Nearly 10 years ago, U.S. Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary challenged the forest products industry to find ways to make its mills more energy efficient. That challenge became Agenda 2020, a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the American Forest & Paper Association. While the program has expanded in size, scope and results, its underlying goal has remained constant—using technology to improve the industry's economics.
The process began with company Chief Technology Officers (CTO) meeting to determine desired characteristics of a mill in 2020. Through six task groups, CTO assessed current technology, identified future technology needs, and crafted a pathway for research and development to close the gaps. DOE and CTO selected the most promising avenues for research and development. The research proposals required matching industry funds of 20 percent for research to 50 percent for demonstration projects.
After five years, total funding was $30 million, and the research showed promise in closing small gaps between current technology and future technology needs. Then, in 2000, during an Agenda 2020 status review, industry CEOs issued a challenge. They asked the program to focus on achieving breakthroughs that no single company could do on its own. In essence, they asked Agenda 2020 to reinvent the forest products industry.
The first step in meeting the new challenge was to convene a Technology Summit at which 150 carefully chosen scientists, visionary thinkers, builders and operators, suppliers and service providers, and policymakers identified major breakthrough possibilities. Program task groups were restructured and expanded, a portfolio of existing projects was ordered, a new project management process developed, and a project/portfolio evaluation tool was customized to Agenda 2020 needs. All this was foundational work that gave the program better tools to identify and evaluate opportunities. And it's paying off.
Six new breakthrough platforms have been identified:
- Next Generation Fiber Recovery and Utilization
- Breakthrough Manufacturing Technologies
- Positively Impacting the Environment
- Advancing the Forest “Bio-Refinery”
- Advancing the Wood Products Revolution, and
- Technologically Advanced Workforce
The platforms were chosen for their high value and low risk to the industry. If Agenda 2020 is successful in commercializing 25 percent of these breakthrough technologies, annual industry net cash flow would increase by around $9 billion. Average industry net cash flow for the past five years has been $9 billion.
One such technology is Black Liquor Gasification, a replacement recovery technology that could result in an additional 25 gigawatts of power and an increased cash flow of $2 to $6 billion a year. A high-temperature gasifier is operational at Weyerhaeuser's New Bern facility, and a low-temperature unit will begin operation in 2004 at Georgia-Pacific's Big Island mill. This technology replaces Tomlinson Furnaces that produce only steam and recovered pulping chemicals. Gasification provides fiber in addition to a hydrogen-rich gas that can be used to generate steam, power, liquid fuel, and even products now manufactured by the petrochemical industry. This offers processes, products and high value streams not previously available to the forest products industry.
Another project that would require almost no capital investment is called Screenable Pressure Sensitive Adhesives — a PSA that can be removed in most recycling facilities. This could save 10 trillion BTUs, boosting cash flow by $107 million per year. Boise Cascade and H.B. Fuller are pursuing commercialization.
Hemicellulose Extraction and Use is another breakthrough in which chips go through a water extraction stage before pulping. This “light liquor” is then processed to produce ethanol. The project would boost by 25 percent the product value from wood resources with a potential annual revenue increase of $1 billion.
A project called “Green Liquor Pretreament” is another breakthrough with small projected capital costs. Green liquor from pulpwood possesses increased penetration and lignin removal capabilities. Injecting it into continuous digestors early in the process increases yield and lowers heat requirements for pulping. This technology could save 20 trillion BTUs for a cash flow increase of $440 million per year.
An industry-sponsored Franklin Associates report indicates that Wood MACT regulations are likely to require an additional 300 Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers in 166 plants. Such an addition would actually increase CO2 emissions by 4.6 million metric tons. Agenda 2020's VOC/HAP Reduction project can change process conditions to eliminate the need for RTOs without hurting production or economics. The technology has been successfully tested in a Southeastern OSB mill.
The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) has partnered with Boise Corporation, Detroit-Stoker Company, Reaction Engineering and Sargent & Lundy to develop a boiler retrofit technology that saves energy, increases boiler capacity and reduces gaseous emissions. Broad application in the forest products industry could save more than $134 million in energy and landfill costs, reduce industry energy consumption by 32 trillion BTUs per year and reduce NOx emissions by more than 44,000 tons per year. GTI has licensed the technology to Energy Systems Associates of Carnegie, PA.
Other industries have thrived from innovation. The Agenda 2020 program is a systematic and realistic approach for the forest products industry. Finding ways to develop and implement new technologies is vital to the industry. Europeans are investing in similar goals. They have completed a black liquor to liquid fuels study and patented a pulping process that may increase yield by five percent. The U.S. forest products industry must innovate to compete.
The Agenda 2020 program identifies the intersection of societal, government and industry needs, provides a mechanism to build support for large projects, efficiently allocates available resources, and offers a roadmap to deploying the results. Those results meet the challenge issued by CEOs four years ago—they have the potential to transform the industry.
Learn more about the Agenda 2020 program at www.oit.doe.gov/forest/. Or send email to: Richard_Campbell@afandpa.org.
About The Authors
Del Raymond is Chairman of AF&PA's Chief Technology Officers Committee, and Director of Strategic Energy Alternatives with Weyerhaeuser; Benjamin Thorp is Deployment Director, Agenda 2020 for Georgia-Pacific.
