A Review of the Recent State-of-the-Arts in the Pulp and

Paper Industry

Pulp and paper industry is one of the largest industrial sectors in the world.
It has evolved from a simple Fourdrinier machine to large industrial paper
machines. However, different issues are being brought to the industry like high
energy cost, unsustainable production, high CO2 emissions, and pollution to the
bodies of water (Jonsson and Algehed, 2009). But the good thing is these
problems don’t just stay as problems. Recent developments, which were state-
of-the-arts, brought the solution to the problems.
Reliability, affordability and environmental impact of energy has become
the most critical issue for the world economy. The pulp and paper sector is
currently ranked as the fourth major consumer of energy which may represent
the 6% of global industrial use (Industrial Efficiency Technology Database, 2016).
In the United States only, they consume an amount of 2361 trillion BTU’s to
produce 100 million tons of pulp and paper (JACOBS and IPST, 2006). Due to
its high energy requirement, different researchers and scientist have develop
technologies to minimize its energy consumption.
First is biorefinery. Biomass, especially the lignocellulosic material, can be
regarded as one of the most abundant and renewable sources of carbon. Thus,
in biorefinery, forestry and agricultural biomass are being used as a feedstock in
order to produce fuels such as gaseous and liquid fuels (Bajpai, 2013). The main
feedstocks used consists of bark, cellulose, lignin, and hemicelluloses. By
integrating biorefineries in the pulp and paper mills, they would have the
opportunity to produce significant amounts of bioenergy as well as bioproducts.
As the fossil fuels depletes throughout the years, oils will be increasingly
expensive. Thus, biomass may replace it and biorefining can be an opportunity
for the pulp and paper industry.
Next is the black liquor and hog fuel gasification (JACOBS and IPST, 2006).
Black liquor is considered as the waste product from the Kraft pulping process.
However, this may not really be considered as a waste. The reason is that black
liquor may be considered as a fuel. It may represent a potential energy source as
high as 250-500 MW (megawatts). Gasification of black liquor is an alternative
process to produce a sulfur-free synthesis gas by passing it through series of
machines in a gasification plant (IEA Bioenergy, 2007). The application of this
technology would save up to 6.5 billion dollars in cumulative energy cost savings
over 25 years.
Lastly is the borate auto-causticizing. This technology may eliminates the
usage of lime kilns and other causticizing equipment, thus, decreasing the
amount of energy use (JACOBS and IPST, 2007). This process involves the
addition of sodium borate in the recovery smelt in order to produce trisodium
borate. This improves the chemical recovery process by dictating the quantity
and quality of white liquor.
However there are other technologies that may reduce energy consumption.
These technologies includes CondeBeltTM drying, and hot impulse pressing
(JACOBS and IPST, 2006).
Another issue being brought about is that the production of paper is
unsustainable from sourcing materials, manufacturing, and disposal of the
paper product (Smith, 2011). Sustainable development implies the needs of
alternative technologies that less likely to affect the environment.
Although wood is really the main raw material in paper production,
researchers have found a way to recycle papers more efficiently. Recycled paper
reduces the demand for wood, and thus, reducing the pressure to cut the trees
in the forests. Recycled papers makes the paper production more sustainable.
However, the use of large quantities of chemicals in re-pulping, cleaning, and
processing of secondary fibers makes it somehow environmentally damaging.
Thus, enzyme-catalyzed processes are gradually replacing chemical
process because of their valuable environmental benefits, less energy and water
consumption, and the quality of product produced.
Increased use of recycled fibers may cause constant contamination with
bacteria. Recycled papers contains 1000 times more organisms compared to
virgin pulp. One example of such microorganisms that sticks firmly on pipe lines,
chest, and screens are slimes. Slimes entraps debris such as fibers used in the
mill to form deposits. Thus, if the microbial growth has been left unchecked, the
built-in deposits may dislodge onto paper sheets – affecting its quality and
causing damage to the paper machine (Bajpai, 2015). One enzyme-catalyzed
process is the development of green enzymatic biocide (Cotrino and Ordonez,
2011). The green biocides are then used to control the growth of these slimes.
Another important application of enzymes is in prebleaching of Kraft pulp.
Xylanase prebleaching technology is now used in different mills in the world. The
use of hemicellulases (xylanase) reduces the amount of bleaching chemicals up
to 30% (Venditti, nd). These cleave the hemicellulose fiber making the bleaching
process more effective.
As in most of the industries, the source of the ecological problems came
from the manufacturing process. Most of the chemicals are employed in the
manufacturing process. But mechanical and chemical pulping might be replace
by a latest invention called Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) (Beckman, 2013). This
technology breaks down biomass into pure cellulose, with lignin and
hemicellulose at low cost. Wood fibers dissolve specifically in their corresponding
DES. Only cellulose is soluble in DES, thus, it can enable the recovery of
cellulose from wastes. Thus, obtaining pure cellulose without lignin since lignin
is not soluble in DES. This technology might lead to 40% reduction in energy
consumption and 20% - 80% reduction in the CO2 emission.
Biopulping technology are also employed by some pulp and paper mills.
These includes the addition of biological agents such as fungi containing
varieties of enzymes that break down the lignin (Martin et al, 2000). Some uses
continuous digester for pulping since it is more efficient than batch digesters.
Continuous digesters employ 25% additional penetration to the chips being
pulped.
The amount of water benefits includes reduced treatment cost, increased
system temperature, lower losses of fibers, and more stable operating condition.
References:
Bajpai, P. (2013). Biorefinery in the Pulp and Paper Industry. 1st
edition. London: Academic Press
Bajpai, P. (2015). Pulp and Paper Industry: Microbiological Issues in
Papermaking. 1st edition. Oxford: Elsevier, Inc.
Beckman, K. (2013, November 28). Paper Industry presents
breakthrough in decarbonisation technology. Energy Post. Retrieved from
http://www.energypost.eu/paper-industry-presents-breakthrough-
decarbonisation-technology/
Cotrino, J.C. and Ordonez, V. (2011). Green Technology: Last
Developments in Enzymes for Paper Recycling. PaperCon 2011.
IEA Bioenergy. (2007). Black liquor gasification. Retrieved from
http://www.ieabioenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Black-
Liquor-Gasification-summary-and-conclusions3.pdf
Industrial Efficiency Technology Database. (2016). Pulp and Paper.
Retrieved from http://ietd.iipnetwork.org/content/pulp-and-paper
JACOBS and Institute of Paper Science and Technology. (2006,
August). Pulp and Paper Industry Energy Bandwidth Study. American
Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Jonsson, J. and Algehed, J. (2009). Pathways to a sustainable
European pulp and paper industry: Trade-offs between different
technologies and system solutions for Kraft mills. Chemical Engineering
Transactions Vol 18.
Martin, N., Anglani, N., Einstein, D., Krushch, M., Worrell, E., and
Price, L.K. (2000, July). Opportunities to Improve Energy Efficiency and
Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the US Pulp and Paper Industry.
Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Smith, R. (2011). The Environmental Sustainability of Paper.
Graduate Studies Journal of Organizational Dynamics: Vol. 1 Issue 1
Venditti, R. (nd). Enzyme Applications in Pulp and Paper: An
Introduction to Applications. Buckman Laboratories. Retrieved from
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~richardv/documents/csirEnzymeApplicationsin
PulpandPaperrav.pdf