Energy storage to reduce
operating costs
in pulp & paper production

Pulp and paper production is massively scaling. Demand for packaging and specialty papers from drinking straws to face masks is constantly increasing. For the last decades, the need to keep steam production reliable and affordable has been a high priority in this industry.

However, the energy transition is now posing significant challenges. Volatile electricity prices and high carbon footprints, plus changes in paper type and paper mills are all causing industry fluctuations. New technologies are needed to achieve net-zero as soon as possible while not exceeding production costs at unreasonable manner and ideally reducing total consumption.

ENERGYNEST offers a variety of solutions tailored to customer setups, unlocking energy efficiency in pulp & paper manufacturing. Waste heat recovery, flexibilizing cogeneration or producing heat from concentrated solar energy: thermal storage allows you to balance existing combined heat and power (CHP), store excess steam for on-demand access, or provide reliable clean heat from excess renewable electricity.

The pulp and paper industry is considered energy-intensive. But new solutions around recycling and energy storage raise great hopes. There is a lot of potential in thermal energy storage solutions.

Applications recommended for Pulp & Paper Industry

 

Industrial processes are usually not designed for volatility. In order to attain stability, heating of endothermal- or cooling of exothermal processes  must continue round the clock – adding major cost and resource burdens to power plants. But all too often batch processes or interruptions lead to imbalances between supply and demand requiring back-up boilers to start or steam to be dumped.

 

Our steam to steam storage system fills exactly this gap by storing, time-shifting and balancing high- or medium pressure steam to make it available on demand: achieving true balance needed for greener industrial processes.

Application Benefits

  • Decarbonize heat immediately
  • Save money easily
  • Optimize automation
  • Increase security of supply
 
In recent years, the volatile feed-in of renewable energy sources has sent electricity prices into daily rollercoasters, requiring combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) to move from baseload to two or even three cycles a day.  This stop-start approach means precious steam is being dumped and wasted – but a new solution is here. Storing steam and turning it to power captures, stores and recycles excess steam, allowing it to be re-used for auxiliary processes and power production as needed

Application Benefits

  • Save money easily
  • Reduce CO2 emissions
  • Increase security of supply
  • Integrate technology easily
In recent years, the volatile feed-in of renewable energy sources has sent electricity prices into daily rollercoasters and anchilliary service compensation in the sky. Due to inflexible boilers, industrial steam delivery contracts and/or disposal requirements, many existing biomass and waste-to-energy plants often can not benefit from this but instead are forced to accept losses in these hours and dump electricity in the grid when it is not needed. Storing steam and turning it to power offers an antidote, bringing a new dimension to must-run electricity generation. By unlocking the flexibility to time shift power production from low to high, additional revenues are generated.

Application Benefits

  • Boost your profits
  • Increase security of supply
  • Pioneer supporting renewables

All over Europe, large-scale photovoltaic (PV) projects and wind farms are being developed, with expansion targets more than doubling countries’ peak demands.  At the same time, industrial manufacturers are desperately seeking ways to decarbonize their process steam, yet heat pumps don’t work for temperatures >200°, geothermal energy is rarely available, and the availability of sustainable biomass/biogas is very limited.

Turning power to steam on manufacturing or utility level with thermal energy storage is the missing link by storing electricity and making it available on demand for steam production. This reduces plant operating costs, creates new revenue streams and enables 24/7 renewable energy supply, all as part of an integrated waste to energy solution.

Application Benefits

  • Decarbonize heat immediately
  • Save money easily
  • Optimize automation
  • Charge system rapidly
The sun has incredible power. Especially south of the 45th latitude, Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) power using parabolic through-systems will be among the cheapest technologies to produce carbon-free industrial process heat. But without storage, customers are left with a cold dark night ahead when the CST plant does not produce anymore, but process heat and steam is needed. Storing solar thermal as steam is the technology of choice to best utilize CST assets, recycling excess energy for steam production – enabling true decarbonization.

Application Benefits

  • Decarbonize heat immediately
  • Save money easily
  • Reduce maintenance effort
  • Limit energy market exposure
 
We are always excited to create, design and engineer new solutions completely out of the box together with our customers to meet their requirements. As long as there is heat, steam or electricity without its place, we will store it until needed for 24/7 green energy supply. Get in touch with us to design your custom thermal storage solution for your individual production needs.

Application Benefits

  • Save money easily
  • Reduce CO2 emissions
  • Increase security of supply
  • Limit energy market exposure
You want to know more?

Are you interested in ENERGYNEST, or have any questions regarding our thermal energy storage solutions or our applications for your specific industry?

 

Don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

CASE STUDY
The production unit of Avery Dennison in Belgium is shifting their heat production from natural gas (NG) to Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST).

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All our customer solutions are based on our patented ThermalBattery™ technology. This enables high-performance thermal concrete storage at scale, using innovative embedded heat exchangers.
Together with our strong network of partners we deliver our solutions as turn-key systems, as build-own-operate, or simply adjust the ThermalBattery™ as hardware ‒ entirely according to your needs.