Paper making in a low carbon economy

Paper and pulp manufacturing industry produces versatile products from renewable feedstock that are easily recycled. It is the fourth largest industrial sector in terms of energy use. Much of the energy used comes from biomass derived fuels or high efficiency combined heat and power plants so the in...

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Main Author: John G Rogers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIMS Press 2018-02-01
Series:AIMS Energy
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.aimspress.com/energy/article/1832/fulltext.html
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spelling doaj-7406212ce22140449327b9a4e9dba6a72020-11-24T23:28:49ZengAIMS PressAIMS Energy2333-83342018-02-016118720210.3934/energy.2018.1.187energy-06-00187Paper making in a low carbon economyJohn G Rogers0University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, UK, BA2 7AY, UKPaper and pulp manufacturing industry produces versatile products from renewable feedstock that are easily recycled. It is the fourth largest industrial sector in terms of energy use. Much of the energy used comes from biomass derived fuels or high efficiency combined heat and power plants so the industry is not considered as carbon intensive. But at production paper making emits five times the CO<sub>2</sub>/tonne of steel; this is gradually removed from the atmosphere by the growth of replacement trees which can take between 7 and 90 years. This study reviewed existing literature to establish estimates for future energy requirements, and way that these could be met with minimum carbon emissions in a world where there are electricity grids with low carbon intensities, high recycling rates and growing demand for sustainable biomass. It was found that energy consumption could be reduced by 20% using technologies that have been demonstrated at an industrial scale. Most virgin pulp is made using the kraft chemical processing method. It was found that it should be possible to eliminate all fossil fuel use from this process, by combustion of by-product while exporting a small amount of electricity. Recycled paper is becoming the largest source of pulp. In this case the waste streams cannot provide sufficient energy to power the process, but process heat can be produced by burning some of the collected waste paper in steam plants or by using electric heat pumps. The energy needed to produce high quality office paper is nearly twice that required for non-deinked packaging paper. This couples with the lower pulp yields obtained with high quality pulp means that the environmentally preferred option for energy supply to the recycling process is dependent on the grade of pulp being produced.http://www.aimspress.com/energy/article/1832/fulltext.htmlpaper makingenergy efficiencycarbon emissionsrecyclingbiomass use
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author John G Rogers
spellingShingle John G Rogers
Paper making in a low carbon economy
AIMS Energy
paper making
energy efficiency
carbon emissions
recycling
biomass use
author_facet John G Rogers
author_sort John G Rogers
title Paper making in a low carbon economy
title_short Paper making in a low carbon economy
title_full Paper making in a low carbon economy
title_fullStr Paper making in a low carbon economy
title_full_unstemmed Paper making in a low carbon economy
title_sort paper making in a low carbon economy
publisher AIMS Press
series AIMS Energy
issn 2333-8334
publishDate 2018-02-01
description Paper and pulp manufacturing industry produces versatile products from renewable feedstock that are easily recycled. It is the fourth largest industrial sector in terms of energy use. Much of the energy used comes from biomass derived fuels or high efficiency combined heat and power plants so the industry is not considered as carbon intensive. But at production paper making emits five times the CO<sub>2</sub>/tonne of steel; this is gradually removed from the atmosphere by the growth of replacement trees which can take between 7 and 90 years. This study reviewed existing literature to establish estimates for future energy requirements, and way that these could be met with minimum carbon emissions in a world where there are electricity grids with low carbon intensities, high recycling rates and growing demand for sustainable biomass. It was found that energy consumption could be reduced by 20% using technologies that have been demonstrated at an industrial scale. Most virgin pulp is made using the kraft chemical processing method. It was found that it should be possible to eliminate all fossil fuel use from this process, by combustion of by-product while exporting a small amount of electricity. Recycled paper is becoming the largest source of pulp. In this case the waste streams cannot provide sufficient energy to power the process, but process heat can be produced by burning some of the collected waste paper in steam plants or by using electric heat pumps. The energy needed to produce high quality office paper is nearly twice that required for non-deinked packaging paper. This couples with the lower pulp yields obtained with high quality pulp means that the environmentally preferred option for energy supply to the recycling process is dependent on the grade of pulp being produced.
topic paper making
energy efficiency
carbon emissions
recycling
biomass use
url http://www.aimspress.com/energy/article/1832/fulltext.html
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