and efficiency and will mark-
edly reduce the mill’s reli-
ance on electricity produced
from fossil fuels.”
Verso President and CEO
Mike Jackson said, “The
completion of the Quinne-
sec renewable energy proj-
ect is a milestone in the
implementation of Verso’s
long-term energy strategy.
Besides delivering annual
energy savings, the project
helps Verso deliver on our
commitment to increase our
use of renewable biofuel.”
Verso’s new CHP boiler
system apparently is part of
the company’s strategy to
create new revenue sources
from green energy.
In “New Energy-Related Revenue
Streams for the Paper Industry,” an
article published in the Summer 2011
issue of Gravure, Daniel was quoted as
saying, “We believe the capability to
produce and sell wood-based bioenergy
to the grid and ultimately to produce
and market advanced biofuels and biochemicals will be a critical element in
Verso’s future success—and in the success of the entire U.S. paper industry.”
Bill Cohen, a Verso company spokesperson at the company’s Bucksport,
Maine, mill, said that the upgrade fits
into the company’s business strategy,
as outlined in its annual report, not
only to reduce energy consumption
and its carbon footprint, but also to increase production of green energy from
biomass.
A second unit is now under construction at the Bucksport mill, Cohen said.
Simpson Tacoma Kraft Co. The
Simpson Tacoma Kraft mill, Tacoma,
Wash., which manufactures bleached
and unbleached kraft pulp and liner-board, recycles 500 tons of waste paper and boxes every day as part of its fiber mix, turning it into packaging paper.
The combined heat and power (CHP) boiler at Simpson Tacoma Kraft
generates an average thermal load of 760,000 lbs. per hour of
steam. The large pipe shown delivers 875-PSI steam to the turbine,
which converts it to 40 MW of electricity. Photo courtesy of Simpson
Tacoma Kraft, Tacoma, Wash.
When the biomass
fuel is burned, the CO2
The company invested approximately $85 million to modify both of its
biomass boilers and to install a steam
turbine and other equipment needed
to cogenerate both steam and electricity. The project went operational in July
2009.
“The P&P industry has been the larg-
est producer of cogenerated electric
power for many years,” said Greg Na-
rum, senior environmental manager at
Simpson Tacoma Kraft. “I believe that
many pulp mills in the U.S. cogenerate
power.”
The CHP plant generates
40 MW from a combination
of wood-based biomass and
wood lignin recovered from
the wood pulping process.
The biomass-based fuels
burned generate steam,
which spins a turbine and
a power generator, making
electricity while also provid-
ing process steam for the
mill operations.
