Pulping global production

TTiere remains an unused potential source of wood sterols in the side-streams of the wood pulping industry. At the end of 2001, the global production of wood-derived sterols was estimated to be 1500 tonnes/year. However, the maximum potential has been estimated to be 20 times higher. Constraining factors are the high capital investment, with sterols being, so far, the only product. In contrast, when sterols are recovered from vegetable oil distillates most of the capital investment has already been covered in the production of natural tocopherols. 

One of the most debated environmental issues of the past fifteen to twenty years has been the exploitation of the forests for wood for paper making. Approximately 30% of the earth s land surface is forested, and around half of this is harvested commercially for industrial purposes (Chapter 1). Over 80% of this wood for industrial use comes from the forests of North America, Europe and what was formerly the Soviet Union. Wood has been the primary fibre source for pulp and paper production world-wide for many years, and it is necessary to take a global view of its consumption. Wood consumption world-wide has more than doubled since 1950 from 1.5 billion to 3.5 billion m3 (United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation). Approximately half of this is used for fuelwood and half for industrial use. The principal driving force for this increase in consumption has been the increase in world population which shows a close correlation with wood consumption (Figure 10.1). 

Isoprene occurs in the environment as emissions from vegetation, particularly from deciduous forests, and as a by-product in the production of ethylene by naphtha cracking. In the United States, the total emission rate of isoprene from deciduous forests has been estimated at 4.9 tonnes per year, with greatest emissions in the summer. The global annual emission of isoprene in 1988 was estimated to be 285 000 thousand tonnes. Isoprene is produced endogenously in humans. It has also been found in tobacco smoke, gasoline, turbine and automobile exhaust, and in emissions from wood pulping, biomass combustion and rubber abrasion (United States National Library of Medicine, 1997). 

Martel et al. (2005) propose a single-period, deterministic, multiple-product MILP model specifically developed for optimization of global pulp and paper supply chains. Based on the characteristics of pulp and paper supply chains two production echelons, one distribution echelon and... 

EM Sergeant Pulp 8c Chemical Co Inc JT Baker Inc Mutchler Inc Penta Manufacturing Co Spectrum Quality Products Inc Voigt Global Distribution LLC Vopak USA Inc... 

In 2000, 45 Mt of CI2 was manufactured by the chloralkali process this represents 95% of the global supply. The main producers are the US, Western Europe and Japan. Whereas the Japanese chloralkali industry operates almost entirely with the membrane cell, the US favours use of the diaphragm cell, and just over half of the Western European industry retains use of the mercury cell. On environmental grounds, the chloralkali industry is being pressured to replace mercury and diaphragm cells by the membrane cell. This is not the only environmental concern facing the industry demand for CI2 has fallen in the pulp and paper industry and in the production of chlorofluorocarbons, the latter being phased out as a result of the Montreal Protocol for the Protection... 

In many cultures forests play an important role. They fulfil many tasks for water sources, soil and air. They are habitats for plants, animals and humans alike. Via photosynthesis, they produce wood, the quantitatively most important raw material throughout the world. The forest industry supplies industry with wood, which in turn processes it into products like pulp and paper, composite materials, construction material and energy. A very large part of humanity is dependent on firewood as energy source. With 52%, more than half of the globally utilized 3.4 billion m (= solid cubic metre) wood is used as fuel wood. ... 

Table 9.4.6 Global pulp production by category (2000) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA). Chapter 9.4 (with permission of... 

---