Decarbonization Pathways for Pulp and Paper Value Chain : An Emission-Centric Techno-Economic Assessment

Sammanfattning

The pulp and paper industry—accounting for approximately 6% of global industrial energy consumption—faces urgent decarbonization challenges yet lacks a detailed, process-level emissions and cost-modelling framework to guide targeted interventions. A flexible energy, emissions, and costmodel was developed to map thermal and electrical consumption and CO2 emissions across all unit operations, from forestry, wood handling and pulping through paper-making and transportation, while accounting for the economic implications of decarbonization. A techno-economic module then evaluated the potential of selective electrification and alternative technologies by estimating energy savings, emissions abatement, and total life-cycle cost. Results show that paper drying (42%), black liquor evaporation (21.7%), and kraft digestion (10.4%) dominate energy use, with black liquor and wood residue combustion contributing over 50% of total emissions. Electrification of the processes could reduce emissions by up to 90%, and retrofitting evaporators with mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) can yield around 92% energy savings. The framework given in this thesis enables the prioritization of high-impact processes and the cost-effective deployment of decarbonization technologies in the pulp and paper industry.