Black Liquor Waste Stream from Paper Plants Could Provide 2% of Global Fuel

Black liquor is a waste byproduct of the paper/pulp process. As environmental regulations grow stricter, the paper/pulp industry has been under pressure to find an economical use for the waste stream. Chemrec has developed a Black Liquor Gasification (BLG) process to turn the waste fluid into syngas, then into CHP or fuel.

Chemrec’s black liquor gasification (BLG) technology converts the black liquor waste stream from the paper pulping process into synthesis gas. The synthesis gas can then be processed into a variety of fuels—likely dimethyl ether (DME) and methanol (MeOH), although fuels such as Fischer-Tropsch diesel (FTD), Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG), or hydrogen are also possible.

The global potential of this is equivalent to more than 45 billion liters a year of gasoline, according to Chemrec—2% of global fuel demand. _GCC

Any carbon based organic matter can be converted into syngas using gasification, or into bio-oil and bio-char by using pyrolysis. The syngas and bio-oil can be chemically refined into fuel, or can be used to fire CHP generators directly. The bio-char can be used for soil enrichment, or for the many other uses to which charcoal is put.