Advanced design methods for the energy-efficient transformation of pulp mills into biorefineries

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The overall objective of this project is to develop and apply advanced design methods for the transformation of pulp and paper mills into biorefineries - and in particular, to mitigate risk and enhance economic return through an innovative design approach based on the analysis of real-time data from an existing pulp facility. The methods will be developed in the context of Fortress Specialty Cellulose, a chemical pulp mill and producer of dissolving grade pulp located in Thurso (QC). The project involves modeling the pulping process and the energy utility systems of the mill, representing the mill's operating regimes through the rectification of real-time process data from the plant information management (PIM) system, developing activity-based costing (ABC) models, identifying operating cost reduction opportunities and energy savings projects, suitable for the short-term and also for the context of biorefinery design; the latter includes the identification and selection of promising product-process biorefinery options, the site-wide energy analysis, the production capacity analysis, and the evaluation of the investment and operating costs. The individual methods will be assembled into an overall framework suitable for the design of energy-efficient biorefinery processes. The Bridge Method, which has been developed in our laboratory for identification of practical energy-savings opportunities and for site-wide energy design, will be applied in practice for the first time. The 4-year program will involve the participation of two postdoctoral fellows and four graduate students (two PhD students and two MSc students), working in close collaboration with industry partners Fortress and OSIsoft, as well as 3C Software, Aurel Systems, and EnVertis Consulting. Application of the set of methods developed in this program in forest product companies should lead to a decrease of manufacturing costs in the short-term and to an improvement of long-term competitive position in conjunction with mill transformation into biorefinery. The overall design methodology will be presented to the Canadian forest products sector in a series of workshops. ****************