Generation in the Pulp and Paper Industry FINAL REPORT

Milano. Any use the reader makes of this report, or any reliance upon or decisions to be made based upon this report are the responsibility of the reader. Neither Navigant Consulting, Princeton University nor Politecnico di Milano accepts any responsibility for damages, if any, The U.S. pulp and paper industry, with its substantial capacity for producing and using renewable biomass energy – 1.6 quads in 2002 – has the potential to contribute significantly to addressing global warming and U.S. energy security concerns, while potentially also improving its own global competitiveness. A key requirement for substantially enhancing renewable energy use in this industry to achieve these goals is the commercialization of breakthrough technologies, especially gasification. Gasification of biomass produces a fuel gas (“syngas”) consisting largely of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) that can be cleanly converted into electricity in a gas turbine combined cycle or, in the longer term, into transportation fuels such as Fischer-Tropsch liquids or hydrogen. The predominant form of biomass energy available at pulp mills today is black liquor, the ligninrich byproduct of fiber extraction from wood. Black liquor contains about half the energy of the