Pulp and Paper Industry's current energy consumption and energy savings potential

March 28, 2009 by timbercommunity

Forest products industry of the future
On behalf of the Department of Energy's Industrial Technologies Program (ITP), Jacobs Engineering and the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) at Georgia Institute of Technology performed a detailed estimate of the U.S. Pulp and Paper Industry's current energy consumption and calculated the energy savings potential of employing best practices and implementing more efficient pulp and paper manufacturing technologies.
 The report provides energy estimates for the following four cases:
 1. Current average mill energy consumption
2. Mill energy consumption if best practices were applied, i.e., current state-of-the-art or Best Available Technologies
3. Mill energy consumption if advanced technologies requiring further R&D were employed
4. Theoretical minimum mill energy consumption
 
Summary of Findings
State-of-the-art mills consumed 26% less energy than average mills and implementation of advanced technologies could reduce mill energy consumption by 41%
State-of-the-art mills consumed 46% less fossil fuel than average mills and advanced technologies could reduce fossil fuel consumption by 75%
 
Read original article from US Department of Energy and download Excel documents: