Opportunities for Integration of Forest By-products with Conventional Industry Siddharth Jain, Maryam Akbari, Amit Kumar * Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G8 OBJECTIVES AND RATIONAL The forest sector produces a significant amount of by-products. Limited data is available on the volumes of the by-products, their location in Alberta, detailed characterization and their potential use. Limited information is available on the potential conversion of these by- products to a intermediate which could be used in a large scale biorefinery for production of fuels and chemicals. This project will examine these issues in and explore opportunities for integration with conventional industries. Collective Inventory of by-products from forest industry This involves a detailed estimation of the amount of the by-products from different companies in Alberta and their location. Development of geographical information system (GIS) maps for assessment of by-products from forest industry This portion of the research will involve extensive GIS modeling to show the location and intensity of availability of the by-products across Alberta. Estimation of potential of forest industry by-products-based intermediates for its conversion in a large scale refinery This study will look at the total potential of production of intermediates from the by-products of the forest industry which can be used in a large scale biorefinery or a petrochemical refinery for its conversion to fuels and chemicals. GRAPHIC WORK DONE SO FAR Collection of data related to seven pulp mills, four of which are Kraft pulp mills and three are Mechanical pulp mills Development of model for all the unit processes included in the pulping process (Figure 1) Estimation of the amount of various by-products streams released from the pulping process (Table 1) PROPOSED WORK BIOMASS CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES WORK DONE SO FAR Preparation of process inventory and by-product inventory for different pulp mills (Table 1) Preparation of GIS map for by product release from all seven pulp mills (Figure 2 and 3) INTEGRATION OF FOREST BY-PRODCUTS WITH CONVENTIONAL INDUSTRY Utilization of byproducts for fuel and chemicals can significantly help in its diversification Based on the proposed model around 1.5 Million m 3 lignin and 14 Million m 3 hemicellulose can be extracted from the black liquor produced from the pulp mills of Alberta at present. Current initiatives by Alberta Government to make significant investment in biofuel sector for the development of Alberta’s bioenergy sector will help in encouraging industry to invest in biomass based products production. BY-PRODUCTS AND THEIR PROPOSED UTILIZATIONS PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH CURRENT USE OF BLACK LIQUOR Increased black liquor production is usually considered as the bottleneck due to fixed size of recovery boiler. Increased black liquor production associated with conversion of Kraft mills into dissolving pulp mills is another problem. Saw dust and wood waste (tons) green liquor and excess lime mud (tons) Black liquor (m 3 ) Turpentine (tons) Methanol (tons) Name of company ?1,700,0002,640,0001, , DMI ?1,700,0002,035, , West Fraser ?1,700,0002,106, , Weyerhaeuser ?1,700,0003,940,763.21, , Alpac ?----Millar Western ?----Slave Lake Pulp ?----ANC 6,800,00010,722,2634, , ,091.6Total Black liquor (30%DM): Carbon dioxide Sulphuric acid 72% Lime mud Process water Input Tonne/hr Output Tonne/hr Recycled alkali (23% DM) Lignin (65% DM) BBLH Conversion Process 1.5Million m 3 Lignin 14.2 Million m 3 BBLH 10.7 Million m 3 (Black Liquor ) Alberta’s Mills Potential BACKGROUND OBJECTIVES Table 1: By-products from different pulp mills of Alberta Drying wood residues & saw dust Turpentine Methanol Used in CHP plant in mills to produce power Paint and Chemical Industries Waste water/Effluent Not Used/ Biogas Black Liquor Used in recovery Boilers Lignin Black liquor Hydrolysate (BBLH) Tall Oil Intermediates for Biorefinery/ chemical industries Byproducts Current UseProposed Use BLACK LIQUOR CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES KEY OBSERVATIONS Figure 1: Process flow diagram Figure 2: GIS map of black liquor production in Alberta Figure 3: GIS map of by-products production in Alberta Figure 4: By-products utilization Figure 6: Cellulosic biomass to C5 and C6 Sugars Figure 7: Material balance of proposed model ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BLACK LIQUOR CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES The model (Figure 5) is proposed for the extraction of intermediates from black liquor in terms of lignin and hemicellulose. The material balance of the model is shown in figure 6 as found from literature. Techno-economic analysis of different pathways of conversion of by-products is also proposed. Around 1.5 Million m 3 lignin and 14 Million m 3 of hemicellulose can be extracted from the black liquors produced from current Alberta pulp mills. The Authors are grateful to “Biorefining conversions network (BCN)” for financial support for this project. We are also thankful to Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD), University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Miller Western, West Fraser, Alberta Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Alpac), Weyerhaeuser Inc., Daishowa- Marubeni International Limited (DMI), AESRD and several other agencies. Corresponding Author: Tel.: ; Fax: R1 R2 R3 Extracted Black Liquor CO 2 H 2 SO 4 CaCO 3 Lignin Black Liquor Hydrolysate Recycled alkali Filter Heater R1: Precipitation reactor R2: Hydrolysis reactor R3: Liming reactor Intermediates Conversion process Figure 5: Black liquor conversion proposed model Cellulosic wood biomass Grinding Screening Mixer, Heater and Pump Biomass fractionation reactor Hemi- hydrolysis reactor Solid Liquid Separation Mixer, Heater and Pump Cellulose Hydrolysis Solid/Liquid Separation C5 Sugar oligomers Hydrolysis and Concentration, if required Xylose Glucose Hydrolysis and Concentration, if required C6 Sugar oligomers Clean, odorless, Lignin water liquids solids PROPOSED WORK College of Engineering Roorkee