (6 and 7) in comparison with conventional anaerobic treatment process (AnT) was evaluated. Among the operating conditions, BET showed good treatment efficiency at pH 7 in terms of COD (BET/AnT: 55%/51%), nitrates (33.5%/19.1%), phosphates (33%/19%) and sulfates (58%/41%) in removal. The effluent obtained from BET system was subjected to coagulation for further treatment which showed good COD removal (BET/AnT, 95%/69%) and color (100%/68%). Bioelectrochemical analysis revealed higher catalytic currents in BET than AnT specific to oxidation and reduction. Besides, derivative of cyclic voltammetric scans (DCV) also supported the involvement of various membrane bound electron transferring complexes like FAD(H) bound enzymes, ubiquinone, NADH(+)/H(+) bound enzymes, etc. Experimental results demonstrated that BET system can be a viable platform to treat complex wastewaters with simultaneous energy recovery in integrated approach.

Calculations on the global energy consumption used to overcome friction in paper machines in terms of friction in motors, transmissions, pumps, blowers, agitators, pipes and the roll systems are presented. The following was concluded: – The energy consumed to overcome friction in a paper mill is in the range 15–25%. – Globally there were 8525 paper and paperboard machines in operation in 2012. One paper machine uses on an average 140 TJ of electrical energy per year. Of this 32% is consumed to overcome friction, 36% is used for the paper production and mass transportation and 32% is other losses. – The friction losses in an average paper machine are in total 44.8 TJ per year, and they are distributed as 32% due to friction in water-lubricated sliding in seals, doctor blades and fabric/support contacts, 23% due to friction in elastohydrodynamic rolling contacts, 22% due to friction in elastohydrodynamic rolling–sliding contacts, 15% due to friction in oil-lubricated seals and 8% due to friction in hydrodynamically lubricated contacts. – Worldwide 105,000 GWh electrical power was used in 2009 to overcome friction in paper machines. This equals to 381,000 TJ of annual energy consumption. – By taking advantage of new technology for friction reduction in paper machines, friction losses could be reduced by 11% in the short term (about 10 years), and by 23.6% in the long term (20–25 years). This would equal to annual worldwide economic savings of 2000 million euros and 4200 million euros; electricity savings of 36,000 and 78,000 GWh; and CO2 emission reduction of 10.6 million and 22.7 million tonnes. Potential mechanisms to reduce friction in paper machines include the use of low-friction and highly durable coatings, surface engineering including texturing, low-viscosity and low-shear lubricants and fluids, novel additives, new materials in seals, doctorblades and fabrics, as well as new designs.

Purpose The aim of this work is to quantify the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings potential in magazine paper production through the application of the innovative manufacturing strategies using advanced sheet structure design and fibre modifications. Methods The study applies Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to two different magazine paper products: supercalendered (SC) paper and light-weight coated (LWC) paper. A cradle-to-gate approach is used aiming to assess the environmental benefits gained through the implementation of new manufacturing strategies in both products. The functional unit of the system was defined as the production of one square meter of finished paper for printing magazines. Conventional and new production processes have been compared. Results and discussion The strategies applied to SC paper resulted in reduction of GHG emissions by 22.9%, with a total of 10.7 gCO2eq emissions saved per square meter of SC paper. In the case of LWC paper, GHG emissions are reduced by 20.3%, which are equal to a total of 19.7 gCO2eq saved per square meter of LWC paper. The influence of certain methodological approaches -functional unit, electricity mix and avoided impacts- in the final results is also discussed in the paper. Conclusions The manufacturing strategies implemented show a remarkable potential for reducing GHG emissions. Taking into account that the pulp and paper industry is a very energy-intensive sector and one of the main GHG emitters, the potential of the strategies for the improvement of the environmental performance of the papermaking processes is significant.

This thesis consists of three journal papers that I have been worked on during my PhD program of study. The first paper presents heuristic algorithms that are designed to be implemented and executed in parallel with an existing algorithm in order to overcome its two limitations. Computational experiments show that implementing the heuristic algorithm on one auxiliary processor in parallel with the existing algorithm on the main processor significantly improves its computational efficiency, in addition to providing a series of improving feasible upper bound solutions. In the second paper, we present two interactive models to jointly forecast PEV sales and the diurnal recharging load curve in the U.S. between 2012 and 2020. A case study is conducted for the Midwest ISO region. Compared to the sales forecasts from the literature, our results turn out to be less optimistic. Our recharging load forecast results also suggest that, if appropriately managed, the impact of PEVs on electricity load would not be overwhelming in the next decade. The third paper focuses on assessing and mitigating the potential impact of PEVs recharging load on power systems, Case study show that electricity rates with higher flexibility induces PEVs to have less impact on the power systems in terms of both generation cost and uncertainties. Also, PEV users higher recharging behavior responsiveness will improve the effectiveness of price incentives and the control ability of the power utilities under all types of TOU rates mechanisms.

Paper production is an energy-intensive process and accounted for about 9% of industrial energy demand in Germany in 2008. There have only been slow improvements in energy efficiency in the paper industry over the past twenty years. Policies can accelerate the progress made, but knowledge about the remaining efficiency potentials and their costs is a prerequisite for their success. We assess 17 process technologies to improve energy efficiency in the German pulp and paper industry up to 2035 using a techno-economic approach. These result in a saving potential of 34 TJ/a for fuels and 12 TJ/a for electricity, which equal 21% and 16% of fuel and electricity demand, respectively. The energy savings can be translated into mitigated CO2 emissions of 3 Mt. The larger part of this potential is found to be cost-effective from a firm's perspective. The most influential technologies are heat recovery in paper mills and the use of innovative paper drying technologies. In conclusion, significant saving potentials are still available, but are limited if we assume that current paper production processes will not change radically. Further savings would be available if the system boundaries of this study were extended to e.g. include cross-cutting technologies.

Most paper industry waste is in the form of sludge from paper production and recycle process paper. There has been an increasing use of paper sludge in environmental restoration, a practice that requires particular attention. This issue presents a case which demonstrates how the biogas production related to this kind of recovery system can represent a problem for environmental protection and public health. The case history relates to a former quarry area restored by means of paper sludge. After the filling, a substantial quantity of biogas was produced, with an external diffusion to sensible target as well. Initial investigations showed that the area was characterized by a large amount of paper mill sludge made unstable by anaerobic conditions. To date there are no proven technologies for this kind of treatment. In this case, for safety and naturalization as agricultural area, new methods of bioremediation were used and, in particular, an innovative physical, mechanical and biological intervention, based on bio-stabilization of paper mill sludge. The treatment is site-specific, based on the in-site paper sludge biostabilisation. To complete the intervention and in order to demonstrate its validity an important monitoring activity was performed, testing all the phases affected by the biological transformation.

A method is presented for cross-country, cross-time comparison of energy efficiency developments in the manufacturing industry. The method is based on the use of physical production data as a measure of activity growth for the manufacturing industry. The methodology was applied to the pulp and paper industry of eight countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). With the methodology it is possible to follow energy efficiency developments, separately, for fuel and electricity consumption. Between 1973 and 1991, the production growth in the pulp and paper industry in the analysed countries would have resulted in an average increase in the primary energy consumption by 42%. Changes in the product mix had hardly any effect on the primary energy consumption. Because of energy efficiency improvements, the growth of primary energy consumption was limited to only 16%. The average annual efficiency improvement amounted to 1.6%. The methodology presented enables physical energy efficiency comparisons to be made between countries without the need for data at the process level.

Multi-step analytical tests, such as an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), require delivery of multiple fluids into a reaction zone and counting the incubation time at different steps. This paper presents a new type of paper-based magnetic valves that can count the time and turn on or off a fluidic flow accordingly, enabling timed fluid control in paper-based microfluidics. The timing capability of these valves is realized using a paper timing channel with an ionic resistor, which can detect the event of a solution flowing through the resistor and trigger an electromagnet (through a simple circuit) to open or close a paper cantilever valve. Based on this principle, we developed normally-open and normally-closed valves with a timing period up to 30.3 ± 2.1 min (sufficient for an ELISA on paper-based platforms). Using the normally-open valve, we performed an enzyme-based colorimetric reaction commonly used for signal readout of ELISAs, which requires a timed delivery of an enzyme substrate to a reaction zone. This design adds a new fluid-control component to the tool set for developing paper-based microfluidic devices, and has the potential to improve the user-friendliness of these devices.

At the present time, reliability and stability of electric power have been very important when it comes to electrical systems in any plants, especially in terms of distribution. Phoenix Pulp & Paper PCL (PPPC) in Khon Kaen, Thailand, is currently generating electric power about 90% of its current needed by themselves and buys the rest from Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA). Nonetheless, the protection system should be installed to protect the electrical bus when electrical generating process trips or breakdown. Otherwise, it would cause the shutdown of electrical system and lose all manufacturing. To protect electrical system, PPPC therefore has to use load shedding system for cutting the connection of the machines from the system within few minutes. Power flow of electric power from 115 kV PEA to 11 kV via 2 transformers of 115 kV/11 kV and PPPC's 3 generators are studied in this research by setting the real electric power (P), reactive electric power (Q), current (I) and voltage (V) in the protection relay of load shedding system of 11 kV switchboards. In addition, motor control panel, simulated by SKM Power Tools program, is investigated in this research work. The simulation results: P, Q, I and V will be divided into 4 cases: the trips from TG-PUC, TG2, TG3 (in-house generation) and the one from PEA. In the case that there is a trip from PEA electrical distribution, P, only generated from the first three generators in house, will be insufficient to cover the plant's electric need and require around 6,512 kW more. As a result, the machines would have to be stopped running. However, if there is a trip from its in-house generation (TG-PUC, TG2 and TG3) instead, some P can be directly received from PEA. Thus, the load shedding scheme is important to protect the blackout system from electrical system's trip in distribution.

A comparative life cycle assessment, under a cradle to gate scope, was carried out between two hand drying methods namely conventional hand dryer use and dispenser issued roll paper towel use. The inventory analysis for this study was aided by the deconstruction of a hand dryer and dispenser unit besides additional data provided by the Physical Resources department, from the product system manufacturers and information from literature. The LCA software SimaPro, supported by the ecoinvent and US-EI databases, was used towards establishing the environmental impacts associated with the lifecycle stages of both the compared product systems. The Impact 2002+ method was used for classification and characterization of these environmental impacts. An uncertainty analysis addressing key input data and assumptions made, a sensitivity analysis covering the use intensity of the product systems and a scenario analysis looking at a US based use phase for the hand dryer were also conducted. Per functional unit, which is to achieve a pair of dried hands, the dispenser product system has a greater life cycle impact than the dryer product system across three of four endpoint impact categories. The use group of lifecycle stages for the dispenser product system, which represents the cradle to gate lifecycle stages associated with the paper towels, constitutes the major portion of this impact. For the dryer product system, the use group of lifecycle stages, which essentially covers the electricity consumption during dryer operation, constitutes the major stake in the impact categories. It is evident from the results of this study that per dry, for a use phase supplied by Ontario's grid (2010 grid mix scenario) and a United States based manufacturing scenario, the use of a conventional hand dryer (rated at 1800 W and under a 30s use intensity) has a lesser environmental impact than with using two paper towels (100% recycled content, unbleached and weighing 4 g) issued from a roll dispenser.

Large kraft paper industries could economically generate 40% more electricity than the present demand by using steam-turbine cogeneration technology. A computer-based model has been used for the economic analysis. A systems approach, referred to as rational-use-of-energy, is proposed to overcome barriers to cogeneration.

This paper presents an inclusive approach with focus on energy use and recovery in wastewater management, including wastewater treatment (WWT) and sludge handling. Process data from three Swedish mills and a mathematical model were used to evaluate seven sludge handling strategies. The results indicate that excess energy use in WWT processes counters the potential energy recovery in the sludge handling systems. Energy use in WWT processes is recommended to aim for sufficient effluent treatment, not for sludge reduction. Increased secondary sludge production is favourable from an energy point of view provided it is used as a substrate for heat, biogas or electricity production.

The paper deals with power quality (PQ) issues in the specific industrial sector of paper fabrication. In this sector a wide research activity has been performed at customers level in order to identify main susceptibilities of the industrial process and to determine costs associated to PQ events. To this aim data, made available both from production process logs and from electricity distributor protection system interruption recordings, have been used. Finally, some real figures of possible costs due to PQ problems have been identified and discussed in details.

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) will be a licensed commercial high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) plant capable of producing the electricity and high temperature process heat for industrial markets supporting a range of end-user applications. The NGNP Project has adopted the 10 CFR 52 Combined License (COL) application process, as recommended in the Report to Congress, dated August 2008, as the foundation for the NGNP licensing strategy. NRC licensing of the NGNP plant utilizing this process will demonstrate the efficacy of licensing future HTGRs for commercial industrial applications. This white paper is one in a series of submittals that will address key generic issues of the COL priority licensing topics as part of the process for establishing HTGR regulatory requirements.

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion is raising new interest in using renewable biomass for energy. Modest-scale cogeneration systems using air-blown gasifiers coupled to aeroderivative gas turbines are expected to have high efficiencies and low unit capital costs, making them well-suited for use with biomass. Biomass-gasifier/gas turbine (BIG/GT) technology is not commercial, but efforts aimed at near-term commercialization are ongoing worldwide. Estimated performance and cost and prospects for commercial development of two BIG/GT systems are described, one using solid biomass fuel (e.g., wood chips), the other using kraft black liquor. At an energy-efficient kraft pulp mill, a BIG/GT cogeneration system could produce over three times as much electricity as is typically produced today. The mill’s on-site energy needs could be met and a large surplus of electricity would be available for export. Using in addition currently unutilized forest residues for fuel, electricity production would be nearly five times today’s level. The total cost to produce the electricity in excess of on-site needs is estimated to be below 4 cents per kWh in most cases. At projected growth rates for kraft pulp production, the associated biomass residue fuels could support up to 100 GW of BIG/GT capacity at kraft pulp mills worldwide in 2020 (30 GW in the US). The excess electricity production worldwide in 2020 would be equivalent to 10 percent of today’s electricity production from fossil fuels.

Electricity and paper consumptions were estimated quantitatively for the cases where paper documents can be easily converted to electronic ones using combination of Fuji Xerox's multifunctional device of DocuCentre Color 450 and Fuji Xerox's software of DocuCentre Flow Service. For the typical case reduction of electricity and paper consumption as high as 15% and 0. 79 t was shown to be attained

The pulp and paper industry relies heavily on electricity as an energy source. Although a major share of the pulp and paper industry's electrical needs are met by cogeneration, a substantial quantity of utility-generated electricity is purchased. The cost of purchased electricity can have a significant "bottom line" impact on mill production costs. Some utilities now have a new and innovative pricing methodology that provides cost benefits to their pulp and paper customers while also allowing utilities to achieve their own load management goals. This pricing concept is based on a utility's marginal cost structure, and is generally known as real time pricing or RTP. This paper provides an explanation of the RTP concept for purchased electricity. It compares and contrasts RTP pricing concepts to more traditional electric rates and describes the potential benefits to the utility's load management strategy. An actual pulp and paper mill's perspectives with RTP are presented from the standpoint of mill operations and the economic benefit of this innovative rate structure. Many mills will have the option to obtain a lower cost supply of purchased electricity in accordance with their process requirements while using operational capabilities in conjunction with the utilities' load management programs. Through the development and use of RTP programs, electric utilities can achieve load management objectives, better use generation resources, and be prepared to compete in an emerging open market place.

The authors examine the electrical energy usage in the pulp and paper industry for the continental United States. It is noted that the broad picture of energy required and fuel sources used gives a clear indication of a movement away from oil as an energy source. Internally generated fuel sources of spent liquor and hogged fuel have increased. The steam generated from boilers has increased internally generated electricity. It is pointed out that technologies such as high-yield pulping and impulse drying require less chemicals and reduced thermal requirements. The advanced thermal analysis technique of pinch technology focuses on optimum use of thermal requirements. It is concluded that all of these technologies point the way to more efficient thermal usage and increased demand for electricity. >

The pulp and paper industry is an energy-intensive sector which the need for heat and electricity throughout the year makes an ideal user of cogeneration. This paper presents a survey of cogeneration plants installed in the Italian pulp and paper industry from 1986 to 2010 including the technologies installed and the size and the timeline of installations. The work, carried out in cooperation with ASSOCARTA (the trade organization of Italian pulp, paper and board manufacturers), examines 61 cogeneration plants, 14 of them in detail. The analysis involves 673.5 MWe of installed electrical power, accounting for 75.7% of the sector (890 MWe); the average plant size in the sample is 11.1 MWe, the Italian sector average being 18.2 MWe. Gas turbines coupled with heat recovery steam generators are the commonest technology in the low power range, with 35 plants found between 1 and 8 MWe. If combined cycles (commonly installed above 8 MWe) are considered, the cogeneration plants using gas turbines are 55/61. Our data show that from 1986 to 2010 nearly all plants worked with a positive PES (primary energy saving) index, using less primary energy compared to separate production of electrical and thermal energy. Only two plants had a slightly negative PES index, but the price of electricity and natural gas was such that they made a profit anyway.

A method for the analysis of process energy requirements has been used to identify in an early design stage the potential process retrofit measures in an integrated pulp and paper mill. The minimum energy requirements (MER) of the process were computed by means of a dual representation that segregates the thermodynamic requirement of the process from its technological implementation. Energy and exergy recovery opportunities have been examined to improve the integration of the utility system to the process. An MILP optimisation targeting method has been applied to identify the best energy conversion options and to optimise the production of combined heat and power (CHP). Replacing the steam injections to mixing tanks by heat exchangers would decrease the MER by 10%, and increase the combined production of heat and power by a factor 1.7. Improving the exergy efficiency of the paper drying technology would be more difficult to implement, but the results indicate that this could bring an additional 12% gain of electricity cogenerated with no change to the MER.

Recent studies have shown that there is great potential benefit in utilities collaborating around heat supply. Analyses based on an extended system boundary clarify the advantage of mutual co-operation in the district heating markets. The purpose of this study is to show how far a local paper mill affects the degree of co-operation between two utilities. Current and future electricity prices and existing and potential plants are considered in the different scenarios in the study. The results in all the scenarios clearly show that the paper mill plays an active role in an integrated heat supply system. The scenario where co-operation, new plants and future electricity prices are considered, gives the lowest total system cost. A new back pressure turbine with a higher electricity-to-heat output ratio in combination with high trade prices promotes increased electricity and heat generation in the co-generation plant. The proportion of combined heat and power in district heating would increase if co-operation between the players were encouraged.

The pulp and paper industry handles large amounts of energy and today produces the steam needed for the process and some of the required electricity. Several studies have shown that black liquor gasification and combined cycles increase the power production significantly compared to the traditional processes used today. It is of interest to investigate the performance when advanced gas turbines are integrated with next-generation pulp and paper mills. The present study focused on comparing the combined cycle with the integration of advanced gas turbines such as steam injected gas turbine (STIG) and evaporative gas turbine (EvGT) in pulp and paper mills. Two categories of simulations have been performed: (1) comparison of gasification of both black liquor and biomass connected to either a combined cycle or steam injected gas turbine with a heat recovery steam generator; (2) externally fired gas turbine in combination with the traditional recovery boiler. The energy demand of the pulp and paper mills is satisfied in all cases and the possibility to deliver a power surplus for external use is verified. The study investigates new system combinations of applications for advanced gas turbines.

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion is raising new interest in using renewable biomass for energy. Modest-scale cogeneration systems using air-blown gasifiers coupled to aeroderivative gas turbines are expected to have high efficiencies and low unit capital costs, making them well-suited for use with biomass. Biomass-gasifier/gas-turbine (BIG/GT) technology is not commercial, but efforts aimed at near-term commercialization are ongoing worldwide. Estimated performance and cost and prospects for commercial development of two BIG/GT systems are described, one using solid biomass fuel (e.g. wood chips), the other using kraft black liquor. At an energy-efficient kraft pulp mill, a BIG/GT cogeneration system could produce over three times as much electricity as is typically produced today. The mill’s on-site energy needs could be met and a large surplus of electricity would be available for export. Using in addition currently unutilized forest residues for fuel, electricity production would be nearly five times today’s level. The total cost to produce the electricity in excess of on-site needs is estimated to be below 4 cents per kWh in most cases. At projected growth rates for kraft pulp production, the associated biomass residue fuels could support up to 100 GW of BIG/GT capacity at kraft pulp mills worldwide in 2020 (30 GW in the US). The excess electricity production worldwide in 2020 would be equivalent to 10% of today’s electricity production from fossil fuels.Copyright © 1991 by ASME

Business has been looking to end its dependency on Oil. Oil supplies are dwindling, the demand is increasing along with the cost. The Electromagnetic Reciprocating Engine, for which Sekou holds the patent, can replace the Combustion Engine; it does not use any fossil fuels. The Electromagnetic Reciprocating Engine can replace the Combustion Engine in any vehicle, eliminating the fuel cost. The Electromagnetic Reciprocating Engine can replace the Combustion Engine in an engine-generator, creating green renewable electricity. The Electromagnetic Reciprocating Engine has a low operating cost with an 110,000 hour or 12 year maintenance cycle. The Electromagnetic Reciprocating Engine can end the need for fossil fuels in transportation and electricity production for homes and businesses.