Project description
Using pulp and paper industry sludge for coal alternatives
Torrefaction improves the fuel characteristics of biomass and torrefied pellets can be an alternative to coal. However, at this stage, these pellets are not cost competitive to coal. On the other hand, pulp and paper industries (PPI) produce a lot of organic residues, and handling them is associated with environmental and economic issues. The TOPIS-BioCirc project will study the feasibility of torrefaction of PPI sludge (PPIS) and integrating it with microbial conversion to produce bio-coal, bio-methane and volatile fatty acids. The fuel characteristics of torrefied PPIS will be established. The applicability of torrefaction condensate to produce bio-methane and volatile fatty acids will be studied and then compared with anaerobic digestion of PPIS. Later, process simulation will be carried out to investigate the overall feasibility of the process at industrial scale. Using PPI’s organic residues in this manner will reduce waste, increase sustainability of resources and allows to produce sustainable bio-products.
Objective
Pulp and paper industries (PPI) are known for producing large quantities of organic residues. Considering the economic and environmental aspects, the resource recovery from PPI wastes is necessary in order to increase the resource efficiency. In that regard, developing novel biorefinery processes to produce multiple products from PPI wastes is interesting under bio and circular economy. On the other hand, the interest on torrefied biomass is rising over the globe as it can replace the coal. However, the economics of torrefied pellets is not competitive compared to the coal. As the majority of the torrefied pellets production costs are coming from raw materials, sourcing them from low cost resources could be helpful to improve the economic competitiveness of the torrefied pellets over coal. To address the above said two issues, this project will study the feasibility of the torrefaction of pulp and paper industry sludge (PPIS) and integrating it with microbial conversion to produce bioenergy carriers i.e. bio-coal and bio-methane and volatile fatty acids. To achieve this, the expertise of the experienced researcher on biomass torrefaction, process modeling and feasibility analysis will be combined with the expertise of the supervisor on microbial conversion processes and biomass pretreatment. Initially, torrefaction of dewatered PPIS will be carried out in order to establish the biofuel characteristics of torrefied PPIS. Later, anaerobic digestion of torrefaction condensate produced through the torrefaction of PPIS will be studied at varied operating conditions in order to establish the production potential of bio-methane and volatile fatty acids. Finally, the proposed process integration will be simulated to a commercial scale from laboratory experimental results in order to evaluate the techno-economic and environmental feasibility. The proposed study can help the European society to shift toward low carbon economy and achieve sustainable development goals.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental biotechnologybioremediationbioreactors
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsfossil energycoal
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculeslipids
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
51014 Tartu
Estonia