"WE MUST STOP PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH OUR PLANET"

Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber, university professor for theoretical physics,
head of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impacts Research, Germany,
and advisor to the German government on climate change.

In the face of gradual global warming and increasing environmental pollution, nations worldwide have joined forces to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, which are considered a possible cause of climate change, and to implement measures to curb the use of scarce commodities. The Kyoto Protocol was the first international agreement to set binding targets on greenhouse gas emission cuts. The European Union (EU) also adopted ambitious emission targets, which are to be reached through increased use of renewable energy and greater energy efficiency. And in the United States, the "New Energy for America" plan calls for an increased share of renewable sources in electricity production.

ANDRITZ cares about these important initiatives and supports its customers in their environmental efforts by providing technologies that maximize generation of energy from renewable sources such as hydropower and biomass. ANDRITZ is also constantly improving the energy efficiency of its equipment and technologies through continued R&D.

ANDRITZ already derives 50% of total sales from equipment and process technologies that generate energy from renewable sources. Among the most important products in this field are electromechanical equipment and plants for hydropower stations as well as systems to generate energy from biomass (power boilers and recovery boilers for the pulp and paper industry, biomass drying and pelleting plants).

Main goals: more energy from renewable sources and higher energy efficiency

At the climate summit in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was signed in an international effort to fight climate change. The Protocol, which became effective in 2005 and runs until 2012, requires the industrialized nations to reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990 during the first commitment period (2008-2012). Negotiations regarding the second commitment period, starting in 2013, are planned to be concluded at the climate summit in Copenhagen in December 2009.

The EU has adopted its own energy and climate change package that requires a minimum 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. This ambitious goal is to be reached through the increased use of renewable energy and greater energy efficiency.

ANDRITZ HYDRO equipment installed in hydropower stations worldwide secures the daily power supply for about 150 million people and helps to save approximately 38 million tons of CO₂ per year.

Hydropower: the most important renewable energy source

Hydropower is the most important renewable energy source by far, supplying approximately 18% of the world’s electricity. And the global electricity demand keeps growing in the long run, in emerging and developing countries even at double-digit rates. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that only one-third of the realistic hydropower potential has been developed (source: IEA Electricity Information). A large number of new hydropower plants are, thus, in the planning or construction phase worldwide.

ANDRITZ HYDRO has supplied approximately 30,000 turbines with a total capacity of more than 400 GW. ANDRITZ HYDRO equipment secures the daily power supply for about 150 million people worldwide and helps to save approximately 38 million tons of CO₂ per year. The new hydropower project Tsankov Kamak in Bulgaria, for which ANDRITZ HYDRO is providing all the electromechanical equipment and installation, is the prototype project of the Austrian program for implementation of the Kyoto Protocol’s flexible mechanisms. Under the Joint Implementation Mechanism, the Bulgarian electricity company NEK, which owns Tsankov Kamak, will transfer approximately 200,000 tons of emission reduction units that will be generated by the new 80 MW power station to Austria.

ANDRITZ HYDRO also offers innovative technologies to tap potentials that have been left fallow so far. The HYDROMATRIX^® system, for instance, uses small standardized turbines that are assembled in a steel framing according to existing civil structures and the required output. These modules can be installed in existing dams requiring no significant new civil structures. The newly developed StrafloMatrix™ technology has the generator rotor integrated in the turbine runner, which provides a compact unit that fits into any existing catchment structure and supplies power starting at heads as low as 40 cm.

Biomass: from waste to energy

The pulp and paper industry is intensifying its efforts to use biomass that is unsuitable for pulp production (such as bark) and biomass by-products from production (such as black liquor) for energy generation. Modern pulp mills today can generate more than 50 MW of excess electricity from black liquor for the grid.

The pulp industry has a huge potential for energy generation from biomass. If all the chemical pulp produced in the world (approximately 140 million tons in 2008) was produced with modern systems and energy-efficient solutions similar to those provided by ANDRITZ recently, the sale of surplus energy could be approximately 25,000 to 55,000 GWh/a from black liquor only (depending on type of wood used and end product quality). This corresponds to the output of three or four average-sized nuclear power stations and would be sufficient to cover the power demand of three to five million people in OECD countries (10 to 25 million people in the rest of the world). Some of this potential is already being used, as some mills, especially the recently built ones, have adopted the required technology and are intensively selling power.

ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER offers recovery boilers and power boilers that support the industries in their endeavors to maximize energy generation from biomass. To give a few examples: ENCE, S.A., Spain’s largest market pulp producer, is building one of the largest green electricity biomass power plants in Spain. ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER has been chosen to supply a 170 MW high-pressure steam boiler that will use forest residues and energy plants as fuels. When completed, this plant will generate 50 MW of green electricity  which will be supplied to the public grid. Biomass-fired power boilers will also be supplied to Portucel, S.A. of Portugal for two power plants to be built at the company’s Cacia and Setúbal mills. The boilers will mainly use eucalyptus and pine as fuels, and each of the two power plants will have an electric power output of 15 MW which will also be sold to the public grid. A new power boiler producing 120 t/h of steam from eucalyptus bark, fines, and biomass residue has been supplied to CEASA, a pulp mill located in Navia, Asturias, Spain, which is owned by the ENCE group. Under the same contract, ANDRITZ also supplied a new recovery boiler with a black liquor combustion capacity of 1,800 tons of dry solids per day. The total electric power output from the two units is 77 MW; all of the power produced by the power boiler is supplied to the grid. The ANDRITZ HERB (High Energy Recovery Boiler) helps pulp mills to maximize their energy production from black liquor. The HERB supplied to SCA’s Östrand mill in Sweden, for instance, enables the mill to generate 500 GWh of electric energy per year – enough to make the mill virtually energy self-sufficient. Södra Cell of Sweden has announced that its Värö mill will become entirely independent of fossil fuels for day-to-day operation by 2011. To this aim, Södra Cell started a project in 2008 that should enable the mill to cover all its routine energy requirements with timber-based biofuel. The project includes installation of a new ANDRITZ evaporation plant which will replace three existing evaporation lines and will also produce very clean condensates that can be reused in other processes in the mill.

The 2008 global market volume amounted to approximately nine million tons of pellets, which replaced approximately 6.3 million tons of coal. More than 50% of the volume produced globally is made on ANDRITZ FEED & BIOFUEL equipment which helped to save 7.5 million tons of CO₂ in 2008.

Drying and pelleting systems are yet other examples of ANDRITZ technologies that support the use of biomass for energy generation. ANDRITZ FEED & BIOFUEL has provided pelleting solutions for wood and other types of biomass since the beginnings of this industry and has continuously been updating its technologies, becoming the clear market leader in this segment. Wood pellets have become a globally recognized, easy-to-handle fuel for domestic heating as well as industrial boilers and power plants. The 2008 global market volume amounted to approximately nine million tons of pellets, which replaced approximately 6.3 million tons of coal. More than 50% of the volume produced globally is made on ANDRITZ FEED & BIOFUEL equipment and this helped to save 7.5 million tons of CO₂ in 2008.

Among the large number of new orders for pelleting lines for wood and other biomass received by ANDRITZ FEED & BIOFUEL in 2008 was the first order to deliver a complete biofuel plant including drying and pelleting solutions. The project will make Stora Enso Timber one of the leading wood pellet producers in Sweden, adding 160,000 tons per year to the existing capacities. ANDRITZ ENVIRONMENT & PROCESS will supply a belt drying system with a water evaporation capacity of 18 t/h, and ANDRITZ FEED & BIOFUEL the six pelleting lines.

Biofuel – ANDRITZ focuses on second-generation methods

The EU directive on renewable energies aims to achieve a 10% share of renewables in the EU’s total fuel consumption in the transport sector by 2020. This includes biofuels (first- and second-generation), hydrogen, and electricity produced from renewable sources. To promote the more sustainable second-generation biofuels, they will be double-credited towards the 10% target.

Whereas first-generation biofuels are primarily based on  raw materials such as corn, sugarcane, wheat, and rape oil, second-generation methods use biomass residues such as waste wood and waste plants, grass, straw, bagasse, etc. Thus, they do not interfere with food or feed production and are also believed to achieve higher greenhouse gas emission reductions. A number of criteria have been defined by the EU to ensure the sustainability of biofuels. For example, to count towards the 10% target, biofuels must save at least 35% of greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels; this rate will be increased as of 2017. ANDRITZ focuses on equipment for second-generation biofuel production.

A newly formed group in the PULP & PAPER business area is focusing on the fast growing cellulosic biofuel market. The focus is on ethanol production from non-food based raw materials, such as wood and agricultural waste.

Forest residues are among the most promising materials for a sustainable biofuel production. The pulp and paper industry, which has access to forests and excellent technologies for handling and processing biomass, is demonstrating growing interest in integrating biorefineries for biofuel production into their mills. ANDRITZ is cooperating with the Finnish forestry company UPM to develop technology for gasification of biomass (forest residue) to produce biofuel. The residue will be gasified and the cleaned synthesis gas will then be converted into biorefinery products, including raw diesel, in a Fischer-Tropsch reactor. Extensive pilot testing is being carried out for the gasifier at a testing facility in the USA. ANDRITZ is also providing design work under this project for a full-scale Biomass-to-Liquid (BTL) plant, which might produce around 100,000 tons of biorefinery products per year. ANDRITZ has gained experience with gasifiers for lime kilns in pulp mills and is cooperating on this project with its affiliate Carbona, a specialist in biomass gasification.

Increased energy efficiency

One essential strategy in the EU’s efforts to achieve its climate protection targets is to raise energy efficiency. The goal is to achieve a 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020.

ANDRITZ is continuously improving existing technologies with regard to their energy efficiency, and the aspect of energy efficiency is given high priority in developing new technologies. This has helped ANDRITZ’s customers to significantly improve their energy balance.

In the hydropower segment, ANDRITZ HYDRO can help power stations to significantly increase efficiency by modernizing and refurbishing existing turbines and generators. Thus, efficiency increases of 10 to 15% can range can be achieved without further changes to the environment or water resources. For example, at Portile de Fier I hydropower station in Romania, ANDRITZ HYDRO recently carried out a major overhaul which increased the plant’s output from 1,068 to 1,200 MW. This corresponds to the construction of a midsize power plant.

Modern pulp mills that are equipped with ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER technology can generate more than 50 MW of excess electricity from black liquor. This can be supplied to the public grid.

ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER has opened up significant potentials for energy efficiency improvements both in the process design and layout for new mills and in the optimization of existing plants. In the service area, special bearings and new lubricants developed by ANDRITZ, as well as plant optimization measures, can help reduce energy consumption by up to 5%. Energy savings in the range of 30% can be achieved on existing mechanical pulping lines by retrofitting heat recovery systems. By advising customers on the right refiner plate design, ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER has helped TMP mills cut energy costs by up to 10%. In the planning stage, a more simple process design and layout will result in much lower energy demand. Another example is the transfer of material in the process, which typically represents 50% of the electric power consumption of a mill. ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER has introduced a new generation of medium-consistency pumps, which require up to 10% less energy than systems used so far, thanks to improved efficiency. Additional energy savings are achieved because no vacuum pumps are needed, which also reduces the cost of installation, maintenance, and operation.

Other examples of energy efficiency raising technologies and measures in the PULP & PAPER business area are:

The tissue and towel machine that ANDRITZ PULP & PAPER delivered to Procter & Gamble’s (P&G)Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA mill has been recognized by the State of Wisconsin for its energy efficiency. P&G was among the winners of the State’s 2008 Pulp and Paper Efficiency Award. The ANDRITZ tissue machine at Green Bay requires approximately 20% less natural gas and power than other modern machines to produce the top quality brands Bounty and Charmin. The newly developed PrimeRun web stabilizers consume up to 30% less energy; the first units were successfully started up at the Sappi mill in Gratkorn, Austria.

ANDRITZ already derives 50% of total sales from equipment and process technologies that generate energy from renewable sources.

A newly developed process in the ENVIRONMENT & PROCESS business area is particularly noteworthy in terms of energy efficiency. The new DoubleDry technology combines belt and fluidized bed technology for sewage sludge drying to maximize thermal energy utilization. High-value energy is used for drying in the fluidized bed, and the heat gained from condensation of the water evaporated in the fluidized bed is reused in the belt dryer. The two drying systems are linked via a heat exchanger, which ensures a two-fold use of thermal energy, thus leading to a significant reduction of the total energy demand.