PAPER making! g! FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL ® Volume 11, Number 3, 2025
results give the opposite effect. Hence, these factors may help in an efficient coating process and improve the substrate life. ENERGY “Deep decarbonization of the pulp and paper industry: Heat integration and techno- economic analysis combined with tailored heat pumps”, S. Mostafa Babaei & Martin K. Patel, Energy , 338, November 2025, 138881. This study evaluates high-temperature heat pumps for the pulp and paper industry, designed to achieve deep decarbonization by covering 19.6MW out of 24.3MW of the hot-utility demand ( 80%), including steam at 150°C, using waste heat from the same site. While this 80% coverage is based on a Swiss case study, it reflects typical steam demand structures in the pulp and paper industry globally. Three configurations were developed to address challenges of high-temperature operation and working-fluid optimization, using modifications such as intercooling and internal heat exchangers. These solutions are broadly applicable beyond the paper sector, making high-temperature heat pumps key tools for industrial decarbonization. Techno- economic analysis showed the Intercooler-Water system achieved the highest efficiency (COP 2.73), while the internal heat exchanger system offered simplicity and lower costs ($24.3M vs. $90.5M). Economic analysis under four scenarios revealed the internal heat exchanger system performed best at low electricity-to-gas price ratios (0.5–1, Scenario 1) with a mean payback of 1.82 years and LCOE of −9.93 cents/kWh. At higher ratios (2–3, Scenario 4), the Intercooler-Ethanol system was the most adaptable, with a payback of 5.15 years and LCOE of −6.77 cents/kWh. Intercooler-Water, while efficient, struggled with high investment costs and paybacks exceeding 7 years. Sensitivity analysis identified energy prices as the dominant factors, with investment costs critical for the Intercooler-Water system. These findings provide a roadmap for optimizing heat pump integration and aligning designs with market conditions, ensuring feasibility in decarbonizing not only the paper industry but also other sectors. ENVIRONMENT “Robust scheduling of a pulp and paper mill considering flexibility provision from steam power generation”, Chuanshen Wu, Yue Zhou, Wei Gan & Jianzhong Wu, Applied Energy , 377(Part C), January 2025, 124595. The production scheduling and flexibility provision analysis are of great importance for industrial facilities to provide support for the main power grid. This study proposes a comprehensive scheduling model for an industrial pulp and paper (P&P) mill that considers the flexibility provision from steam power generation. In this model, the internal relationships between the production and consumption of electricity, steam, and pulp in the operational processes of the P&P mill are investigated. Meanwhile, the available flexibility of steam power generation is quantified and further enhanced for participation in the manual frequency restoration reserve (MFRR) market. Furthermore, a robust scheduling model that uses support vector clustering (SVC) technology is proposed to assess the impact of uncertainties in steam temperature and pressure on the available flexibility of steam power generation, thereby reducing the probability of failing to provide the contracted flexibility for MFRR. Simulation results demonstrate that the comprehensive scheduling model significantly increases the available flexibility of steam power generation for MFRR, resulting in a daily revenue increase of $1839.8. Moreover, a balance between the revenue obtained from the MFRR market and the probability of economic penalties incurred for failing to meet the contracted flexibility is achieved by comparing different levels of conservatism in the robust scheduling model.
Technical Abstracts
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