Evaluating energy efficiency improvement of pulp and paper production: Case study from factory level

Abstract

To reduce energy use and achieve a low carbon production in pulp and paper industry (PPI), it is essential to improve energy efficiency in pulp and paper production. In this study, the energy savings from the PPI were estimated based on a techno-economic analysis by EAGER tool for PPI at the factory level. The structure and implement procedure were introduced initially. Two typical pulp and paper mills from China were determined to estimate the impact of selected energy efficiency technologies (EETs) on energy savings as the cases in the base year. One Factory (A) only produced paper products (i.e. corrugated paper and Kraft linerboard) while the other Factory (B) also produced market pulp besides sack paper. In totally 22 selected EETs were applied to assess their saving potential in Factory A, and 29 measures were applied in Factory B. The results show that 2290 TJ and 1179 TJ of final energy could be saved annually in Factory A and B, corresponding to reduction of 29.4% and 13.6% total energy consumption respectively for the case factories. The CO2 reduction potential was 32.3% for Factory A compared with that of 16.6% in Factory B. It suggests that the pulp and paper mills should encouraged to use this method estimating energy saving potential, and improve their energy efficiency with suggested measures in order to reduce energy consumption and related carbon emissions further in the coming years.