Factors Affecting Energy Profiles of the Industry

Technology and environment are highly related factors which affect the use of energy in the Forest Products Industry, particularly in the pulp, paper, and paper board subgroups. Before discussing these topics in detail, an overview energy profile of the Forest Products Industry is presented.

Energy Profile

In the Forest Products Industry, a large proportion of self-generated energy is derived from the waste wood by-products of production. Large amounts of energy are required for the drying process, the operation of kilns, and for steam and electricity production to power mill processes. Wood is used advantageously to satisfy part or all of the energy needed for these purposes. In the major wood-processing industries, manufacturing output not only determines the level of demand on timber resources for raw material inputs for a typical mill or facility but also strongly affects the rate of utilization of wood as fuel. Expressed in different terms, average wood raw material and wood waste usage profiles are sometimes predictable within a certain range for given products and processes.

For particular businesses, however, the ratio of wood used as a primary fuel to manufacturing output is not as predictable as in the forest products industry as a whole. Wood's use as a primary fuel may be strongly influenced by factors such as wood resource ownership, accessibility (in terms of both quantity and species), stumpage rates,20 and the age and type of combustion system employed. Additionally, the strength or weakness of market demand for a facility's products, con sequently its throughput, can influence the primary fuel, electricity, and/or steam consumption profile, as can on-hand capability to change manufacturing output to a different product. The ability to substitute products in reaction to market conditions is in some cases a determinant of profitability.

Environment and Technology: Factors of Pivotal Influence

Environmental laws, regulations, and policies affect the Forest Products Industry in two general areas: (1) wood production and (2) manufacturing. Environmental policy21 strongly influences management and use of timberland, which is the Forest Product Industry's source of raw material. Industrial air, water, and waste management policy exerts a powerful influence on manufacturing operations. Industrial environmental policy has shaped the methods by which the Industry has made its products and generated and consumed energy for the past three decades. Today, the Industry deals with few aspects of energy without considering environmental factors, and vice versa. Environ mental considerations are, in fact, key determinants of this manufacturing sector's energy profile. The energy characteristics of key Industry processes reflect this dynamic. However, many regulatory programs have matured, and Federal and State agencies are changing their enforcement focuses and strategies. Recently, governments have replaced some mandates with voluntary practices and industry initiatives. Some of them permit operational changes to be made according to individual plant equipment replacement schedules. Such changes have thus been important in changing the mode of operation of the Forest Products Industry.

Technological Innovation

Historically, technological innovations that changed or influenced output capability (mill capacity) were imple mented as developed and were somewhat independent of environmental influences. In the past two decades, however, these two issues have become more closely linked.

A recent study determined that between 1900 and 1975 gross output per day of a sample of fine22 paper mills was between 200 and 450 tons per day. Mills built after 1975, however, began to approach 1,200 tons per day in output. The study's author stated, "Expansions tend to occur together as firms identify the same window of market or technological opportunity."23 Technical opportunities occurring in the 1970's included automation using electronic sensors and computer-aided manufacturing. (The study also helps to illustrate another important phenomenon-the cyclical nature of the paper industry-which is not related to the focus of this article.)

During the same time the mills were achieving increases in capacity through automation, the sweeping provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act24 began to be implemented. The revolution in digital technology that occurred during this period also influenced methods of environmental regulation. As electronic technology increased in sophistication, many of the measurement and recording capabilities critical to environmental monitoring programs became feasible.

New Processing Technologies

Today, new or newly-adopted chemical, mechanical, and biological processing technologies are being tested and employed in the paper industry. A primary driver of this change is environmental concern with toxic air emissions, toxic effluents, and solid waste by- products.25 Although wood pulping and papermaking comprise only one of the regulated Forest Products Industries, they are the focus of great regulatory attention. This is due to their facilities being quite large and the fact that they utilize highly complex chemical, thermodynamic, and mechanical processes that can generate toxins.26 A discussion of a few of the most important interrelated technology, environment, and energy topics related to the most energy-intensive industrial processes follows.

Extensive review reveals that the ideal solution to environmental pollution in the paper industry, from a regulatory perspective, is closed-cycle processing. This operational concept is applicable to other major industries, such as the chemical and metal industries, as well, but it is most relevant to papermaking in the Forest Products Industry. The key features of the closed-cycle approach27 are (1) total reclamation of process water and chemicals, and (2) close automation linked to continuous monitoring and recording of effluents and emissions.

A number of alternatives to closed-cycle processing involve substitution of less harmful chemicals for the more reactive and potentially toxic agents formerly in wide use. In addition, some recent technological innovations involve alternative sequencing and combining of typical chemical agents as opposed to substituting new processes. Heat applied to these sequences is also closely monitored for optimal results. These process staging variations are customized for each mill, giving each its own energy and production economics profile. Processes using such innovations include combustion, the dewatering of pulping liquor and sludge, the deinking of newsprint recovered for recycling, medium con sistency processing,28 and high-intensity refining.29

Industry size and pollution profile are important deter minants of environmental policy and regulatory focus. Smaller scale forest product industries are usually both less energy intensive and less regulated. In the plywood and panel manufacturing industry, energy is consumed mainly for drying raw material and forming products. Environmental regulation is concerned primarily with the toxic volatile agents released by the adhesives and binders used in these products. Toxic substances or precursors in new adhesives30 have been greatly reduced. Drying of wood fiber is critical to the proper adhesion of the binders and glues used in plywood and panel products and accounts for a great deal of energy use. Structural products, e.g., composite beams, are related in this respect but manufacturing processes more commonly apply mechanical energy than thermal energy in product forming.

By comparison, the dimension lumber, flooring, siding, and pole industries are fairly energy intensive because of the raw material and finished product drying that is frequently required. Treated lumber also receives attention from environmental regulators as a result of the treatment of products with toxic preservatives.