Creating New Opportunities

GRAEME RODDEN

Excellent keynote presentations kicked off both the TAPPI PEERS Conference and the International Bioenergy and Bioproducts Conference (IBBC). The events were co-located in Portland, OR, October 28-31. Keynoters talked about the paths two companies are taking to exploit new (and existing) markets.

Recovering from Disaster
To open PEERS (Pulping, Engineering, Environmental, Recycling, Sustainability), John Carpenter, president, Nippon Dynawave Packaging (NDP), discussed his company's journey since the massive tsunami that hit Japan in March, 2011, following an earthquake whose epicenter was off the northeast coast of Japan's main island of Honshu. Although NDP operates its mill in Longview, WA, it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Paper Industries (NPI) of Japan.

While NPI is still one of the world's Top 10 paper producers (it is also makes tissue and wood products), the disaster had a lasting effect on the company and country as well. NPI is evolving its business and building a "biomass company", Carpenter said.

Among the areas it is focusing on are renewable energy, packaging and nano-fibers. The flagship Ishinomaki mill took a direct hit from a 20-ft tsunami, but within about six months was able to restart one of its paper machines. By August, 2012, it was able to get all its machines and coaters back online.

Even before the earthquake, Nippon had been feeling the effects of the global financial crisis that hit in 2008-09. Carpenter pointed out that between 2007 and now, paper and board demand in Japan has fallen by more than 29 percent. This had forced it to cut paper production and start to focus on the areas mentioned. In business plans that span until 2021, Nippon will close 750,000 metric tpy of paper capacity. But it will grow in areas such as innovative materials and health care.

Through the use of its biomass, it will also help Japan reduce its dependence on nuclear energy and fossil fuel use. By 2030, Japan aims to source 40 percent of its energy needs from biomass.
Nippon is also banking on cellulose nano-fiber projects. End uses could include adhesives, resins, filters, cosmetics, and food. Ishinomaki now has a capacity of 500 metric tpy of cellulosic nano-fibers. It also has three other production sites in Japan.

Closer to home, NDP is an integrated liquid paperboard mill acquired from Weyerhaeuser. This jibes with NPI's strategy to grow in the packaging sector. It produces SBS for gable top packaging. It has excess pulp capacity so it can sell market pulp in wet lap form. The mill also has two poly extrusion lines.

The mill's primary market is Japan, but it has increased its global reach into North America and elsewhere in Asia. Carpenter said the mill is increasing its product line with things such as hot and cold cup stock and food packaging. He added that NDP will be a cornerstone of NPI's objective to increase its packaging footprint.

Fuel from Forests
Martin Pudlas, vice president, operation and innovation, Canfor Pulp Products, delivered the keynote address for IBBC. The presentation, The Pulp and Paper Industry – What do you see?, also looked at the evolution of a company, this time Canadian-based Canfor.

The company is the world's second-largest lumber producer, managing a forest area equivalent to the size of the state of Minnesota. It is also the fifth-largest producer of NBSK with capacity of 1.1 metric tpy.
Pudlas said the company's next challenge is exploring new opportunities for extracting value from its feedstock (softwood with very slender thin-walled fiber). It has decided upon low-carbon fuel as a strategy. He noted, "We are fractionators of modern biomass." About 20 percent of every tree harvested by Canfor ends up as lignin. "We are focused on lignin rather than cellulose or hemicelluloses for which we already have markets."

There is an opportunity in the production of biofuels from lignin, he added. "We do not need to create a market; we just need to crack the technology challenge."

Pudlas said the residuals derived from pulp production offer an opportunity. "We can take oxygen off these residuals to create fuel."

Licella Fuel Fibres has the technology, he said. "We went to them and they showed great interest in our 'liquid tree'. We formed a joint venture with Licella called Centree. Our model is to work with refiners, not compete with them."
Pudlas said that refiners see many similarities with pulp producers. "They are refiners of ancient biomass; we are refiners of modern biomass."

The process Pudlas described removes oxygen to about 10 percent by weight. The process is like a pulp mill but uses a catalytic hydrothermal reactor. Each scale-up (there have been four) shows consistent product quality. He added that the Cat HTR is a versatile technology platform that has been tested extensively using multiple feedstocks for a decade. Yields and ease of processing actually increase with each scale-up because of low water concentration and pumping becomes easier at scale.

Centree's biocrude has a high energy content, 34-36 MJ/kg; and oxygen content of 12 to 14 percent; and is very stable and less corrosive than pyrolysis oil. The potential exists for the product to be used as marine fuel without further refining. The process is feedstock agnostic. Licella originally looked at brown coal; now, it is even considering end-of-life plastic.

Meeting Technical Challenges
The annual joint State of the Industry session featured a panel discussion moderated by David Turpin, APPTI (Alliance for Pulp and Paper technology Innovation).

First, Turpin gave an update on APPTI's activities. Its mandate includes helping develop projects to reduce total energy used by the industry by 25 percent while increasing yield by 5 percent. The estimated value in achieving this would be a US$900-million saving in energy, or US$6 million for a 1,000-tpd mill. A team at the University of Maine led by Adriaan van Heiningen is studying a yield protective pretreatment process. Another objective is to develop a more energy-efficient method to remove water from kraft black liquor. This could lead to potential savings of US$95 million annually.

The panel discussion featured Peter Hart (WestRock); Fritz Paulsen (KapStone); Anthony Murray (Kadant); Alan Rudie (USDA Forest Products Laboratory); Scott Sinquefield (Georgia Institute of Technology); and, van Heiningen.

The panel concentrated on technical challenges. According to the members, the most significant technical developments of the last five years have been: improvements in data analysis; significant improvements in enhanced strength and yield properties; huge improvements in computing capability; and, vast strides in reducing odor, water consumption and effluent. With the increase in data comes a need for a better understanding of what the data we have now mean.

With packaging grades now dominating over printing papers, research may have to be aimed at how to produce the best fiber for packaging. This means looking at more product research rather than process research. As companies look to diversify and add value to their product mix, a further emphasis may be put on black liquor to develop more products from this stream. As one panelist noted, kraft pulping will be the dominant process for years to come.

As has been the case for years, it was emphasized that companies/institutions can no longer fund science just for science's sake. Any applied research must be seen to be useful to a mill and save a significant amount of money.

One questioner pointed out that it seems more investment is being in Europe compared with North America—that North America is being "paralyzed by accountants". It depends on the company and the market being served was the answer, but that the industry in North America was trying to break that mold. And, it was pointed out, this issue is not unique to the pulp and paper industry; all industries have an emphasis on quarterly returns.

What spurs investment? It is easier if a company has a problem rather than a vision of a new product. Need is a driver. The operational focus now is: You will do more with fewer people.

Save the Date!
Plans are already underway for stellar programming at PEERS/IBBC 2019, which will be co-located in St. Louis, MO, October 27-30, 2019. To see photos from the 2018 events, and to keep up with the 2019 programs as they develop, visit www.tappipeers.org or www.tappi-ibbc.org.

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