Pulp and Paper Industry Energy Bandwidth Study
On behalf of the Department of Energy's Industrial Technologies Program (ITP), Jacobs Engineering and the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) at Georgia Institute of Technology performed a detailed estimate of the U.S. Pulp and Paper Industry's current energy consumption and calculated the energy savings potential of employing best practices and implementing more efficient pulp and paper manufacturing technologies.
The study's findings are outlined in The Pulp and Paper Industry Energy Bandwidth Study Report (PDF 1.5 MB) (Download Adobe Reader). The report provides energy estimates for the following four cases:
- Current average mill energy consumption
- Mill energy consumption if best practices were applied, i.e., current state-of-the-art or Best Available Technologies
- Mill energy consumption if advanced technologies requiring further R&D were employed
- Theoretical minimum mill energy consumption
Summary of Findings
- State-of-the-art mills consumed 26% less energy than average mills and implementation of advanced technologies could reduce mill energy consumption by 41%
- State-of-the-art mills consumed 46% less fossil fuel than average mills and advanced technologies could reduce fossil fuel consumption by 75%
The largest R&D opportunities include: reducing the water content of the paper web before the dryer section, developing non-evaporative weak black liquor concentration, and improving the energy efficiency of the lime kiln. Breakthroughs in these technologies will enable ITP to reach its goal of reducing steam demand in state-of-the-art mills by 15% in 2015, and thereby help improve the economic viability of black liquor gasification and the biorefinery.
Calculations in the report are provided in the Appendix (Section 10). Supporting documents include:
- Tab C, MECS Energy Distribution (Excel 1.2 MB)
- Tab D, Best Available Technologies (BAT) Energy Distribution (Excel 1.2 MB)
- Tab E, Practical Minimum Energy Distribution (Excel 1.2 MB)
- Tab F, Theoretical Minimum Energy Distribution (Excel 1.2 MB)