Promise And Potential Limitations of Power-To-Heat Technologies, TAPPICon25

Owners and operators of pulp and paper mills face increasing societal, financial and regulatory pressure to adapt mill operations to meet sustainability goals. Already today, mills utilize byproducts and biomass to meet some of the mill’s energy demand. Additional heat generation from fossil resources, either to generate steam or to heat production processes directly, is a significant contributor to carbon emissions at mills. As facility owners and operators chart their path to reduced carbon intensity of their plants, power-to-heat technologies are often considered as a potential solution. Power-to-heat generally refers to technical methods for converting electricity to some form of thermal energy that can be utilized in industrial or other applications. We will specifically look at two common processes at mills: steam generation and direct process heating and discuss the promise and potential limitations of power-to-heat alternatives.

First, we discuss three different solutions for steam generation: electrode boilers, submersible heating elements, and heat pumps. We review their operating principles, discuss typical applications, and describe limitations. These systems can potentially replace or complement power boilers that generate steam. Recovery boilers, where black liquor is processed at kraft pulp mills, are an inherent part of the mill and cannot be easily replaced by these technologies.

Second, we turn to direct process heating. Kraft pulp mills use lime kilns to reburn lime which requires high temperatures to drive the reaction, thus requiring a substantial amount of heat. We discuss different technical solutions ranging from direct electrical heating to the generation of alternative fuels to plasma generation to regenerate lime. We discuss their technical readiness level and describe potential challenges in their deployment.

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