Biogas potential in the Swedish pulp and paper industry

• The European Union target of 10 % renewable fuels in the transport sector by 2020 is still far off, with 2.6% renewables on the EU level (2007) and 5.7% nationally in Sweden (2010). Biogas today accounts for a minor share of the renewable vehicle fuels in Sweden, but has the potential to increase. This study estimates the potential for producing biogas by anaerobic digestion as a part of the wastewater treatment in Swedish pulp and paper mills. The technology is mature and is used for example in municipal wastewater facilities but not as yet in the Swedish pulp and paper industry even though many of the effluent streams are well-suited for it. The results show that applying anaerobic wastewater treatment at Sweden’s pulp and paper mills may render as much as 1 TWhLHV/year, which would increase the present biogas production of 1.4 TWhLHV (2010) by 70%.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Naturresursteknik -- Energisystem (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Environmental Engineering -- Energy Systems (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Anaeroboc digestion

Biogas

Pulp and paper industry

Renewable vehicle fuels

Wastewater treatment

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)