energies
Article Pulp and Paper Industry: Decarbonisation Technology Assessment to Reach CO 2 Neutral Emissions—An Austrian CaseStudy
Maedeh Rahnama Mobarakeh 1, * , Miguel Santos Silva 2 and Thomas Kienberger 1
1 Chair of Energy Network Technology, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz-Josef Straße 18, A-8700 Leoben, Austria; Thomas.kienberger@unileoben.ac.at 2 Instituto Superior T é cnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal; miguel.santos.silva@tecnico.ulisboa.pt * Correspondence: maedeh.rahnama-mobarakeh@unileoben.ac.at; Tel.: +43-384-2402-5411 Abstract: The pulp and paper (P&P) sector is a dynamic manufacturing industry and plays an essential role in the Austrian economy. However, the sector, which consumes about 20 TWh of final energy, is responsible for 7% of Austria’s industrial CO 2 emissions. This study, intending to assess the potential for improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions in the Austrian context in the P&P sector, uses a bottom-up approach model. The model is applied to analyze the energy consumption (heat and electricity) and CO 2 emissions in the main processes, related to the P&P production from virgin or recycled fibers. Afterward, technological options to reduce energy consumption and fossil CO 2 emissions for P&P production are investigated, and various low-carbon technologies are applied to the model. For each of the selected technologies, the potential of emission reduction and energy savings up to 2050 is estimated. Finally, a series of low-carbon technology-based scenarios are developed and evaluated. These scenarios’ content is based on the improvement potential associated with the various processes of different paper grades. The results reveal that the investigated technologies applied in the production process (chemical pulping and paper drying) have a minor impact on CO 2 emission reduction (maximum 10% due to applying an impulse dryer). In contrast, steam supply electrification, by replacing fossil fuel boilers with direct heat supply (such as commercial electric boilers or heat pumps), enables reducing emissions by up to 75%. This means that the goal of 100% CO 2 emission reduction by 2050 cannot be reached with one method alone. Consequently, a combination of technologies, particularly with the electrification of the steam supply, along with the use of carbon-free electricity generated by renewable energy, appears to be essential.
Citation: Rahnama Mobarakeh, M.; Santos Silva, M.; Kienberger, T. Pulp and Paper Industry: Decarbonisation Technology Assessment to Reach CO 2 Neutral Emissions—An Austrian Case Study. Energies 2021 , 14 , 1161. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14041161
Academic Editor: Daniel S á nchezGarc í a-Vacas
Received: 21 January 2021 Accepted: 16 February 2021 Published: 22 February 2021
Keywords: pulp and paper sector; greenhouse gas emissions; CO 2 emissions reduction; abate- ment technology
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1. Introduction Disturbing climate changes have marked today’s world. They make global warming and its catastrophic consequences more evident day by day. To tackle this problem effi- ciently, the European Union (EU) has defined a set of ambitious targets to limit the increase in average global temperature. These include reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% by 2030 and by 80–95% before 2050, compared to the 1990 levels [1]. To achieve this target, the EU must effectively localize the source of emissions and look for alternatives to the current processes in a short period. The main sources of GHG emissions in Europe are energy-producing industries, followed by fuel combustion by users (Fuel combustion by users (excl. transport): emissions from fuel combustion by manufacturing industries and construction, and small scale fuel combustion for space heating and hot water production for households [2]), the
Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).
Energies 2021 , 14 , 1161. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14041161
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