Carbon and Economic Analysis on Cogeneration Natural Gas Boiler and Solar Photovoltaic in Pulp and Paper Industry

The increasing demand for world paper consumption stimulates the growth of paper and pulp industries and lead to high carbon emission. Electricity and thermal energy are critically demanded by the paper and pulp industries. The premises utilizing grid electricity are carbon intensive as the grid energy mainly generates electricity from burning coal. Alternative energy resources that are less carbon-intensive such as natural gas and solar energy, can be used to generate electricity to fulfil the energy demand of the pulp and paper industry and mitigate carbon emissions. This study implemented cogeneration natural gas boilers and solar energy to substitute the dependency on grid electricity from Tenaga National Berhad as they are less carbon intensive than coal fuel. Carbon and economic analysis were conducted on the case studies that replaced grid electricity supply from TNB by implementing cogeneration natural gas boilers and solar energy. The results show that the total savings/kWh of energy produced from cogeneration natural gas boiler range from 0.155 MYR/kWh to 0.164 MYR/kWh. The total savings per kWh of energy produced from solar energy is higher, which was 0.207 MYR/kWh of solar energy produced. Solar has better operation cost savings per unit of electricity generated, but a limited installation area restricts the implementation. In the future, the increasing efficiency of solar technology will make the option viable while achieving more cost savings and carbon emission reduction.