Emission Capture Study For Paper Industry
By Canadian Packaging Staff
Sustainability Boise Inc. BattelleBattelle, the world’s largest non-profit independent research and development organization headquartered in Columbus, OH and Boise Inc., a Boise, ID, manufacturer of packaging products and papers, will conduct the first-ever feasibility study of new carbon capture and storage technology in the $140-billion pulp, paper and paperboard industry under a $500,000 project announced by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
The project will focus on capture technology developed by Fluor Corporation–an Irving, TX, engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance services organization–and will take place at Boise’s pulp and paper mill near Wallula, WA.
The seven-month study is being funded by the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, and is one of 12 projects totaling $21.6 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funding that DOE awarded recently for large-scale industrial carbon capture and storage.
Successful completion of the study could pave the way for pulp, paper, and other industries to use technology that captures carbon dioxide (CO2).
"This study provides us an opportunity to assess the feasibility of safely and permanently storing CO2 in deep underground basalt formations for a commercial-scale operation," said Pete McGrail, Laboratory Fellow at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and chief scientist for the project. Battelle operates PNNL for DOE.
In Phase One, the team will develop a conceptual design for a sequestration system integrated with Fluor’s capture system technology that could support injecting about 720,000 tons a year of CO2 into a deep flood basalt formation.
Coupling the capture system with permanent geologic sequestration of the CO2 represents an opportunity for Boise–and the pulp and paper industry in general–to seek a potentially new revenue source from carbon credits that would be generated once a fully-functional U.S. market for carbon credits has developed.
Fluor will design a customized version of its Econamine FG PlusSM carbon capture technology for operation with the specialized chemical composition of exhaust gases produced from combustion of black liquor fuels. Fluor will determine whether any special modifications are needed to accommodate flue gas produced at the mill, including potential side benefits of reducing emissions of sulfur compounds, which produce odors.
According to DOE, projects will be subject to further competitive evaluation in 2010 after successful completion of their Phase One activities.
For more information, visit www.fluor.com.
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