Download Biorefinery opportunities for the Canadian pulp and paper industry

T109 product development
Biorefinery opportunities for the
Canadian pulp and paper industry
By M. Towers, T. Browne, R. Kerekes, J. Paris and H. Tran
A b s t r a c t : The Canadian pulp and paper industry must identify new value-added products in
order to compete. One potential pathway is the forest biorefinery. This paper reviews feedstock
availability, novel products easily produced in existing facilities, and existing or emerging technologies. Feedstocks include hemicellulose, lignin, volatile organic compounds, organics in wastewaters, wood resins, and sawmill and forestry residuals. Products include transportation fuels, commodity chemicals, chemical building blocks, specialty chemicals, biopolymers, and other novel
products. Technologies include chemical, thermochemical and biochemical processes for products
such as bioethanol.
REFINERY EXTRACTS, isolates or modifies
components of a feedstock to produce one or several useful products.
The “biorefinery” is a refinery utilizing biomass as a feedstock to produce
gaseous and liquid fuels, specialty or commodity
chemicals, or other products commonly produced in petrochemical refineries, where the
feedstocks are mainly fossil fuels.
While there are similarities between the biorefinery and the petroleum refinery, there are also
important differences [1]. For example, biobased chemicals have more oxygen, making production of certain organic products easier. Separation processes will be as critical for the
biorefinery as they are for the petroleum refinery;
A
M. TOWERS
Pulp and Paper Research
Institute of Canada
Prince George, BC
T. BROWNE
Pulp and Paper Research
Institute of Canada
Pointe-Claire, QC
however, since bio-based chemicals are less
volatile, it is likely that distillation will be only one
of many separation methods used. Advances in
genetics, biotechnology, process chemistry and
engineering are leading to new methods for converting renewable biomass to fuels and chemicals.
There has been much interest recently in the
concept of the forest biorefinery from the
research community, the forest industry, and policy makers [1-5]. The concept is attractive
because it can help address current concerns
around oil prices, finite fossil resources, and
Kyoto commitments. Biomass rich nations see an
opportunity to utilize their natural bio-resources
in new ways to achieve maximum value and productivity within the confines of sustainability.
In Canada, the pulp and paper industry is a
major employer and contributor to the economy.
Recently, higher energy costs, currency appreciation, declining newsprint use, and lower manufacturing costs at newer market pulp facilities in
the tropics, have resulted in a difficult economic
environment for Canadian companies [6]. This
adds urgency to the need to revitalize the industry; adopting biorefinery concepts is one path forward [7-10].
Three critical factors must be examined to
assess the potential for a biorefinery in a given
context: feedstocks, conversion and separation
technologies, and markets for products. The
number of possible concepts is large, but preferred routes begin to emerge by examining each
segment of the biorefinery.
FEEDSTOCKS
R. KEREKES
Chemical Engineering
Department
University of British
Columbia
Vancouver, BC
J. PARIS
Chemical Engineering
Department
École Polytechnique
Montreal, QC
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H. TRAN
Chemical Engineering
Department
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON
The products generated in a biorefinery will primarily be a function of the feedstocks available.
Feedstock properties, such as cost, location, composition, moisture content and availability, will
dictate the appropriate technical options; feedstock costs can represent a large portion of plant
operating costs. One approach is to locate the
biorefinery near the feedstock to reduce or eliminate transportation costs. If the feedstock is a
waste stream from an existing process, disposal or
treatment costs may be offset, resulting in a near
zero feedstock cost. From this perspective,
the most attractive feedstocks would be
those that inhabit the lower left quadrant
of the diagram in Fig. 1.
About half the organic mass that enters
a kraft pulping line is incinerated. Capturing more useful energy from this
organic mass is a key aspect of mill energy
efficiency programs. Boiler temperatures
and pressures have risen over time to
increase power production in steam turbines. However, conventional cogeneration does not represent the ceiling of usefulness for these feedstocks; rather, it
represents the floor. All kraft mills in
Canada operate a wood waste boiler in
addition to their recovery boiler. Most
require this additional steam to operate
their process, but there is significant
opportunity to improve process energy
efficiency to eliminate any fossil fuel used
to generate steam and to liberate feedstocks for biorefinery opportunities.
In addition to available on-site feedstocks, conventional forestry practices
leave residuals on the forest floor (branches, foliage and tree tops). These represent
15 to 20% of the tree mass above the root,
and are generally not utilized. In some
countries, residuals are collected and used
as fuel for large combined heat and power
plants; tax incentives meant to reduce fossil fuel use in response to Kyoto have been
a driving force behind these practices.
Canada’s wealth of natural resources and
cheap hydroelectric power have been the
main barriers to implementing similar
practices. This is changing, however, as
demand in regions normally in surplus of
hydroelectric power is growing beyond the
installed capacity, leading to increased
reliance on high cost incremental capacity.
Pulp and paper mills are typically the
largest industrial infrastructure located
near forestry residuals. Even so, transportation to the mill site has been highlighted as
an obstacle to utilizing this material. Mobile
energy densification technologies, such as
truck-based pyrolysis units, to concentrate
these residuals for transport to a utilization
site have been proposed. At least one initiative demonstrating this approach is
underway in Canada [11].
In some selected instances it may also
be attractive to utilize non-forestry
biomass waste. Agricultural residuals or
even energy crops may provide interesting
opportunities [12].
TECHNOLOGIES
Most technologies for converting biomass
into products are in need of significant
development to meet techno-economic
criteria required for investment. Some of
the key issues are development status, capital cost, operating and maintenance cost,
product yield, current scale of the process, infrastructure needs, by-products
and wastes. Pulp and paper mills offer
access to infrastructure such as steam, rail
Interesting Feedstock Material Cost peer-reviewd
Internally available
biomass currently
under-utilized
Regionally available
biomass currently
under-utilized
Internally available
biomass currently
considered a waste
Regionally available
biomass currently
considered a waste
Increasing Feedstock Transportation Cost FIG. 1. Feedstocks value chart.
transportation, chemical handling, effluent treatment and other utilities, and may
be able to utilize by-products or wastes
from technologies implemented on-site,
thereby raising the overall biomass utilization efficiency. Such integration opportunities could make biorefinery concepts
economical earlier or on a smaller scale
than with stand-alone biorefinery.
Technology options generally fall into
one of the categories in Table I. Separation technologies would be utilized when
the target product of interest is already
present in the mill. An example would be
methanol in contaminated condensates.
Distillation is used to bring its concentration to 90%, but its end use is usually as
fuel for heat. Further purification and
even transformation is possible to make
better use of this green methanol source.
Gasification of fossil fuels is done commercially on very large scales [13]. Gasification of biomass is not done on such a
large scale and the gas product is currently used only for heat applications. There
are several initiatives underway to produce
synthesis products from syngas derived
from biomass feedstocks such as pulp mill
black liquor [14, 15], wood residues [16],
and pyrolysis oil [17]. But gas cleanup, gas
composition, and process economics are
critical barriers to commercial adoption,
in particular for black liquor.
Pyrolysis has mainly been suggested as
an energy densification technology in
order to reduce the transportation costs
of forestry residuals. Pyrolysis oil produced by mobile or regional plants could
be fired in gasification plants located at
pulp and paper mills.
Hydrolysis of sugars from hemicellulose and cellulose has been in development for many years. Commercial operation at a Canadian sulfite mill today is
evidence of the possible integration of
this approach with pulp and paper operations. Partial extraction of hemicellulose
from wood chips prior to pulping has
been suggested as an option for kraft
mills. Non-traditional conversion routes
will be required, as hemicellulose is comprised of a significant amount of pentose
sugars, such as xylose, which are not as
readily fermented as hexose sugars. Hemicellulose extraction may result in reduced
thermal load going to the recovery boiler,
which in turn may entail added costs to
either reduce steam use in the mill or
increase steam production from other
boilers on-site; this may be offset to some
degree by reduced chemical consumption
and causticizing requirements.
PRODUCTS
Specialty and commodity chemicals
Twelve building block chemicals that can
be derived from biomass sugar platforms
have been identified by the US Department of Energy [18]. Many of these are
presently made from high-cost natural
gas. A study commissioned by Industry
Canada [19] predicted North American
markets for a number of high-growth
chemical intermediates, several of them
not listed in the DOE report, in 2020.
Polylactic acid, whose production is
expected to grow by 19% per year to
640,000 metric tonnes by 2020, is presently produced by Cargill as a biodegradable
bio-plastic. Prices are still relatively high,
limiting demand; as production increases,
prices are likely to drop and demand
increase. Citric acid, predicted to grow by
3% per year to 450,000 metric tonnes by
2020, is used in food and beverages, and
capacity appears well matched to the
demand at the present time. Growth for
propylene glycol is expected to be 4% per
year, reaching 1.3 million tonnes; competition from lower-priced chemicals may
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make this a difficult market to enter. Sorbitol is expected to grow by 3% per year to
400,000 tonnes; new capacity would have
to compete with existing capacity, which
appears to be adequate for the market.
Formaldehyde growth, at 3%, is expected
to lead to a market of 7.5 million tonnes.
Existing capacity is adequate, but demand
is growing in Asia. Finally, 1,4-butanediol,
with a 4% growth rate, is expected to grow
to 860,000 tonnes.
Clearly, more detailed market analysis
is needed to fully evaluate these and other opportunities.
Transportation fuels
While some chemical markets may be
small, high-value markets with wellentrenched traditional suppliers, transportation fuels represent a large market
with no threat of market dilution from
biomass sources, even if it were conducted
on a scale as large as the entire pulp and
paper industry. Ethanol, methanol,
butanol, dimethyl ether, biodiesel, Fischer-Tropsch products and hydrogen are
among the possibilities. Ethanol can be
produced from sugar platform technologies as well as via gasification and synthesis routes. Other transportation fuels are
possible primarily through the gasification and synthesis route.
In part for political reasons, ethanol
seems set to serve as a supplement to
stretch gasoline supplies. Oil prices, which
are a strong function of supply and
demand, as well as unforeseen weather or
geopolitical events, will be a key risk factor
in entering the ethanol business. Low oil
prices make ethanol uneconomic in the
absence of government intervention; the
loss of such support is another key risk factor if oil prices are low. One analyst has
pegged the price of oil at which corn
ethanol becomes economic in the
absence of government intervention at
$US50 per barrel [20]. The US Energy
Information Agency predicts oil prices
will remain in the range $US50 to $US60
per barrel for the next two decades [21],
leaving little room for profit.
A second key risk factor will be the
response of the Brazilian industry to an
increase in world prices. While exports to
the US are currently limited by tariffs,
Brazil exports large amounts to Japan and
the EU and can have an impact on world
supply and prices.
Finally, government action in many
countries will drive the market in unpredictable ways. The US government is
pushing ethanol production for political
and strategic reasons; other countries
have Kyoto implementation plans which
rely, to a certain degree, on replacing
gasoline with ethanol. Changes in these
subsidy patterns as governments change is
a risk factor to be considered. The availability of subsidies to US producers also
makes it more difficult for Canadian pro-
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TABLE I. Main technology options.
Separation
Thermochemical
Chemical and Biological
Distillation
Gasification
Hemicellulose extraction & conversion
Membrane
Pyrolysis
Cellulose hydrolysis & conversion
Filtration
Hydrothermal
Esterification of tall oil and fatty acids
Solvent extraction
Resin exchange
ducers to compete in the US market.
Overall, many nations are moving to
ethanol production or imports as a means
of mitigating oil prices or of meeting
Kyoto commitments. While the production of ethanol seems set to grow, the
world demand is likely to grow as well.
Government support in many countries
appears strong, at least for the short term,
mitigating the poor economics when compared with petroleum.
Providing Solutions: The Canadian Forest
Biorefinery Network
The Canadian Forest Innovation Council
(CFIC) recently sponsored a series of
White Papers on transformative technologies for the forest industry. Three of the
four papers dealt directly or peripherally
with the concept of the biorefinery [2224]. The Canadian Forest Biorefinery Network has been proposed by Paprican and
PAPIER to link research institutes and universities with mill and corporate staff in
industry, in order to address the challenges laid out in these papers. PAPIER,
the Canadian Pulp and Paper Network for
Innovation in Education and Research, is
an organization of Canadian university
researchers active in the field of pulp and
paper. The network will focus on the key
objective of identifying novel processes
and products which can be produced
from forest-based feedstocks, initially by
existing pulp mills, and later by standalone bio-refineries. While the emphasis
will be on forest feedstocks, including the
development of systems for harvesting and
delivering biomass to a conversion site, the
potential to use agricultural feedstocks in
existing pulp mills will also be investigated.
The activities will range from stationary combustion through transportation
fuels and specialty chemicals to chemical
building blocks and precursors for plastics
and other materials.
A program of this scale will require significant collaboration and investment
from the chemical and energy industries,
as they understand the grade structures
and end-uses, business cases and economics, market size and product purity
requirements of markets which are new to
the pulp and paper sector. Partnership
with these industries will be an essential
component of a successful network.
Anaerobic digestion
Twelve broad themes, or program outlines, have been developed to address the
barriers identified in the CFIC White
Papers. These themes are described in
Table II. Each theme is meant to stand
alone, but there will need to be significant
interaction between researchers and
developers active in different areas, hence
the network concept.
CONCLUSIONS
The Canadian pulp and paper industry is
in need of a new business model. The
identification of new products to replace
existing commodity products offers one
avenue for transforming the industry. The
biorefinery provides a pathway to new
products, and offers the potential to
increase revenues through better utilization of existing on-site biomass, as well as
the development of new, non-traditional
biomass sources.
Pulp and paper mills are logical hubs
of biorefinery activity. They have on-site
feedstocks, are located within active
forestry regions, and have the infrastructure required by potential biorefinery
plants. They can provide utilities, utilize
waste streams, and treat effluents.
Many technologies and products are
possible, but ultimately the nature of the
feedstocks and value of products will drive
the technical development of the biorefinery. The majority of the potential pathways
described here focus on the production of
transportation fuels and other substitutes
for petroleum-derived products.
Much remains to be done. In response
to a request from industry and government leaders, Paprican and PAPIER have
prepared a proposal for a Canadian Forest Biorefinery Network. The network
goal is to ensure the necessary research,
development and demonstration work is
done in a collaborative fashion, with minimal overlap and maximum efficiency.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The support of Industry Canada, the
Canadian Forest Innovation Council and
the Alberta Research Council for this
work is gratefully acknowledged. The
PAPIER-Paprican Biorefinery Task Force
prepared the Canadian Forest Biorefinery
Network proposal, from which portions
were extracted for use here. The support
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peer-reviewd
from PAPIER’s Council of Directors is also
recognized.
L I T E R AT U R E
1. RAGAUSKAS, A.J. et al., The path forward for biofuels and biomaterials. Science 311(1):484-489 (2006).
2. MAGDZINSKI, L. Bioenergy and bioproducts at
Tembec: synergies in integrated processing of biomaterials. PAPTAC 92nd Annual Meeting, Montreal
(2006).
3. REALFF, M.J, ABBAS, C. Industrial symbiosis: refining the biorefinery. Journal of Industrial Ecology 7(34):5-9 (2004).
4. CUNNINGHAM, J.E. Biomass as an industrial feedstock. Canadian Chemical News 24-26 June (2005).
5. BUSH, G.W., State of the Union Address, January
31 (2006).
6. Price Waterhouse Coopers, The Forest Industry in
Canada: (2003).
7. IPILÄ, K., MCKEOUGH, P, MÄKINEN, T. The
pulp and paper industry can offer new innovative
bioenergy platforms. PulPaper 2004, Helsinki (2004).
8. THORP, B. Biorefinery offers industry leaders business model for major change. Pulp & Paper 79(11):3539 (2005).
9. VAN HEININGEN, A. Converting a kraft pulp mill
into an integrated forest products biorefinery. PAPTAC 92nd Annual Meeting, C167-C176, February
2006, Montreal.(2006).
10. AXEGARD, P. The pulp mill biorefinery. 1st
International Biorefinery Workshop, Washington D.C.
(2005).
11. BADGER, P.C., FRANSHAM, P. Use of mobile fast
pyrolysis plants to densify biomass and reduce biomass
handling costs — A preliminary assessment. Biomass
and Bioenergy, In press (2006).
12. ROOKS, A. A Sweet Future for Bio-Fuels?. Solutions!, Vol. 89(2): (2006).
13. PHILLIPS, G. Gasification — A versatile solution
for clean power, fuels & petrochemicals & an opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions. 7th World Congress
of Chemical Engineering, Glasgow (2005).
14. EKBOM, T. et al. Technical and economic feasibility study of black liquor gasification with
methanol/DME production as motor fuels for automotive uses — BLGMF, Final report of Concerted
Action with EU Altener Program, Nykomb Synergetics
AB, Stockholm (2003).
15. O’BRIAN, J. New alternative to conventional
spent liquor recovery. PaperAge 113(2):18-19, 22
(1997).
16. BLADES, T., RUDLOFF, M., SCHULZE, O. Sustainable SunFuel from CHOREN’s Carbo-V process.
International Symposium on Alcohol Fuels XV,
September 2005, San Diego.
17. HENRICH, E. Fast pyrolysis of biomass with a twin
screw reactor — a first BTL step. PyNe Newsletter 17:67 (2004).
18. WERPY, T., PETERSEN, G. Top value added
chemicals from biomass — Volume I: Results of
screening for potential candidates from sugars and
synthesis gas, U.S. Department of Energy (2004).
19. Industry Canada, Towards a technology roadmap
for Canadian forest biorefineries, report in preparation (2007).
20. RIESE, J. Industrial Biotechnology: Turning
Potential into Profits. Third Annual World Congress
TABLE II. Proposed research activities.
Title
Description
Product opportunity analysis
Availability of forest feedstocks
Market analysis; high value vs. high volume products
Available biomass (forest, sawmill, pulp mill, agricultural
or other residues): costs, logistics, etc.
Thermochemical pathways
Gasification and pyrolysis pathways to novel products
Bioproducts from
Bio-degradable plastics; products from anaerobic treatment
effluent and solid wastes
systems; value-added uses of sludges
Products from hemicellulose
Extract fuels and specialty chemicals while maintaining pulp
properties
Products from lignin
Extraction of lignin from kraft black liquor, and its use in novel
products
Products from extractives
Synthetic diesel and other products from crude tall oil
Products from condensates
Methanol extraction, purification, and transformation processes
Phytochemicals
Novel high value, low volume products from bark, branches and
foliage
Integrating novel products
Maintaining pulp and paper properties while modifying
with existing product lines
existing mills for novel products
Conversion of uncompetitive mills Identify new uses for idled kraft production lines, in particular
batch pulping systems
Integration with other industries
Identify synergies with commercial, industrial or
domestic neighbours
on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing,
Toronto, 11-14 July (2006).
21. US
Energy
Information
Agengy.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/pdf/aeotab_12.pdf
, viewed 29 June (2006).
22. MABEE, W. Transformative technologies for the
forest sector: Bioenergy production in Canada, CFIC
White Paper, March (2006).
23. GARNER, A., KEREKES, R. Transformative technologies for Biochemicals, CFIC White Paper, March
(2006).
24. KEREKES, R., GARNER, A. Transformative Technologies for Pulp and paper, CFIC White Paper,
March (2006).
R é s u m é : Pour demeurer concurrentielle, l’industrie canadienne des pâtes et papiers doit viser à mettre en marché de nouveaux produits à valeur ajoutée. De là le terme de bioraffinerie, par
analogie avec la raffinerie de pétrole. La présente communication examine les points essentiels
des stratégies de bioraffinage, notamment les matières premières accessibles aux usines canadiennes, les produits pouvant être extraits ou traités dans les installations existantes, et les technologies de bioraffinage disponibles ou en cours de développement. Les matières premières en
cours d’évaluation comprennent l’hémicellulose, la lignine, les composés organiques volatils, les
matières organiques des eaux usées, et les résidus des scieries et des forêts. Les produits possibles du bioraffinage englobent aussi les carburants pour le transport, les produits chimiques
courants, les éléments constitutifs chimiques, les biopolymères, et les produits nouveaux potentiels. Les technologies de bioraffinage comprennent l’extraction d’éléments du bois et les
procédés de transformation chimiques, thermochimiques et biochimiques pour la fabrication de
produits comme le bioéthanol.
R e f e r e n c e : TOWERS, M., BROWNE, T., KEREKES, R., PARIS, J., TRAN, H. Biorefinery opportunities for the Canadian pulp and paper industry. Pulp & Paper Canada 108(6):T109-112. (June
2007) Paper presented at the 93rd Annual Meeting in Montreal, QC, February 5-9, 2007. Not to be
reproduced without permission of PAPTAC. Manuscript received December 13, 2006. Revised
manuscript approved for publication by the Review Panel December 13, 2006.
K e y w o r d s : CANADA, FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY, BIOMASS, CONVERSION, FUELS,
CHEMICALS, ECONOMICS, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS.
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