Integration Of Biomass Gasification With A Scandinavian Mechanical Pulp And Paper Mill - Consequences For Mass And Energy Balances And Global CO2 Emissions
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2012
The Scandinavian mechanical pulp and paper industry has been facing great challenges during the past
decades, mainly because of declining demand for newsprint, and higher prices on raw material and
energy. One way of increasing profitability is to produce more value-added products besides the
production of pulp and paper. In this study, integration potentials of three possible future biomass
gasification-based energy mills with an existing thermo-mechanical pulp (TMP) mill, co-located with
a sawmill, have been evaluated. The product gas was utilized for electricity production in a gas turbine,
for production of methanol or for production of FischereTropsch (FT) liquids. Integration of the energy
mills showed good potential as the TMP mill constitutes a heat sink for which the excess heat from the
energy mills can be utilized all year round. However, since there is little excess heat from the TMP mill at
the required level to be utilized for biomass drying, for example, heat integration is typically one way. It
has also been shown that integration of biomass gasification with a TMP mill results in larger CO2
emissions reduction than stand-alone operation. Still, compared to co-firing biomass in a coal power
plant, the energy mills all have lower potentials for CO2 emissions reduction.
CO2 emissions
Thermo-mechanical pulp and paper mill
Biorefinery
Process integration
Biomass gasification
Energy efficiency