Anthropogenic climate change is a fact. We’ve caused it with our fossil-based greenhouse gas emissions – most significantly those of fossil-based carbon dioxide.
In 1986, when I began my career as a pulp mill production engineer, the management of environmental emissions was part of production – and emissions reduction steered process development in many respects. However, carbon dioxide was not on the list of emissions to be reduced.
Since then, we’ve expanded our understanding of climate change and developed related practices. I now have a clear idea of the carbon emissions reduction hierarchy, acknowledging the partially parallel nature of its five stages.
The reduction of industrial carbon dioxide emissions begins with energy efficiency: after all, the best energy is saved energy. Development in this area must be continuous.
Transitioning away from fossil fuels is of key importance. The overall fossil-based CO2 emissions from European industrial operations amount to 2.4 Gt per year. Metsä Group has two large bioproduct mills that already run without fossil fuels, and by 2030, all Metsä Group mills will have transitioned away from fossil fuels.
Globally, the fossil fuel phaseout is painfully slow. This is why we’re moving to the third stage – electrifying unit processes where possible, which means generating energy through methods other than burning. A great deal of development is taking place in this area, and expectations are running high in many industries. However, it’s impossible to electrify all industrial unit processes. For example, the pulp mill’s recovery boiler is a process device related to the mill’s closed chemical cycle and recovery process that simultaneously generates energy.
The fourth stage – especially in bioproduct mills – involves the upgrading of side streams currently used for energy production into increasingly valuable products. Examples of this include the development of lignin products and the refining of methanol generated in pulp cooking.
European industries’ biogenic CO2 emissions amount to approximately 200 Mt per year, or less than a tenth of their fossil-based emissions. In Finland and Sweden, the bulk of biogenic carbon dioxide comes from the forest industry. Indeed, the fifth stage in decarbonisation involves biogenic carbon capture and utilization to replace fossil-based raw materials and fuels.
The underlying idea of Metsä Group’s bioproduct mill concept is using the raw material arriving at the mill as efficiently as possible for various value-added products. The fourth and fifth stages combine new product development based on side streams with the climate impact from replacing fossil-based raw materials and fuels: the bioproduct mill concept at its best!
Back in the day, the production engineer realised that efficient production and low environmental impacts were not contradictory but rather supported each other. I now believe that our biggest and largely untapped side stream will become a new commercial high-volume product. The market is as yet undeveloped, but it has generated interest and growth expectations.
We are progressing in stages like we do when developing any new bioproduct: first we carry out a pilot project, then we run a demo plant, and finally we move to a full-scale production unit. The path for relieving climate anxiety is clear.