Conclusions

One may consider a modern pulp and paper mill as a first‐generation forest biorefinery, with steam, power, and other products being produced alongside the wide range of paper products we normally associate with the industry. Black liquor and biomass gasification are key technology platforms for realizing the forest biorefinery of the future. Current research and development has shown that gasification‐based pulp mill biorefinery technologies, once fully commercialized, offer the potential for attractive investment returns. They also offer the potential for important contributions toward national petroleum savings, emissions reductions, improved energy security, and rural economic development – contributions that could be two times or larger the size of contributions from the existing US corn–ethanol industry. The introduction of BLGCC systems in the United States had potential to displace up to 35 million T net CO₂, 16 000 T net SO₂, and 100 000 T net NO_x within 25 years.

These potential private and public benefits arise, fundamentally, because of the integration of biorefining with pulp and paper production, such that the biorefinery is providing chemical recovery services, process steam, and process electricity in addition to exporting liquid fuels (FTL, DME, MA) and perhaps some electricity. We have analyzed in detail a variety of integrated pulp/paper mill biorefinery designs encompassing a broad range of product slates. An overarching finding is that integration can effectively enable more efficient use of biomass resources for liquid biofuel production compared to nonintegrated biofuel production. Integration also can effectively reduce the capital investment required per unit of biofuel production to levels comparable to investments needed for coal‐to‐liquids facilities that are an order of magnitude or more larger than prospective pulp mill biorefineries. Finally, integration can effectively reduce the cost of producing gasification‐based biofuels to approximately $1/gal of ethanol equivalent, which would make them competitive with the current cost target developed by analysts at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for ethanol made from lignocellulosic biomass by enzymatic hydrolysis/fermentation processes.

Table 9.9 Biorefinery estimates based on BLG studies, e.g. BLGCC and BLG for biofuel production.

Source: From Naqvi et al. (2010).

Fuel values are based on LHV.

Summary

• The forest biorefinery offers a business strategy that potential forestry companies are seriously considering for improving the overall financial performance of the sector. However, there are considerable technology and business risks related to its implementation. These risks can be mitigated to a great extent by using systematic product and process design tools for analyzing biorefinery strategies.
• Industry leaders, investors, policy‐makers, and others are now beginning to better understand the vital role to be played by biorefineries as we move from a fossil fuel‐based energy economy toward a bio‐based one (Connor 2007).
• When properly located and operated, the potential of an integrated forest biorefinery is believed to be huge: a very attractive and synergistic business and economic opportunities for both co‐located pulp and paper mill and for the biorefinery itself.
• Biorefineries are a key pathway to our biofuture, displacing fossil fuels and supplying clean, renewable, and carbon neutral energy. Biorefineries fit very well at pulp and paper mills because of their inherent ability to gather and process biomass and create energy from biomass.
• BLG for liquid fuel production with BLGCC electricity production at kraft mills has potential to significantly reduce air emissions, including CO₂, SO₂, NO_x, CO, VOCs, PM, and TRS.
• Forest biorefinery has significant impact on the society, our economy, environment, and sustainable forestry and pulp and paper industry.