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SMARCTIC WP4 - Zero-waste integrates of metallurgical industry and

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Technical Report · January 2014

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10426.08645

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Smarctic WP 4: Natural resources management
and economics
Case 1: Zero-waste integrates of metallurgical
industry and bioeconomy

Hannu Suopajarvi1, Antti Haapala2

1) Process Metallurgy, 2) Fibre and Particle Engineering

University of Oulu, PO BOX 4300, FI-90014, Finland
TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ 2

TERMS ............................................................................................................................................ 4
1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 5
2 METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY AND BIOECONOMY IN FINLAND ............................ 6
2.1 Metallurgical industry in Finland .................................................................................... 6
2.1.1 Steel production plants ................................................................................................6
2.1.2 Copper, Nickel and Zinc production ........................................................................8
2.2 Biomass in metallurgical industry................................................................................... 9
2.3 Upgrading of the biomass into bioreducers .............................................................. 10
2.4 Bioeconomy: European and Finnish perspective .................................................... 13
2.4.1 Introduction to bioeconomy .................................................................................... 13
2.4.2 Bioeconomy in European policy ............................................................................ 15
2.4.3 Bioeconomy in Finland .............................................................................................. 16
2.4.4 Finnish forest industries transforming into bioeconomic players ........... 17
2.5 Increased energy and material efficiency: Eco-industrial parks ....................... 19
2.5.1 Industrial symbiosis in a nutshell ......................................................................... 19
2.5.2 Eco-industrial parks involving metallurgical industry ................................. 19
2.5.3 Nuottasaari industrial park ..................................................................................... 22
3 SHORT TERM INTEGRATION POTENTIALS ............................................................. 25
3.1 Available heat sources in metal and pulp production ........................................... 25
3.2 More efficient utilization of by-products from steel industry ............................ 28
3.3 Short-term possibilities to integrate biomass upgrading with steel plant .... 28
3.4 Short-term possibilities to develop new products from biomass ..................... 28
3.4.1 Possibilities in energy segment .............................................................................. 28
3.4.2 Possibilities in bio-based chemicals ..................................................................... 29
3.4.3 Possibilities in bio-based materials ...................................................................... 31
4 MEDIUM TO LONG TERM POTENTIAL INTEGRATION POTENTIALS .............. 34
4.1 Bioeconomy and metallurgical industry integration opportunities ................ 34
4.2 Types of future EIPs between bioeconomy and metallurgical industry......... 35
4.2.1 Integration of bioreducer production within steel plant ............................. 35
4.2.2 Utilization of metal production gases to produce chemicals and fuels .. 36
4.2.3 CHP, bio-oil and charcoal production ................................................................... 38
4.2.4 Pulp and paper industry residue utilization ..................................................... 39
4.2.5 Integration of biomass upgrading technologies to saw mills ..................... 40
5 NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES ...................................................................................... 42
5.1 Potential biomass amounts in Finnish metallurgical processes and sources
of biomass ............................................................................................................................................ 42
5.2 Research gaps ........................................................................................................................ 44
5.2.1 Research needs ............................................................................................................. 44
5.2.2 External factors affecting the development of integrated industries ...... 47
5.3 Feasible visions to integrate bioeconomy and metallurgical industries ........ 49

2
6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................... 53
7 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 54

3
TERMS

Abbreviation Title Definition

AOD converter Argon oxygen Process primarily used in stainless steel making and other
decarburization high grade alloys with oxidizable elements such as
converter chromium and aluminum.
BF Blast furnace Counter-current reactor to produce hot metal.
BFG Blast furnace gas Top gas from the blast furnace process consisting mainly of
N2: 50-55%, CO: ~20%, CO 2: ~25% and H2: 3-5%.
BOF Basic oxygen Batch reactor to produce carbon steel by burning the
furnace oxygen from hot metal.
BOFG Basic oxygen Typical composition of the by volume is CO: 55-60%, CO2:
furnace gas 12-18%, O2: 0.1-0.3% and rest is N2.
CHP Combined heat Decentralized small scale plant for generating power and
and power heat for housing.
CNC Cellulose Composite material based on use of nanocellulose particles
nanocomposite as functional constituents.
COG Coke oven gas H2-rich (60-70%) gas from coking process.
CTO Crude tall oil Co-product of the Kraft wood pulping process.
DRI Direct reduced Solid iron briquette or pellet, produced from iron ores and
iron a reducing agent (e.g. natural gas).
EAF Electric arc Batch reactor in which electricity is used to melt the scrap.
furnace
EC European The executive body of the European Union on EU
Commission legislation, decisions, treaties and other daily operations.
EIP Eco-industrial EIPs are realization of industrial symbiosis, which build on
park the symbiotic relationships between industrial partners.
FAO Food and United Nations agency of the that leads international
Agriculture efforts to defeat hunger.
Organization
FIMECC Finnish Metals FIMECC Ltd. is an open innovation R&D company. The aim
and Engineering of FIMECC is to increase and deepen the cooperation
Competence between companies, universities and research institutes in
Center R&D.
GDP Gross domestic The market value of all officially recognized final goods and
product services produced within a country in a year.
GM Genetic Plant genome modification aiming e.g. for enhanced growth
modification or resistance factors.
KBBE Knowledge based Concept creating technology innovations based on research
bioeconomy and education.
PEFC Programme for An international, non-profit, non-governmental
the Endorsement organization promoting sustainable forest management
of Forest through independent 3rd party certification, considered as
Certification the certification system of choice for small forest owners.
SAF Sub-merged arc Smelting furnace for ferroalloy production.
furnace
SAFG Sub-merged arc CO-rich gas from sub-merged arc furnace.
furnace gas
TGR-BF Top gas recycling Future blast furnace technology, where top gas is recycled
blast furnace back to the BF after cleaning and conditioning.
TGR-BFG Top gas recycling Recycled BF top gas from which CO2 has been extracted.
blast furnace gas
TOP Tall oil pitch Heavy residue from crude tall oil (CTO) distillation.

4
1 INTRODUCTION

Forest and metal industries are both critical for the Finnish economy. In Finland
there are several metal production plants and foundries that produce intermediate
of final products for global markets. Pulp and paper industry has been one of the key
industries in Finland for decades. Many have earned their livelihood by working as a
part of this most traditional industry. The forest industry today still contributes to
about 20% of the Finnish export – for metal production and refining the figure is
12%. Metal and forest industries could further develop their roles and become even
more pivotal in the future. There is a need to further look into the new possibilities
to create new technologies, jobs and products for the sustainable future.
Bioeconomy offers the chemical industry and traditional forest based industries
significant new business opportunities. The national goal, and the aim of industry in
these sectors, is to generate the greatest added value possible from sustainable and
renewable resources. Currently seven per cent of the raw materials used in the
chemical industry are biomass based, but, according to political guidance and
increased market demand, by 2025 the share is expected to be as much as 30 per
cent in Europe – and even higher in the US.
New production technologies can be created at the intersections of current
scientific disciplines and industrial sectors by combining, for example, process
chemistry and bio- and nano-technology to the supply chain and bulk refining
capabilities of wood and other renewables. Petroleum-based source materials could
often be replaced by new biomass-based chemicals and materials. Novel high-value
applications can be found in medicine, cosmetics, coatings and adhesives, while the
bulk products include biofuels, bioenergy and novel packaging and construction
materials.
This report is dedicated to identification of short and medium to long-term
possibilities to enhance the prospects of Finnish industries. Central industries under
examination are metal industry and forest industries labelled fashionably under the
novel concept of bioeconomy. The leading idea in this report is to evaluate possible
process integration possibilities between the traditional heavy industries.
At first, the current situation in the Finnish metallurgical industry and
bioeconomy are discussed concerning the production volumes and the most
important by-product quantities. Because intention of the report is to identify
process integration possibilities between metallurgical industry and bioeconomy,
existing and suggested Eco-industrial parks (EIP) where metal industry is involved
are reviewed. Also some examples of industrial symbiosis between pulp plant and
chemical production is provided. Secondly, possible short term opportunities to
utilize excess heat available from the metal and pulp industries through e.g. biomass
drying or thermochemical conversion are discussed. Thirdly, possible long-term
integration possibilities are discussed. There are different EIP types that can be
imagined between metal and bioeconomy. Finally, some research gaps that arise
from literature and other recent advances are identified.

5
2 METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY AND BIOECONOMY IN FINLAND

2.1 Metallurgical industry in Finland

Metal industry is important for the Finnish economy. Companies in the metal
industry employed some 17 000 people and generated turnover of 9.4 billion Euro
in 2012. The share of metal refining was some 12% of the export of goods
(Teknologiateollisuus 2013).

2.1.1 Steel production plants

There is one carbon steel production site in Finland based on the use of primary raw
materials. Ruukki, a steel company located in Raahe, produces some 2.3 Mtons of
steel annually (Ruukki 2014a). Integrated steel production route (Fig. 1) consists of
several unit processes, connected with each other by material and energy flows
(energetic gases). Iron ore pellets, coal and limestone are the major inputs to the
system. Hot metal is produced in two blast furnaces in which iron oxides (pellets)
are reduced and melted with reductants; coke and oil. Coke is produced in the
coking plant from coking coal. Oil injected in to the bottom part of the furnace is
bottom distillate from the oil refinery (Neste Oil). It was recently announced that
Ruukki will invest in pulverized coal injection equipment to improve cost efficiency
in blast furnaces (Ruukki 2014b). Hot metal is further refined into steel in
converters and secondary steelmaking stages. Steel is casted and cut into slabs.
Slabs are further processed in hot and cold rolling mills to coils and sheets.

Fig. 1. Material flows of Ruukki steel plant in Raahe.

6
Beside the primary products, which are different steel grades, several by-products
are produced in integrated steel plants. Slags, chemicals and energy (electricity and
district heat) are produced and sold to surrounding society. Production of steel with
integrated route is energy intensive and emits considerable amount of CO 2
emissions. Production of one ton of steel with BF-BOF route emits around 2.0–2.5
tons of fossil CO2 emissions, depending on the technology efficiency, geographical
location of the plant and emission allocation methodology (Burchart-Korol 2013,
Norgate and Langberg 2009, Norgate et al. 2012). The cumulative energy demand of
steel production is 21.0–35.4 GJ/t steel (Norgate and Langberg 2009, Burchart-Korol
2013).
Scrap-based steel production in electric arc furnace (EAF) is based on the use of
recycled steel (Fig. 2). Electric arc furnace is a batch process in which electricity is
used to melt the scrap. Chemical energy is supplied to the furnace by burning
natural gas. Carbon in a form of coke or coal can also be used to provide heat to the
furnace and also to create a foaming slag, which enhances the thermal efficiency of
the furnace. After EAF operation, steel is directed to ladle treatment, casting and
rolling.

Fig. 2. Electric arc furnace steelmaking.

There is one production site in Finland, Ovako Steel in Imatra that produces steel
from recycled steel scrap with EAF. The annual steel capacity of the steel plant is
about 300 000 tons (Ovako 2013).
Stainless steel production route (Fig. 3) is based on the use chrome pellets and
steel scrap as raw material. Outokumpu has its own ferrochrome mine in Kemi.
Ferrochrome, which is important raw material in stainless steel production, is
produced in submerged arc furnace (SAF) in which electric arc is used to melt the
charge and nut coke is used to reduce the chrome pellets. Liquid ferrochrome is
directed into steel mill, where also electric arc furnaces are used to melt the steel
scrap. In AOD converter liquid stainless steel is produced, which is then led to
refining processes, casting and various rolling mills.

7
Fig. 3. Material flows of Outokumpu steel plant in Tornio (Outokumpu 2013).

Ferrochrome is similar intermediate as hot metal in carbon steel production.

Capacity of FeCr production in Outokumpu Tornio is some 520 000 tons annually
with new production line. By-products from FeCr production include slags and
energetic off-gases. Heating value of the SAF off-gases is higher than in blast furnace
off-gases. The gas can be used in preheating of the SAF charge, coke drying,
sintering, ladle heating and in the steel mill (Kapure et al. 2004, Niemela et al. 2004).
Some 1.1–1.6 tons of slag per produced ton of Ferrochrome is produced in SAF,
which means that over 600 000 tons of FeCr slag is produced when ferrochrome
production reaches the full capacity. Today, slags from ferrochrome production are
mainly used in road construction. Niemela et al. (2011). Several OKTO-products are
produced from steelmaking slags. These products are used e.g. in earth construction
(Roininen et al. 2011).

2.1.2 Copper, Nickel and Zinc production

Boliden Harjavalta produces copper anodes (210 000 tons capacity, some 130 000
tons in 2012) and nickel matte. Nickel matte is further refined by Norilsk Nickel that
produces Ni-cathodes. Talvivaara Mining Company located in Sotkamo produces
nickel as a primary product and zinc, copper and cobalt as by-products from low
grade black schist ore. The planned production rates are: 50 000 tons of nickel,
90 000 tons of zinc, 15 000 tons of copper and 1 800 tons of cobalt (Riekkola-
Vanhanen 2013). Production rates have remained at low levels because of the
problems in production processes and water balances. In November 2013 Talvivaara
commenced to corporate reorganisation (Talvivaara 2013).
Boliden Kokkola produces zinc as its main product. In 2012 new production
record was achieved with almost 315 000 tons. By-products from the plant are
sulphuric acid, copper precipitate, steam, zinc sulphate solution and process heat.
Silver recovery line will be in operation in 2014 (Boliden Kokkola 2012).

8
2.2 Biomass in metallurgical industry

It has been proposed that biomass use could be one of the measures to decrease the
CO2 emissions of steel production (e.g. Norgate et al. 2012, Suopajarvi et al. 2013,
Suopajarvi et al. 2014). The majority of the biomass studies have been focused on
the integrated steel production route and specifically on blast furnace process.
Possibilities to replace fossil-based reductants with biomass-based reductants
(bioreducers) in processes existing in integrated steel plant are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Possible fossil-based reductant substitution rates in blast furnace

with charcoal (Suopajärvi & Fabritius 2013)
Application and replaced Typical addition rate Charcoal substitution Charcoal amount
carbon source (kg/tHM) rate (%) (kg/tHM)
Cokemaking 480–560 2–10 9.6–56
(coking coal)
BF tuyere injection 150–200 0–100 0–200
(pulverized coal)
BF nut coke replacement 45 50–100 22.5–45

BF briquette 10–12 0–100 0–12

(coking plant residues)
Sintering solid fuel 76.5–102 50–100 38.3–102

Pre-reduced iron ore Not currently practiced 18–36

composite pellets

Charcoal is the most studied bioreducer, but also torrefied biomass, bio-oil, syngas
and Bio-SNG would be applicable for BF injection (Suopajarvi et al. 2013). Charcoal
is a common reductant in Brazilian mini blast furnaces (Noldin 2011), but biomass
use in modern large-scale blast furnaces has been restricted to short pellet injection
trials (Burgler et al. 2011). Charcoal use in scrap-based steel production to replace
coal could be also technologically feasible option. Syngas produced from the
pyrolysis gas could also replace natural gas burned in the EAF to produce energy
(Bianco et al. 2013). Charcoal is used in silicon sub-merged arc furnaces (SAF) as
reductant in Norway (Takla et al. 2013). Use of biomass-based reductant in
ferrochrome production has not been extensively studied or practiced.
In metallurgical plants, there are several processes that utilize liquefied fuels or
natural gas to provide heat to the process. In electric arc furnaces natural gas is
used, which could be replaced by syngas from pyrolysis (Bianco et al. 2013) or
gasification. Bio-SNG could be used to replace LPG in reheating furnaces (Johansson
2013). The prerequisite for feasible integration between industries would naturally
be the shared production site for syngas or reductant production to mitigate the
current cost of biomass transport hindering the possibilities for its use.
The chemical properties of the solid, liquid and gaseous bioreducers have been
reviewed in the work of Suopajarvi et al. (2013) and compared to fossil-based
reductants. Biomass as such does not work efficiently in the metallurgical processes

9
and upgrading of the biomass is essential before utilization. Upgrading of the
biomass may also yield by-products that can be utilized in replacing other fuels.

2.3 Upgrading of the biomass into bioreducers

Biomass upgrading technologies including drying and heat-treatment of biomass

can be seen as enabler when integrating bioeconomy and steel industry. There are
several alternative biomasses that could be input materials for bioreducer
production. Biomasses can be collected straight from the forests (energy wood), can
be recycled wood or by-products from pulp and paper industry or biorefineries (Fig.
4).

Biomass Thermochemical Bio-based Metallurgical

raw material conversion reducing agent process
& fuels

Forest chips Slow pyrolysis Charcoal

Industrial chips Torrefaction Torrefied biomass

EAF
Energy crops Fast pyrolysis Bio-oil
BF
Demolition wood Gasification Synthesis gas

Pulp mill Gasification +

residues Synthetic natural gas
Methanation
SAF
Torrefied biomass, charcoal

Biomass Coking
plant Biocoke

Coal

Fig. 4. Thermochemical conversion of biomass into reductants.

The selection of thermochemical conversion technology is also dependent on the

properties of the feedstock; for example high ash content biomasses such as
agricultural residues have too high ash content to produce good quality charcoal for
reductant purposes. As mentioned, there are several low, medium and high
temperature heat sources available in metallurgical plants that could be utilized in
biomass drying or even heat treatment. Thermochemical conversion technologies
have different product distributions (Table 2), which are affected e.g. heating rate,
raw material, vapour residence time and final temperature. We can see from the
temperature ranges of different thermochemical conversion technologies that heat
sources available in metallurgical plants could be possibly used to provide heat for
at least torrefaction and pyrolysis.

10
Table 2. Typical product weight yields (db) of pyrolysis of wood (Bridgewater
2011)
Mode Conditions Liquid Solid Gas
~ 500 oC, short hot vapor
Fast 75 % 12 % char 13 %
residence time ~ 1 s
~ 500 oC, hot vapor
Intermediate 50 % in 2 phases 25 % char 25 %
residence time ~ 10–30 s
Carbonisation ~ 400 oC, long vapor
30 % 35 % char 35 %
(slow) residence hours to days
Gasification ~ 750–900 oC 5% 10 % char 85 %
0 % unless
Torrefaction ~ 290 oC, solids residence
condensed, then up 80 % solid 20 %
(slow) time ~ 10–60 min
to 5 %

For the reductant purposes, different conversion technologies might be more

suitable depending on the physical and chemical characteristics. Especially harmful
for blast furnace process are alkalis (e.g. Na and K), which may enrich in the BF and
cause blockages, so the ash chemistry of blast furnace inputs has to be accounted
for. High sulphur amount may cause the increased need in slag amount, which
decreases the furnace productivity.
Upgrading of the biomass to bioreducers or energy carriers means that part of
the energy in green biomass is lost due to the losses. In biomass upgrading
processes, usually solid, liquid and gaseous products are formed. In some
technological solutions, like in torrefaction, by-products are usually used to provide
the needed heat to drying and heat treatment. In charcoal production, if raw
material is already dry, or if there are available excess energy for drying purposes,
by-product can be used in several applications. Syngas or further Bio-SNG (Larsson
2013) could be produced from the pyrolysis vapors that could be utilized either in
BF injection or to replace liquefied petroleum gas in reheating furnaces. Table 3
presents some ideas about replacing fossil-based reductants and fuels in ferrous and
non-ferrous metal production with main and by-products from thermochemical
conversion technologies. Properties of the bio-oil are not that feasible for
metallurgical processes, but fast pyrolysis yields also charcoal as by-product, which
could be used for reduction purposes (Suopajarvi et al. 2013).

11
Table 3. Indicative comparison of bioreducer properties and their use in
ferrous and non-ferrous metal production plants
Torrefied biomass Charcoal Syngas Bio-SNG
Upgrading Torrefaction Slow pyrolysis Gasification Gasification+
method (fast pyrolysis) (slow pyrolysis) methanation
Product Cfix 25%, VM 73%, Cfix up to 94%, VM Depend on the Comparable to NG,
properties ash<2, HHV 22 as low as 4%, technology, LHV up LHV 36 MJ/m3
MJ/kg ash<5, HHV 33 to 14 MJ/m3
MJ/kg
Main product MY 70%, EY 85% MY 25-35%, EY 85% (cold gas EY ~70%
yield: mass (MY) at 275 oC EY ~50% at 450 oC efficiency)
or energy (EY)
By-products Condensable and Condensable and
non-condensable non-condensable
gases gases
Uses in BF-BOF Main product Main product Main product Main product
steel production BF injection BF injection BF injection BF injection
Replacement of Replacement of Reheating furnaces Reheating furnaces
coking coal coking coal
Replacement of
top-charged coke

By-products
BF injection
Reheating furnaces
energy
Uses in EAF steel - Main product Main product Main product
production Replacement of Reheating furnaces Reheating furnaces
coal/coke

By-product
Replacement of
natural gas in EAF
Reheating furnaces
Uses in Probably not Main product Main product Main product
ferrochrome and suitable Replacement of nut Reheating furnaces Reheating furnaces
stainless steel coke in SAF
production Replacement of nut
coke in sintering
Replacement of
coal/coke in EAF

By-product

Uses in non- Probably not Main product - -

ferrous metal suitable Replacement of
production coke in nickel slag
reduction

12
2.4 Bioeconomy: European and Finnish perspective

2.4.1 Introduction to bioeconomy

The original "bioeconomics" referred to the study of how organisms of all kinds earn
their living in "nature's economy" with emphasis on co-operative interactions and
the progressive elaboration of the division of labour. The popular notions label
bioeconomy as an economy based on sustainable production and conversion of
biomass to be used as a major resource in a wide variety of industries.
Today bioeconomy combines highly research- and knowledge-intensive
economic activities in agriculture, forestry and the food sector with the innovative
use of renewable raw materials for material and energy use. Biotechnology may be
defined as the technological basis for the bio-economy, as it focuses on the research
and development of biological science for the variety of applications mentioned
above. The essential thing is that full utilization of resources and residual raw
materials at every stage of the biological cycle will yield major socio-economic
benefits. The objective is for value chains to be complete, sustainable cycles (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. Bioeconomy is based on sustainable flow of biomaterial from one

process to another (The Research Council of Norway).

Bioeconomy is considered to provide answers and new working methods to the

global challenges that decreasing natural resources and climate change bring about.
The objective is to create successful bio-based economy where knowledge in bio-
processes in production is highly valued and investments in sustainable production
and know-how is facilitated.
In principle, all biological resources are suitable for technological exploitation
and the common problem in comprehending the concept of bioeconomy is the

13
vastness of its scale and the cross-disciplinary nature of valorising biomass.
Correspondingly, there is also a very wide range of products that can be created and
many industrial sectors contributing at some stage of the value-chain (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Production and beneficiation of biomass, the closely interconnected

value-chain from primary production to products (Bioeconomy Innovation
2010).

This idea is currently being put into practice in simple production systems such as
oil or wheat mills, sugar factories and bio-ethanol plants. In future, however, more
complex raw materials and material flows will be transformed into more complex
products in biorefineries using interlinked processes. The importance of biomass
value-chain integration (Fig. 7) is just now being acknowledged.

Fig. 7. Distributes value chain of multiple beneficiaries, the “Bio-economic

network” (Sitra 2011).

14
2.4.2 Bioeconomy in European policy

Europe is confronted with an unprecedented and unsustainable exploitation of its

natural resources, significant and potentially irreversible changes to its climate and
a continued loss in biodiversity that threaten the stability of the living systems on
which it depends (EC 2012). This is exacerbated by a world population expected to
increase by more than 30% in the next 40 years, from 7 billion in 2012 to more than
9 billion in 2050.
Critical global challenges have been identified in carbon emissions and nutrient,
water and food supply management, efficient utilization of renewable biomass and
water resources is of global significance. The FAO and EC forecast up to 80%
reductions in CO2 emissions by 2050 through carbon storage and the use of biofuels,
significant replacement of oil-based materials and a 70% increase in the world’s
food demand. To enable supply of additional and sufficient biomass for a bio-based
economy, it is critical to increase the productivity and output of biomass from
European forest and agricultural land in a sustainable way and to unlock the
potential of the residues and side-streams and waste to produce value added
products, such as food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy (Nita et al. 2013).
Over the last decades, many policies have been put in place or revised by the EU
to tackle these challenges and drive the transformation of the European economy.
However, the complex inter-dependencies lead to trade-offs, such as the controversy
about competing uses of biomass. The latter arose from concerns about the potential
impact on food security of the growing demand for renewable biological resources
driven by other sectors, the use of scarce natural resources and the environment in
Europe and third countries.
To remain competitive, the EU seeks to become a low carbon society where
resource efficient industries, bio-based products and bioenergy all contribute to
green growth and competitiveness. Supporting actions and roadmaps are being
generated by e.g. European Commission (EC 2012), Forest Technology Platform
(FTP 2013), Bioconsortium (BIC 2013) and national agencies. Different industrial
sectors have strong innovation potential due to their use of a wide range of sciences,
enabling and industrial technologies, along with local and tacit knowledge.
Furthermore, EC has stated that the bio-economy in Europe needs to be knowledge-
based, just as the European manufacturing industry has become so. It means
extensive research in terms of new biotechnology and its applications in order to
improve the efficiency of production in any industrial sector, rather than
straightforward replacement of non-renewable resources with bio-based resources
(KBBE 2010).
The idea behind the policy is that the European bioeconomy cannot compete on a
global level by delivering only basic agricultural commodities, but needs to build on
European strengths such as excellence in science, technology and industry and
having a strong chemical and manufacturing industry base. Several European
Technology Platforms (ETP), ERA-NET schemes and European Commission expert
groups were set up, and research in the area of the KBBE has been promoted and
financed via the Commission’s Framework Programme 7 and several Member State
initiatives. This is also reflected in the latest European innovation program Horizon

15
2020, aiming with substantial contribution to research and innovation activity in
bioeconomy sector.
The intrinsic value created by bio-based products is often in inverse proportion
to their market volumes (Fig. 8) and usually correlates to the number of processing
stages. The potential for innovation in the development of new products and
processes is high at all levels of this pyramid. Besides greater efficiency in the
production of biomass, the focus ought to be on more refined products in the value
chain, such as foodstuffs, biochemicals and pharmaceuticals. The EU needs to
produce "more with less" and develop smart sustainable farming, fisheries and
aquaculture (EC 2012).

Fig. 8. Specific market prices versus market volumes of bio-based products

(Bio-economy Innovation 2010).

2.4.3 Bioeconomy in Finland

Finland strives to become Europe’s forerunner in bioeconomy as we have the

necessary raw material and know-how in different technologies. In addition to that
we need collaboration between different industry sectors and favorable
governmental policy to support it. Common goals to help development in the right
direction towards a sustainable bioeconomy have been set by the Ministry of
Employment and Economy in its recent National Bioeconomy strategy paper (TEM
2014). It provides crude guidelines and national vision on development of
sustainable bio-based industries, services and business opportunities and it is
closely follows the similar strategies set previously by e.g. Denmark, Sweden and
Germany.
The national biomass supply chain has traditionally been focused on agriculture
and forestry sectors operating separately without focusing on integration or joint
actions. Despite this, the value chains of primary production merge after the
processing industries coming together in products in basic foods, high-value foods,
and feeds, sections of the chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, paper and textile
industries, to the energy sector based on renewable raw materials (Bio-economy
Innovation 2010). Joint ventures reduce the need and cost generated by e.g.

16
transport, which can be economically a very beneficial thing in a rural country like
Finland.
For example more and more plant based raw materials are used by Finnish
chemical industries in paints, glue and rubber products. According to a recent
survey by The Chemical Industry Federation of Finland over 30% of the respondents
say bioeconomy is already an important aspect of their operations. When taking into
account the companies that are following closely the development of the
bioeconomy scenery, the percentage rises to over 80%. One of these sectors is paper
and pulp industry (and forestry) that has a strong and long tradition and know-how
in undergoing big changes towards multiproduct biorefineries and versatile
portfolio of bio-based products.
Important areas from the bioeconomy point of view are natural and other
polymers, and technologies such as separation techniques, enzymes, fermentation
and other biotechnology, chemical processes and surface and colloidal chemistry.
Biofuels are important products of the bioeconomy, but bio-based materials can also
be refined to various other products such as, biochemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Biocomposites, engineered wood products, advanced bio-packaging solutions and
continuously increasing utilization rate of nanocellulose derivatives open up novel
and interesting end use applications with high value and global markets. Despite the
new chemical and material innovations the technology and cleantech solutions
needed to manufacture these in a sustainable way may yield significant export
businesses for Finnish industries.

2.4.4 Finnish forest industries transforming into bioeconomic players

Wood is and will continue to be Finland’s strategic resource. Wood is also Finland’s
most significant renewable natural resource, which is processed at an industrial
scale. The unused biomass increment is currently actually quite substantial (Fig. 9).
Industry based on the sustainable use of renewable wood is a significant contributor
to national GDP as well as to regional economies. According to Finnish Forest
Industries, every tenth Finn makes their living from the forest industry or from a
sector that services the industry. In the transition of traditional pulp and
papermaking business towards a low-carbon bioeconomy, products made from
wood, wood fibre and wood ingredients will replace non-renewable materials and
fossil fuels.

17
Fig. 9. Forest balance in Finland 1960-2011: The growth of Finnish forests is
over 100 mill. m3 per year (Metla and Finnish Forest Industries 2013).

The future of the Finnish forest cluster companies (and also those in Europe) seems
to be based on the sector meeting the needs of its customers and consumers as well
as on its ability to develop competitive and customer-oriented products, solutions
and services. A challenge related to bio-based customer solutions of the future is to
manage the entire lifecycle of products from sustainable raw material procurement
to the use, associated services and recycling of products.
Finnish companies aim to be innovative and are currently commercializing
several novel product lines according to bioeconomy model. By the end of 2014 in
Lappeenranta UPM biorefinery will produce about 100,000 tonnes/year of advanced
second-generation Bioverno biodiesel transport fuel. Also a new production concept
for bio-oil based on energy-wood to replace heating oil is being developed by UPM,
Metso, Fortum and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. For some time Metsa
Fibre tested a new wood gasification plant in Joutseno aiming to develop biogas to
be used to replace natural gas. However, all attempts are not successful. Recently
Forest BtL announced that the planned 700 million Euro investment to a Kemi-
based biodiesel production unit will not be continued due to the high investment
costs and insufficient financial support from national and EU sources.
Wood structures have been more successful as they are already gaining ground
globally as the main building material in the production of large buildings, such as
multi-storey towers and office blocks. In future, increasing attention will be paid not
only to buildings’ energy efficiency but also to the carbon and energy balance of
construction and construction materials. New smart paper and packaging products
as well as construction materials are being developed with the help of information
technology.
In material engineering side, Onbone has invented an easily-mouldable
OMNICAST® wood cast that is made of wood chip and biodegradable plastic. UPM
ProFi is a wood-plastic composites that uses wood-based fibres from paper (release
paper waste from Raflatac) and polypropylene as matrix polymer, while UPM ForMi

18
is manufactured from pure polymers and pulp. New composite applications have
already been found in, for example, loud speakers and kitchen furnishings. VTT
Technical Research Centre of Finland and the Aalto University have developed a
method for the large-scale manufacture of a wood-based plastic-like material and
there are several approaches to commercialise nanocellulose and related products.
In print products, Stora Enso has developed smart pharmaceutical packaging that
communicates wirelessly with electronic health record systems. The Abo Akademi
University in Turku has been developing smart paper for years. Other recent
innovations include e.g. mouldable plywood for the furniture sector, thermoformed
food packaging from cellulose to replace plastic containers, and solar cells,
transistors and power sources printed onto electronic paper.

2.5 Increased energy and material efficiency: Eco-industrial parks

2.5.1 Industrial symbiosis in a nutshell

Eco-industrial parks (EIP) are realization of industrial symbiosis, which build on the
symbiotic relationships between industrial partners (Chertow 2000). Kziner (2006)
has pointed out that also process integration should be viewed as strategic approach
and extended to take inter-plant and whole site analysis. According to Chertow
(2000) there are five different types of EIPs where materials and energy exchange
can be conducted:

1) Through waste exchanges

2) Within a facility, firm or organization
3) Among co-located firms in a defined industrial area
4) Among nearby firms not co-located
5) Among firms far from each other

Eco-industrial parks or areas can be designed or they have developed during the
years. Gradual development is usually caused by economic factors (Sokka et al.
2008). Materials and energy should be efficiently used and it might be better done
by other industrial actor having technology to do that economically,
environmentally-friendly and efficiently. Majority of the eco-industrial projects fall
into category of By-Product exchange and Eco-Industrial network. Despite of the
terminology, it has been shown that strong collaboration and symbiotic material and
energy exchange can contribute to reduction in environmental impacts (Sokka et al.
2010) and increase in social sustainability (Sokka et al. 2008). Economic viability is
taken as precondition for entering symbiotic relationship (Sokka et al. 2008).

2.5.2 Eco-industrial parks involving metallurgical industry

Eco-industrial parks where iron or steel production plant is part of the by-product
exchange network has been described e.g. by van Beers et al. (2007) in Kawasaki,
Japan and van Berkel et al. (2009) in Kwinana Industrial Area, Australia. The interest
towards eco-industrial parks has increased in recent years in China due to e.g. low

19
carbon city development program led by National Reform and Development
Commission (Dong et al. 2013a). These industrial symbiosis endeavours include also
steel industry (Zhang et al. 2013a, Dong et al. 2013b). Integrated steel plants are
complex entities in which part of the by-products and waste energy are utilized
inside the system boundaries. In many steel plants there are at least power plant,
lime burning kilns and waste water plant. Additionally district heat supply to
surrounding community and slag products for road construction and agriculture
integrate steel plant to surrounding society.
It might be difficult to evaluate environmental performance of the EIPs without
dedicated methodologies due to excess amount of material and energy streams. The
environmental performance of the EIPs can be evaluated with different
methodologies. Sokka (2011) has used life cycle assessment to assess the potential
and possible constraints of industrial symbioses in Finnish pulp and paper industry.
Zhang et al. (2013a) have used substance flow analysis (carbon stream) to evaluate
the impact of using low-carbon industrial symbiosis technologies in Chinese
iron/steel industrial park. Example of the carbon flow analysis can be seen in Fig.
10.

Fig. 10. Substance (carbon) flow analysis of EIP (Zhang et al. 2013a).

Existing and anticipated eco-industrial parks can be identified also in Finnish

metallurgical industry. Salmi et al (2012) have suggested hypothetical industrial
symbiosis model for Finland and Sweden, where the system boundary of the
industries in symbiotic relationship is several hundred kilometres. The rationale of

20
the industrial symbiosis model is based on the common treatment plant (e.g. rotary
hearth furnace) where difficult by-products from several steel plants and zinc plant
are treated into directly reduced iron (DRI) that can be used as an input in steel
plant.
Good example of the existing EIP in the Finnish metallurgical industry is
Harjavalta industrial park with several companies from different industrial sectors
(Fig. 11).

Fig. 11. Harjavalta industrial park material and energy flows (Heino 2013).

21
The history of the Harjavalta industrial park starts from 1940s when copper plant
was moved from Imatra to Harjavalta (Heino 2013). Today there are 17 specialized
companies in Harjavalta industrial park (Harjavallan Suurteollisuuspuisto 2013).
Companies in the industrial park include e.g. Boliden Harjavalta that produces
copper anodes and nickel matte. Nickel matte is further directed to Norilsk Nickel
that produces Ni-cathodes. In the park there are also chemical-, fertilizer- and power
production plants. Material and energy flows of Harjavalta industrial park has been
extensively discussed in the work of Heino (2006).

2.5.3 Nuottasaari industrial park

As stated many times, chemical pulp mills are, and have been for quite some time
already, the first kind of commercially viable biorefineries where biomass is turned
into numerous products and as little as possible is wasted. Bark and black liquor
provide the heat and power needed for running the process that yields, depending
on used biomass resource, wood pulp and also various chemicals, such as alcohols,
tall oil and turpentine, and the more refined resins and fatty acids, and rosin esters,
terpenes, phenolics, waxes and numerous other chemical intermediates. Similar
opportunities are globally emerging around agricultural residue handling facilities
or nonwood plants, no so different from the Chempolis pilot facility also in Oulu
region.
Good example of conventional biorefinery is then the Stora Enso Nuottasaari mill
site (Fig. 12) known of its high-end print paper production and less so on the other
major businesses residing on the same site: Arizona Chemical, Chemec, Efora, Eka
chemicals, Eka Synthomer and Port of Oulu.

Fig. 12. Nuottasaari mill site in the city of Oulu (Stora Enso 2013).

The main raw material in Oulu site is the pine refined into 100% bleached softwood
pulp (chemical sulphate pulping process at capacity of 350 000 t/a, see Fig. 13) and
the imported eucalyptus pulp. Integrate feeds 130 000 t/a of the pine-based
softwood pulp to its own paper mill with two fine paper machines that produce

22
1100 000 t/a coated art printing papers for sheet fed offset and HSWO printing. The
rest of the softwood pulp (some 60% of production) is sold to market as dried bales.
Total of 99% of wood procurement for pulping is national, the remaining 1% coming
from the Baltics. Most of the pulp comes from PEFC certified sources (Stora Enso
2013). The local ecosystem is being complemented by Arizona Chemical that refines
the chemical pulping by-products (tall oil 20 000 t/a, and turpentine 1000 t/a) into
speciality chemicals. They report that their biorefinery operation in Oulu has 80 000
t/a CO2 emissions which is approximately 25% of the amount expected from similar
production volume using petroleum-based raw material. (Stora Enso 2013)

Fig. 13. Chemical sulphate pulping process in Oulu mill site (Stora Enso 2013).

Eka Chemical factories in site has electrolysis production of chlorine, sodium

hydroxide, sodium chlorate and hydrogen and their chemical refinement to sodium
hypochlorite, sodium aluminate, poly-aluminium chloride (PAC), hydrochloric acid
and chlorine dioxide. The production method in use in the factory is extremely
electricity intensive but many of the products are consumed in the local pulping
operation. Similarly, the Eka Synthomer produced styrene-butadiene latex products
are used by Stora Enso locally for paper coating purposes. Chemec slurry plant
covers the pigment bulk storage and slurry process, the monitoring and control of
bacterial growth in the slurry with output of large volumes of carbonate, kaolin and
talc pigment for sites use. Efora runs the outsourced maintenance operation of mill
site and port of Oulu enables the massive logistics operation both ways, although the
wood is delivered by trucks and railway.

23
 The mill site utilizes close to 2 Mm3 of fresh wood annually (ca. 5.8 m3 per ton of
chemical pulp produced). Other large scale factors of production on site include
water from Oulu river and power, most of which is locally generated from wood
residue, peat, liquid gas and some other sources – the proportion of bio-fuels in
energy production is ca. 85%. The local power plant has a recovery boiler of 202
MW, fluidized bed boiler of 246 MW and, as a back-up, bark boiler of 142 MW and oil
boiler of 55 MW (Stora Enso 2013). As of the process rejects and wastes, the power
plant produces ca. 15 000 tons of ash, pulp mill rejects some 500 t/a of wood knot
fraction and some sodium-rich green liquor residue, while paper mill produces some
12 000 tons of wet carbonate rich reject that is today managed by Ekokem.

24
3 SHORT TERM INTEGRATION POTENTIALS

3.1 Available heat sources in metal and pulp production

Despite the fact that metal production technologies are well-developed, there are
several by-products and waste heat sources that are defectively utilized in
metallurgical industry. Some of the by-product streams could be utilized also to
facilitate integration of biomass upgrading facilities into the existing infrastructure
of the steel plant. These streams consist mainly of the waste heat, which is available
at several temperatures. In the case of integrated steel plant there are various
sources of waste heat that could be utilized with proper technologies. Waste heat
sources have been analysed by YIT in 2010 (YIT 2010). The identified waste heat
sources are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Identified waste heat sources in integrated steel plant (YIT 2010)
Heat source Energy amount (GWh/a) Temperature (oC) Medium
Steel mill cooling
 Cooling towers 315* >50 (80%) To air
 Sea water 315* To water
Blast furnace top-gas cooling
 Cooling towers 200 >50 (circulating To air
water)
Power plant condensing 1400 20 Water
Process flue gases 850 Flue gas
 Coke ovens 250
 Cowpers 320
 Pusher type furnaces 700
 Walking beam furnaces 550
Rolling mill 315 500  room Room air
Slab hall 315 temperature
Power plant flue gases 250 300 Flue gas
Sinter cooling 5001 To air
Others, losses, process use, 4690
etc.
Total 9150
* Used in district heat production, 1 Sinter plant was closed in 2011

Energetic gases; coke oven gas (COG) and blast furnace gas (BFG) are quite
efficiently used for the most part in metallurgical industry. Basic oxygen furnace gas
(BOFG) could be used more efficiently e.g. in Ruukki. Today part of the energy in
BOFG is recovered with district heat by burning the gas at the top of the BOF
(Ruukki 2013). Alternatively BOFG could be recovered by firstly recovering the
sensible heat in waste heat boiler, generating high pressure steam. Then gas can be
cleaned, stored and used as a fuel. ArcelorMittal Gent (5 Mtons steel slab capacity)
has applied the BOFG recovery. Steel mill energy consumption can be reduced by 3%
and decrease CO2 emissions by 170 000 tons/year. Reusing the gas inside the steel
plant reduces the energy consumption by 0.7 GJ per ton of steel. The cost of building

25
the system was 38 million euros and investment payback time just two years
(ArcelorMittal 2013).
Heat recovery from liquid slags in iron and steelmaking has been extensively
researched topic, but still commercial solutions do not exist. For example blast
furnace slag when cooled from 1500oC to ambient temperature, releases 1.8 GJ
thermal energy per ton of slag (Jahanshahi et al. 2011). Zhang et al. (2013b) have
estimated that molten slags in steel industry carry some 35% of high temperature
waste heat that is not currently utilized due to immature heat recovery technologies.
Waste gas contains 10% and products 55% of waste heat (Fig. 14).
Steelmaking
slag 7 % Waste gas
10 %

Products; Blast furnace

55 % slag 28 %

Fig. 14. Distribution of high temperature waste heat (Zhang et al. 2013b).

Globally, based on the slag amount produced in 2008, the energy recovery potential
from metallurgical industry was 222 TWh/year (Barati et al. 2011). The amount of
produced steel has increased significantly from 2008 to 2012. For example hot metal
production in China in 2012 was 658 Mtons and with BF slag production rate of 0.3
tons per ton hot metal, the slag amount is 197 Mtons. By assuming 1.8 GJ/t slag
thermal energy, recoverable heat from BF slag in China alone is 98.7 TWh.
In Table 5 some of the potential slags (BF-BOF, EAF and SAF slags) for waste heat
recovery in Finland are presented. Figures can be held as indicative, because slag
rates are based on calculated values.

Table 5. Available energy from slag heat recovery in Finland

Metal process Slag Slag rate (t/t Slag Slag enthalpy Heat value
temperature (oC) metal) amount, (GJ/ton) (TWh/year)
2012
Hot metal (BF) 1500 0.185 t/tHM 370 000 t 1.8 0.185
Steel (BOF) 1300 0.126 t/t steel 290 000 t 1.3 0.105
Steel (EAF) 1550 0.167 t/t steel 50 000 t 1.8 0.025
Ferrochrome 1700 1.3 t/t FeCr 312 000 t 2.0 0.173

There are also excess heat available in pulp mill. Warm and hot water and steam are
produced in excess and circulated internally within the pulp mill (Arola 2011). A

26
limiting factor in harnessing this heat flow is its uneven production and internal
consumption. In wintertime, some 95% of the 60.8 MW of heat in warm water
(51 °C, 285 l/s) can be utilized internally, leaving an average of 15.1 l/s discarded. In
summer time the situation is energy-wise worse as the internal consumption is lower
and production of heat higher; the temperature varies from location to another from 45
to 83 °C with total volume of 340 l/s. From this only 72% is being used and 91 l/s of
51 °C water is discarded. Hot water in wintertime (70–94 °C, 180 l/s) has equivalent of
57.8 MW on heat value. Of this, mere 72% is utilized and on average 53.6 l/s being
discarded, contributing to ca. 0.4 MWh as wasted energy per each produced ton of pulp.
During summers the hot water production is 195 l/s (70–82 °C) and 61% can be used
internally, leaving 78 l/s (80 °C) to be discarded.
Suitability to utilize excess heat fractions of the warm water system for biomass
drying has recently been investigated by Arola (2011). As a result, hot water fractions
should be centralized for better usability as initial Investment calculations indicate that
maximizing the usage of secondary energy instead of primary energy in biomass drying
provides higher cost efficiency. The increase in drying capacity is also interesting
potential for other side stream users should there one day be a more diversified
secondary production of wood-based products in the vicinity of the pulp mill. Other
resources are circulated (chemical recovery, heat and water), collected (fibre and by-
products) or burned quite efficiently as the pulping process today is a fairly closed
system with few waste streams (Fig. 15).

Fig. 15. Process and material flow in chemical sulphate pulping process (Stora
Enso 2013).

27
3.2 More efficient utilization of by-products from steel industry

In metal production, huge amount of slags, dusts, scales and sludges are produced.
Quite large portion of the slags produced in steel production can be used in the
construction industry. Methods to recycle dust, scales and sludge are described e.g.
in Makkonen et al. (2002). Steelmaking slags could also be used in the production of
precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), at the same time capturing CO 2 from the steel
production off gases by mineral carbonization (Eloneva et al. 2012). PCC is used as a
filler or coating pigment in paper manufacturing. Blast furnace slags can be used
also in the production of geopolymers (Cheng & Chiu 2003), which can be used in
several applications such as fire- and heat-resistant coatings and adhesives, high-
temperature ceramics, etc. Granulated blast furnace slag is also used to replace
cement in concrete constructions. In the future more emphasis might be directed to
the utilization of sludges, which contain high amount of metal, but are costly to dry
and clean from unwanted elements. This is because there might be stricter taxation
for landfilling in the future.

3.3 Short-term possibilities to integrate biomass upgrading with steel plant

There are examples from the practice where biomass upgrading has been integrated
with steel and energy production applying the principles of industrial symbiosis. In
Lulea, Swedish steel producer SSAB, combined heat and power (CHP) plant owned
by LuleKraft AB (LUKAB) and pellet producer, Bioenergi are in close collaboration
(Asp 2007, Larsson et al. 2006, Grip et al. 2010). Excess gases from steel plant are
burned in power plant to produce energy. Some 91 GWh of off-gas energy from
LUKAB is utilized at Bioenergi pellet production plant to dry moist pellets.
Similar business opportunity has been identified in Finland, where forest energy
supplier has received energy support grant of almost 4 million euros from Finland’s
Ministry of Employment and Economy for the construction of a large-scale forest
chips drying plant in Raahe. The drying plant will use district heat water (10–20
MW) in drying from Ruukki Metals steel plant. The amount of forest chips in yearly
basis is around 200 000 solid cubic meters (400 GWh). The plant investment
includes reception facilities and equipment for the raw material, chipping and
crushing equipment, the drying plant, and storage for the dried chips (Ministry of
Employment and the Economy 2011). It has been planned that users of the dried
forest chips would be energy producers who would get more output from boilers.

3.4 Short-term possibilities to develop new products from biomass

3.4.1 Possibilities in energy segment

In short term the production of biomaterials would consist of production of biochar

and the next steps could be biocomposites and biochemicals. The production of bio-
oil would start with implementation of pyrolysis technologies and the next step,
when the need to up-scale the production emerges, would be gasification. Several
biofuel and bioenergy production plants are already under construction and pre-

28
planning phase (UPM, Sievi, etc.) while some have faced difficulties and postponed
the investment decisions, as in the case of Kemi Ajos site. The use of forest biomass
in diversified energy and heat plants (CHP) is also likely a growing trend.
Utilization of biomass-containing fractions today labelled as wastes will surely
rise in value in the near future. Currently some six million cubic metres of forest
chips are used for energy production. Forest chips consist of branches, crowns, and
stumps collected in connection with regeneration felling as well as chips from trees
felled when thinning young stands. In techno-economic terms, the potential
production capacity of forest chips is estimated at approximately 12–15 million
cubic metres per year. The availability of forest chips is highly dependent on the
volume of commercial logging. The production of wood pellets currently stands at
approximately 300,000–370,000 tonnes per year (NFP 2010). Also the growing
interest towards forest growth increment via e.g. fertilizing (e.g. Kukkola & Nojd
2000) and better management practices (Krista 2012) indicate that industrially
available forest biomass will increase in volume during the coming years.
Currently there is neither an industrial demand to market bio-coal in Finland, nor
a clear price tag on bio-coal as its use is largely limited to seasonal non-industrial
scale usage of domestic grilling and barbequing. Finland's National renewable
energy action plan plays a key role in the bio-coal sector and sets the baseline for its
development for industrial use. The first bio-coal production plant in Finland is
proposed to be built in Ristiina during the following years, on a total budget of EUR
30–40M, and a planned production capacity of 200,000 t/a. However, tax rebates,
investment incentives and production incentives are unclear in this sector, and lack
significant market pull. Even then the metallurgic industries may face market and
price competition against coal-fired power plants, CHPs and other small scale users
(Wang 2013). It should be noted that there is a strong influence on the technical
solutions is given by heat demand for thermal treatment and drying. Hence the
economic calculations made for the feasibility of bio-coal production often assume a
nearby free waste heat source (with temperature ~ 300°C) and residual heat for
drying of the raw material from some industrial processes. This can to some extent
be met by integration to steel plant.

3.4.2 Possibilities in bio-based chemicals

Fairly cheap cellulose is available as residues or side streams (e.g. sheaves reject
consisting of incompletely from chemical pulping, and pin chips, i.e. undersize chips
that are produced during chipping) which are not yet utilised on industrial scale.
Local tertiary cellulose resources such as primary pulp and paper mill residues and
fibres of municipal solid waste will be used as biomass feedstock instead of virgin
market cellulose pulp for the production of green chemicals. For example, the
availability of municipal waste fibres has estimated to be 8 000 0000 tons/year in
Netherlands (Keijsers et al. 2013). The use of tertiary resources will both secure the
raw material supply and promote competitiveness of green chemicals. Also logistics
efficiency is promoted and value addition is stimulated.
Approximately, 45 million tonnes of kraft lignin and 2 million tonnes of
lignosulfonates are generated annually in sulphite pulping as a by-product of

29
chemical pulp manufacture. However, only 1-2% of the total amount of technical
lignin is used for high-value applications. Most of the lignins are used internally as a
low-grade fuel for the pulping operation. Modern biorefinery concepts and
increasing demand in the 2nd generation biofuels (e.g. ethanol and butanol) from
lignocellulosic biomass have increased the general appeal of various lignin by-
products. For example, the amount of hydrolysed lignin (HL, 6 million tons/year),
from manufacturing of ethanol from pine or eucalyptus woods is estimated to
substantially exceed the yield of biofuel. This is more than all lignin side streams
produced by pulp and paper industry (Berglin et al. 2012).
A large-scale utilization of industrial kraft lignin is hampered by its physico-
chemical heterogeneity (e.g. inherent variety in structure and molecular size
distribution). Therefore, a fractionation operation is required to obtain lignin with
specific and controlled characteristics. Most of the new lignin applications are
focused on the durable materials such as carbon fibers, polyurethanes, isocyanate-
cured ligno-phenol-formaldehyde resins of novolac type, and various lignin blends
with synthetic polymers.
Several derivatization routes to convert cellulose to water-soluble compounds
have been developed and many of those have been commercialised. These include
especially cellulose esters and ethers, which have been used in bulk products such
as fibres, films and plastics, but also as fine-chemicals such as paper additives,
adhesives and thickeners (Alen 2011). However, the production of high-valued
chemicals from cellulose has still being marginal compared to cellulose use in
traditional papermaking.
For example, production of anionically charged carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC),
which is the commercially most important cellulose ether, annual global production
is approximately 300 000 tons, while uncharged alkyl celluloses and hydroxyalkyl
celluloses such as methyl-, ethyl celluloses (MC and EC, respectively) and hydroethyl
cellulose (HEC) are fabricated approximately 160 000 tons annually (Alen 2011). So
far, only few commercially promising methods to obtain functionalized cellulose
nano- and microparticles exist. The most potential methods, which are still under
development, are based on the carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) treatment (Ankerfors
& Lindstrom 2009; Wagberg et al. 2008) and the regioselective oxidation based on
2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxyl (TEMPO) (Saito et al. 2006). However, the
regeneration of reagents and reaction conditions of these reactions are still
challenging, and only anionic products can be fabricated. In Finland, UPM and Metsa
Group have announced preparing pre-commercial manufacture of these new
biomaterials. Hence, we also anticipate seeing commercial production and products
in coming years.
Also lignins possess promising characteristics for several chemical applications
e.g. in municipal and industrial waste water purification that opens up novel
possibilities in development of zero-waste integrates. The market potential of green
chemicals is promoted the fact that ever strict legislation will reduce the use of
synthetic polymers. For example, health aspects relating to the use of synthetic
polymers in water treatment have been considered by a WHO Consultant Group and
recommendations made for their use have tightened. Switzerland and Japan have

30
already prohibited the use of synthetic polymers in water treatment (Bae et al.
2007).
The potential end-uses for biochemicals as flocculation agents, adsorbents for
heavy metal and solubles removal from suspensions, and surfactants enabling e.g.
particle dispersing and flotation are widely used as water chemicals in municipal
and water-intensive industrial applications. The proof of concept for their
production and comparable performance to traditional water treatment chemicals
has already been demonstrated in laboratory scale (Liimatainen et al. 2012, 2013,
2014). Other applications of significant industrial interest are bio-based biocides,
antiscalants and defoamers. These chemicals enable e.g. to use lower-cost furnish
components, reduce energy consumption, increase machine speeds, improve
productivity and efficiency, and enhanced paper properties and quality. Also more
specific speciality chemicals such as stabilizing agents have been developed (Lif et
al. 2010, Winuprasith et al. 2013). Other viable uses include for example, technical
lignosulphonates that can be used as dispersants and plasticizers (Areskogh et al.
2010). Oxypropylated lignosulphonates have already demonstrated as frothing
agents, collectors and depressants and therefore, being as multifunctional floating
agents (Gromova et al. 1993).

3.4.3 Possibilities in bio-based materials

Alongside the biochemicals development the bioeconomy seems to promote the

emergence of novel bio-based composite materials in numerous industrial and
consumer applications. Markets are being competed with plastics, concrete and
other performance materials. The global plastics sector presently produces about
250 million tonnes annually. Over 99% of this is derived from fossil fuels, and most
of it is not biodegradable. As a result, whilst the industry's share of fossil fuel
consumption is small, its environmental impact is substantial (Thompson 2013).
The persistence of tiny plastic particles and the release of toxic substances have
been shown to have particularly severe impacts on marine wildlife.
Cellulose provides substantial opportunities for developing new multi-functional
composite materials and for designing novel nanostructured materials structurally
optimized for material efficiency and performance, use of solely biodegradable
renewable reinforcing materials and generate true added-value for their end used.
The crystalline structure of cellulose is responsible for its intrinsic strength, stiffness
and high chemical stability while the amorphous regions provide many alternatives
to modify its topochemical structure.
Unique attributes of cellulose-derived nanomaterials include their hydrophilicity,
biocompatibility, stereoregularity, biodegradability, chemical stability, multichirality
and the ability to form superstructures. Its high technological potential allied with
its availability and renewability makes it an excellent material for the development
of new materials. One factor limiting the industrial use of nanocelluloses (also in
chemicals) is the lack of its regulatory chemical status e.g. within REACH directive.
Once this is obtained a surge of new products and CNC materials are expected to
enter the global market.

31
 The addition of small amounts of nanoparticles to polymers has been able to
enable new properties for the composite material, but results are highly dependent
on the surface treatment of the nanoparticles and processing used. Natural fibres
have well established their reputation as reinforcement to plastics. Cellulose
nanocomposites are known to have mechanical properties higher than composites
with micro- or macro sized reinforcements. One reason for this is the theoretical
value of axial Young’s modulus of crystalline cellulose, 167 GPa (Tashiro & Kobayashi
1991), which is higher than steel and similar to Kevlar and significant improvements
in the strength and modulus of CNCs have been reported (Nakagaito & Yano 2005,
Bhatnagar & Sain 2005). Other improved properties of cellulose nanocomposites
with respect to the matrix polymer include better thermal properties, improved
coefficient of thermal expansion, decreased moisture sensitivity, improved barrier
properties and transparency when well-dispersed nanocellulose is used as polymer
reinforcement. While industry is seeking materials to meet difficult challenges with
unique properties, there is no "rule of mixtures" to identify how to mix
nanomaterials in a composite structure.
Besides its engineered performance gain the biocomposite materials are seen
promising area of new bio-products as it can tap onto waste streams and have
considerable impact on sustainability of material industries. Secondly, the use of bio-
based raw materials reduces the disposal and the use of non-renewable resources.
As an example of such development Puustelli, a Finnish kitchen manufacturer, was
recently seeking for a greener alternative to replace the chipboard previously used
in the frames and structures. A lower carbon footprint, being more sustainable and
formaldehyde-free was important factors to drive Puustelli's decision. Also, Puustelli
was interested to ease the production of new kitchen frames if possible. After
several tests, UPM ForMi biocomposite has been successfully validated by Puustelli
to replace chipboard in their new brand of kitchens. The material developed
performed well at high temperatures (stand 90°C), was resistant to stress, chemicals
and moisture while being lighter, easier to install and reducing the product carbon
footprint by 35-45%.
Alternate uses can be found in construction materials, where cellulosic
composites are developed for heat, sound and vibration insulation. The
building/construction sector is by far the world’s largest biomaterial sector using
wood-based structural components. Fibre cements, concretes and other cast
materials use cellulose, natural and engineered fibres to add resistance to cracking, a
lighter weight and a degree of flexibility. In automotive, aviation and transportation
(incl. packaging) sustainable materials are developed for durable, lightweight
materials that reduce energy consumption while mobile and during the build-up
phase. The field is thus still in its infancy. Wood plastic composites have recently
become established in the market, though in these composites wood fibres largely
function as filler materials to decrease cost. Hence, the focus is on resource
efficiency of materials used in the building sector, which is particularly relevant in
view of new EU standards (CEN/TC 350) for sustainable buildings.
As example of material volumes in Europe and development scenarios in global
scale, packaging waste represents more than 59 million tonnes in EU (27 countries),
nearly 35% of domestic plastic packaging waste is disposed of and not recovered or

32
recycled (Eurostat 2014). The largest markets for nanocellulosic materials in Europe
are the paper/board markets (94 million tonnes) and the plastics market (47 million
tonnes). The largest plastics segment is the packaging sector (39.4%) followed by
building and construction (20.5%) and the automotive sector (8.3%) (Plastics
2012).
Global demand for bio-based and biodegradable plastics will rise 19% per year to
950,000 metric tons in 2017, according to Report linker (2013). Renewable
feedstock are widely available and do not suffer from the same level of price
volatility that is experienced by petroleum feedstock. Therefore, there is a huge
interest in the development of biodegradable polymers and materials derived from
renewable resources to replace or reduce the use of oil-based counterparts. When
considering bioplastics, worldwide market will reach an annual growth rate of
14.5%, and is expected to generate global revenue of 3,668.6 million US dollars by
2018. According to leading analysts, the automotive interior market for these
materials, comprising instrument panels and cockpit systems, headliners and
overheads systems, door panels and seatings – was worth US$ 230 billion in 2011
and will growth to a value of US$ 300 billion by 2016.
Unusually, low-end applications of bio-based materials (e.g. dry strength
adjuvant in papermaking) are closest to market, while high-end applications are yet
to achieve significant success. Opportunities for the use of bio-based materials in
packaging are limited by the difficulty of matching the price performance of fossil-
based plastics. Successful innovation in commercial scale production of biomaterials
(e.g. nanocelluloses) will ease the long-term medium-level market innovation. High-
end innovation, such as electronic/medical applications, will be led by companies
with strong financial commitment, whereas low and medium-level applications will
be heavily dependent on development of legislation and standards. For example,
there are no economic incentives for choosing materials and construction systems
that result in lower carbon dioxide emissions in the production phase of a building
and few positive credentials for this in current environmental building classification
systems. The policy in all industrial sectors tends to currently favour the
conventional materials but the situation may change rapidly.

33
4 MEDIUM TO LONG TERM POTENTIAL INTEGRATION POTENTIALS

4.1 Bioeconomy and metallurgical industry integration opportunities

Industrial symbiosis and current Eco-industrial parks involving metal production

and pulp and paper industry were reviewed in section 2.5. Today there are few
examples where bioeconomy IS integrated with metal production plants. One
example is the symbiosis in Lulea between steel plant, energy producer and wood
pellet producer and possible integration taking place in Finland with Ruukki and
forest chip producer. However, there are several other possibilities to develop EIP
type collaboration between industries belonging to bioeconomy and metal
industries. These collaboration schemes could exist with several EIP types
presented in section 2.5.1 and in Fig. 16.

Fig. 16. Raw material sources for metallurgical processes (modified from
Suopajärvi 2012).

There are several biomass-based raw materials that could be suitable for reductant
production. Some of the residues from bioeconomy industries could be suitable even
without upgrading. Tall oil pitch (TOP) is one side product from crude tall oil
production that could be used as reductant. Chemical properties of the TOP
resemble that of heavy distillation residue oil (Ikonen 2012).
Primary residues from forestry operations i.e. logging residues, stumps and also
energy wood from small-diameter wood could be used as raw material. Solid
secondary residues from saw mills and pulp and paper industry include wood chips,
saw dust and bark. Black liquor from pulp plants is also one possible raw material.

34
Chemical industries are in many case located near pulp plant and produce chemicals
from pulp production by-products. Tertiary woody residues from construction
industry and packages can also be utilized. The availability of other renewable
biomass-based raw materials than wood is quite negligible in Finland today.

4.2 Types of future EIPs between bioeconomy and metallurgical industry

4.2.1 Integration of bioreducer production within steel plant

Integration between bioenergy and steelmaking industry has been proposed in the
paper of Suopajarvi and Fabritius (2012), which can be seen from the viewpoint of
industrial ecology. In the paper CO2 emission reduction potential was evaluated with
scheme where slow pyrolysis plant would be integrated to steel plant structure. In
this research, drying and pyrolysis energy were taken from the pyrolysis gases.
Excess pyrolysis gases were assumed to be burned in the power plant to produce
electricity and heat. More advanced integration opportunities could be developed
around e.g. slow pyrolysis process. Drying of the biomass could be done with excess
heat available from metallurgical plants. In this case, example including Ruukki steel
plant is viewed. Drying could be done e.g. with district heat water, at least in
summer time. Higher temperature drying could be facilitated with e.g. cowper off-
gases. Selection of the heat source would have impact also on the dryer selection.
Thermal energy needed in the pyrolysis (around temperature of 500–600 oC) could
be received from the slag heat recovery, coke dry quenching or from the pyrolysis
gas or pyrolysis flue gas.
Several alternatives for pyrolysis gas could be developed. Charcoal would be used
in the BF as injected reductant, but pyrolysis gas can be utilized in several ways.
Burning of the gas to produce energy would be the simplest alternative.
Alternatively, condensable part of the pyrolysis gases could be separated, which lefts
non-condensable part for example to energy production. According to Laird et al.
(2009) vapors and aerosols that form the liquid by-product from the slow pyrolysis,
is not usually separated from the syngas. In slow pyrolysis two phases are formed:
aqueous and oil phase (Senzoz 2003). Aqueous liquid from hardwood slow pyrolysis
(pyroligneous acid or wood vinegar) can be used for example as pesticide (Fagernas
et al. 2012). Vertes et al. (2010) report that in Germany there is a slow pyrolysis
plant (Degussa process) that has capacity to produce 30 000 tons charcoal, 5 200
tons acetic acid, 1 800 tons pyroligneous spirit (mainly methanol), and 12 000 tons
of wood tar. Raw material is beech wood. Fassinou et al. (2009) state that also slow
pyrolysis of pine yields liquid products that could be utilized as a feedstock in
chemical industry.
Condensable liquids could represent up to 42 m-% of the initial biomass. The
total condensation of pyrolysis vapors leads to the formation of a liquid made up of
two phases: bio-oil and tar. In thermo-chemical biomass conversion processes,
especially gasification and pyrolysis, the tar content and its composition is a major
subject of interest. Generally, tars are hydrocarbon containing mixtures, which can
form liquid or highly viscose to solid deposits by cooling of the gaseous phase down
to ambient temperature. Besides the main elements carbon (C) and hydrogen (H)

35
other elements like oxygen (O), nitrogen (N) or sulfur (S) are found in tar. Different
tar fractions are generally assumed to be largely aromatic (Milne et al. 1998).
So-called primary tar emerges from the pyrolysis process, its source being the
three main components of wood: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Cellulose and
hemicellulose, which contain a lot of oxygen, form mainly oxygen rich primary tar
products like alcohols, ketons, aldehydes or carbon acids, whereas bi- and
trifunctional monoaromatics, mostly substituted phenols, occur from lignin.
Verifiable such substances are e.g. phenol, dimethylphenol and cresol. The formation
temperature for those primary tars lies between 200-500 °C. Due to increasing
temperature and presence of an oxidant (oxygen, air or steam) a part of the cellulose
contributed primary tars react to small gaseous molecules. The residual primary
tars form secondary tar, composed of alkylated mono- and diaromatics including
heteroaromatics like pyridine, furan, dioxin and thiophene. Tertiary tar, also called
recombination or high temperature tars, can be found in temperatures over 800 °C.
Typical tertiary tars are benzene, naphthalene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and
benzopyrene (known also as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons PAH). Char is the
solid residual after pyrolysis; it consists of carbonaceous solid compounds with a
high C/H ratio. Temperature and process control issues are critical as in gasification
tar reduction is the major goal and in pyrolysis normally maximum pyrolysis oil
yields are desired (Wolfesberger et al. 2009; Grieco & Baldi 2010).
Another alternative, already briefly examined in the literature would be the
utilization of pyrolysis gas/vapors to firstly produce syngas, which might be then
used in several applications. Methanol is one alternative fuel for petroleum-based
liquid transport fuels. According to study conducted by Shabangu et al. (2014)
pyrolysis of biomass and use of pyrolysis gas could be alternative for biomass
gasification to produce methanol from biomass. Other products that could be
produced from syngas are ethanol and Fischer–Tropsch hydrocarbons, e.g. via
catalytic processes (Shabangu et al. 2014). Larsson et al. (2013) have evaluated the
possibility to use pyrolysis gas from slow pyrolysis in Bio-SNG production.
According to their research, total efficiency (biomass to Bio-SNG energy yield) of
producing Bio-SNG from biomass via slow pyrolysis vapors is at the same level
compared with Bio-SNG production via biomass gasification.
This kind of symbiosis between several actors could be classified as type 3
industrial symbiosis. In this kind of integration where materials and energy flows
circulate between companies, also dependency between actors increases. The
amount of excess district heat in the case of Ruukki is only 10–20 MW, which means
that only a limited amount of forest chips can be dried. However, also other heat
sources are available such as hot stove off-gas, which has temperature of around 250
oC (Johnson & Choate 2008). On the other hand there are several other possibilities

in Finland where excess or waste heat could be available for forest chip drying.

4.2.2 Utilization of metal production gases to produce chemicals and fuels

There are several studies concerning the upgrading of the steel plant gases into
syngas and further into e.g. methanol and hydrogen. In integrated steel production
plant there are three gas streams that could be used as input for synfuel production;

36
blast furnace gas, coke oven gas and basic oxygen furnace gas. The future
technology; top gas recycling blast furnace, in which top gas is recycled back to the
blast furnace generates gas (TGR-BFG), which is significantly different compared to
gas from conventional blast furnace (Table 6). Off-gas from the submerged arc
furnace (SAFG), which is the process to produce ferrochrome for stainless steel
production, is rich of carbon monoxide. Usually BFG is used to in hot stoves that
preheat the oxygen enriched air injected in to the BF and in the power plant to
produce energy. COG is mainly used in the steel mill to provide heat in reheating
furnaces. BOFG can be used to produce district heat by burning the gas at the top of
the BOF. Alternatively BOFG could be recovered by firstly recovering the sensible
heat in waste heat boiler, generating high pressure steam. Then gas can be cleaned,
stored and used as a fuel. SAFG is used in ferrochrome plant for coke drying,
sintering, pre-heating and heating of ladles (share of 30 to 35 %). About 45 % of the
gas is used in steel production in the smelter, hot and cold rolling mills and 20 % in
the central heating plant for heat and steam production (Niemela et al. 2004).

Table 6. Examples of composition of the steel industry off-gases (vol% dry

basis)
Compound BFG1 TGR-BFG2 COG1 BOFG1 SAFG3
H2 3 9.0 66 4 2-15
CO 20 46.7 6 58 75-90
CH4 0 0 21 0 0
C2H6 0 0 3 0 0
CO2 24 37.7 2 20 2-10
N2 53 6.6 3 18 2-7
LHV (MJ/Nm3) 2.85 not mentioned 17.5 7.6 10.1-11.5
1 Lundgren et al. (2013), 2 Danloy et al. (2008), 3 Niemela et al. (2004)

Studies of iron and steel industry off-gas upgrading include hydrogen production
from COG (Chen et al. 2011, Chen et al. 2012) by steam reforming, methanol
production from BFG/BOFG and COG (Lyke & Moore 1981, Lundgren et al. 2013),
hydrogen, methanol, Fischer-Tropsch hydrocarbons, or ammonia production from
BFG by reforming with CH4, water gas shift reaction (WGSR), partial oxidation or
CaO carbonation (Halmann & Steinfeld 2013).
Biomass use as a reducing agent could bring an interesting addition to the
chemical production from steel work gases. It has been proposed that charcoal
injection into the blast furnace could be as high as 200 kg/tHM. The amount of top-
charged coke would be around 260 kg/tHM (Babich et al. 2010). If it is assumed that
both coke and charcoal have carbon content of around 90%, it can be calculated that
around 44% of the carbon entering in the BF is renewable. The same goes with the
carbon exiting the process. Majority of the carbon leaves the BF with BFG in a form
of CO and CO2. Minor share leaves the BF with hot metal (the share of carbon in HM
is around 4.5 m-%).
The same idea can be applied to utilization of coke oven gas if part of the coking
coal is replaced with biomass-based charcoal to produce biocoke. It has been

37
proposed that some 2-10% of the coking coal could be replaced with charcoal
without worsening the quality of the coke too much (Norgate et al. 2012).
Metallurgical coke has to be mechanically strong as it is the only burden material in
blast furnace that remains solid in high temperatures (Haapakangas et al. 2013).
With larger amounts the mechanical strength of the produced biocoke decreases
significantly. Because charcoal has similar chemical composition than coking coal, it
can be concluded that the same share of the produced COG could be accounted
carbon neutral. If biocoke would contain 10% of charcoal and charcoal injection of
200 kg/tHM would be practiced, the share of renewable carbon entering and exiting
the BF would be 49%.
Hot metal produced in the BF is charged after desulphurization into basic oxygen
furnace (BOF) with steel scrap for converting iron into steel. The amount of carbon
is decreased in the BOF when oxygen is blown into the vessel and it reacts with
carbon. With the same line of thought, also BOFG would be 44-49% renewable.
Top gas recycling technology is still under development, but could bring
interesting option to produce syngas for renewable transport fuel production. In the
development of TGR-BF, one of the objectives has been the efficient recycling of BFG
back to the BF to minimize the coke consumption. It would be interesting to study,
what kind of alternatives there could be when part of the BFG would be used to
produce e.g. transport fuels. Bioreducer production could be also integrated to the
same system. Charcoal has the best performance in the BF and pyrolysis vapors
could be used also in the F-T synthesis. If part of the BFG is recycled back to the BF
and part of it is used in F-T synthesis, there will be energy deficit in hot stoves and
power plant. This energy deficit should be compensated with alternative fuels for
example with biomass.
Integration opportunities presented in this section would fall into the category of
EIP 3. Symbiosis described here would mainly based on the more efficient use of
gases, which calls for close proximity of industrial facilities. Transportation of low
energy density gases is not feasible. Symbiosis between steel production and
chemical production industries would require extensive investments.

4.2.3 CHP, bio-oil and charcoal production

Fast pyrolysis is a thermochemical biomass conversion process aiming at maximum

yield of a liquid product in the absence of oxygen. Bio-oil is seen as an energy source
and a feedstock for chemical production (Mohan et al. 2006). Today there are only
small amount of large-scale fast pyrolysis units in the world. Thus far the biggest
bio-oil production facility is Dynamotive stand-alone with 8 t/h biomass input
capacity (Bridgewater 2012). In Finland VTT and Metso have developed a unique
integrated concept where bio-oil production is integrated with fluidized bed boiler,
to come down in production cost (Solantausta et al. 2012). In stand-alone bio-oil
production technologies the heat for pyrolysis is taken from the burning of the
residue char and non-condensable gases (Bridgewater 2012). In integrated concept
the heat for pyrolysis unit, which is similar to stand-alone pyrolyzer, is taken from
the hot sand in the boiler. By-products from the pyrolysis i.e. char and non-
condensable gases are used to replace boiler fuel (Solantausta et al. 2012).

38
 What makes the integrated concept interesting from the viewpoint of
steelmakers is that by-product char, which is produced in quantities of 12–20 m-%
(dry basis), could be taken out from the system. It has been suggested earlier that
by-product charcoal from bio-oil production could be the most feasible bioreducer
from the economic perspective (Suopajarvi et al. 2013). The CHP plant in which the
bio-oil production is integrated has 50 MW electrical power and 110 MW district
heating power capacities. The capacity of integrated bio-oil plant is 30 MW bio-oil,
which equals to 50 000 tons (Fortum 2013). Char amount from the fast pyrolysis
would be around 11 500 tons with 12 m-% yield. According to Kim et al. (2012) fast
pyrolysis of pine in 500 oC produces char with 90.5 % carbon, 2.5 % hydrogen, 0.3 %
nitrogen and 6.7 % oxygen (dry basis) and 7.7 % ash, which could be suitable for
blast furnace injection.
One advantage in integrated concept from the viewpoint of utilizing by-product
char is that the marginal price of the char could be comparable to boiler fuel. This
means that if by-product char is taken out of the system it must be replaced by
original boiler fuel, which in this case is either peat of forest residues. From the
many possible integration possibilities, this system might become the most
competitive against fossil fuels.
This kind of integration from the industrial symbiosis point of view could be
classified as type 5 with Chertows (2000) classification. In Finland there are several
locations where integrated concept could be realized by utilizing circulating sand as
heat source in bio-oil pyrolysis. For example in Oulu, which is around 80 kilometres
from Ruukki steel plant there is big co-generation plant (Oulun Energia) (fuel power
315 MW, electric power capacity 105 MW and district heating power capacity 172
MW) based on the fluidized bed boiler.
Actually, environmental impact assessment of new cogeneration power plant
(Oulun Energia) was announced on 5 March 2014. EIA includes three power plant
options, all including integrated biorefinery. New power plant would have either
250, 350 or 450 MW capacity and the integrated biorefinery would be based on fast
pyrolysis as in the case of Joensuu power plant or torrefaction/steam explosion to
produce biocoal (Ymparisto 2014).

4.2.4 Pulp and paper industry residue utilization

Several waste exchange (type 1) integration possibilities can be identified between

pulp production based residues and steel industry. One of them might not even need
separate conditioning before possibility to utilize in ironmaking, but is a rather one-
sided and easily adoptable utilization of by-product. Tall oil pitch has similar
chemical composition compared to heavy distillation residue oil, which make it
possible candidate for replacing part of the current oil use in Ruukki Metals’ two
blast furnaces. The amount of tall oil pitch available in Finland is quite substantial.
Some 60 000 tons is produced in Forchem located in southwest Finland, in Rauma
(Environmental permit of Forchem 2009). This has the potential to replace
significant part from the annually consumed 162 000 tons of oil (figure represents
the 2011 production volume, Ruukki 2014a).

39
 Black liquor is a by-product from pulping consisting mainly of lignin and cooking
chemicals. Beside the most common end use for energy in recovery boiler, black
liquor gasification has been studied to produce chemicals such as methanol,
dimethyl ether, methane or electricity (Navqi et al. 2012a, Navqi et al. 2010). From
these materials at least methanol and methane (natural gas) have already been
evaluated in blast furnace injection (Wang et al. 2012, Halim et al. 2009).
According to the literature, the recovery boilers in Kraft pulp plants are one
factor that limit the production capacity increase (Laaksometsa et al. 2009). One
possibility to overcome the bottleneck could be the extraction of part of the lignin
components from black liquor followed by their purification and refining to
chemical or material products. Lignin extraction decreases the load of the boiler,
thus enabling the capacity increase. Lignoboost is one applicable and proven
concept that has been recently developed to separate lignin from the black liquor
(Laaksometsa et al. 2009). Lignin extracted from the black liquor is collected as
powder-like substance and it has a heating value between 22.3–26.6 MJ/kg
(Hamaguchi et al. 2012). This lignin fraction has still high oxygen content, which
should be decreased for blast furnace injection purposes. Lignin pyrolysis in 520 oC
yields approximately 50% of char, which is much higher yield than with green wood
(Ferdous et al. 2001).
There are some trade-offs if by-product are taken off the pulp production system.
In the case of lignin extraction or alternative use of black liquor (e.g. gasification to
methanol), the energy balance of the pulp mill changes. Electricity and steam deficit
should be compensated somehow. This can be done by utilizing external biomass in
power boiler, which is usually based on fluidized bed technology and used to burn
bark residues. Here practically any low-cost organic material can be utilized
provided that the proportion and quality of inorganics does not cause excess
equipment wear, unusable (e.g. due to heavy metal content) or large amounts of ash
or other detrimental issues. The chemical refining onsite would also require some
amount of investments and likely also close collaboration between multiple
companies that would result to one form of Bioeconomy Park instead of just
expansion of the pulp manufacturers’ own process. Eco-industrial park type 5 as in
the example of Salmi et al. (2012) could also be possible between pulp and metal
production facilities. There are 14 pulp mills in Finland, which all could produce
lignin as a by-product. Lignin could be extracted from the black liquor, transported
to centralized bioreducer production plant and upgraded into bioreducers, gases
and chemicals. Bioreducers could be distributed and used in Finnish metal
production plants.

4.2.5 Integration of biomass upgrading technologies to saw mills

The Finnish sawmilling industry is quite strong and uses considerable amount of
round wood to produce lumber, plywood and other products. Beside the main
products, sawmills produce considerable amount of by-products; bark, chips and
saw dust that are often considered as waste. Approximately 50% of the incoming
dry wood mass ends up in by-products. Usually bark (10%) is utilized to produce
drying energy for sawing and drying sections. Chips (30%) are usually utilized in

40
pulp and paper industry and saw dust (10%) in wood pulp industry, energy
production and wood panel or biocomposite industry. Torrefication, steam explosion
or other thermochemical upgrading processes could be integrated with saw mills to
benefit from feedstock and heat integration (Arpiainen & Wilen 2014). This would
also enable the production of higher value material intermediates such as
nanocelluloses.
Torrefaction of biomass has attracted the interest of the energy production
industry to substitute coal with torrefied biomass in coal-fired power plants. In
SECTOR project several alternatives to integrate torrefaction plant into existing
industrial facilities have been examined (Arpiainen & Wilen 2014). From the
viewpoint of decreasing the unit cost of produced torrefied pellets, the best
alternatives would be large scale (500 000 tons/a) stand-alone torrefaction plant
using European or overseas biomasses and integration of torrefaction plant
(407 200 tons/a) with pulp mill. Integration of torrefaction plant (231 600 tons/a)
with new saw mill would also bring production costs down compared to base case
stand-alone torrefaction plant (72 800 tons/a) (Arpiainen & Wilen 2014).

41
5 NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES

5.1 Potential biomass amounts in Finnish metallurgical processes and

sources of biomass

Bioeconomy and metallurgical industry are both using huge amount of raw
materials and energy. Biomass-based reductant use in Finnish metal industry could
increase the use of bioenergy considerably. The largest amounts of bioreducers
could be used in the blast furnace. It has been suggested that e.g. charcoal could be
used at the rate of 200 kg/tHM in the modern BF (Babich et al. 2010). In Finnish
context this would mean the possibility of using 400 000 tons of charcoal annually. If
the raw material for charcoal production would be green wood (50% moisture), the
amount of wood with 30% mass yield of pyrolysis would be as high as 3.1 million
cubic meters annually. The maximum bioreducer share in other metallurgical
processes existing in Finland has not been discovered yet. This example shows that
there is substantial potential to increase the use of renewable energy sources. The
most likely option is that bioreducer use would gradually increase in the future.
Various forms of use for biomass are examined by research and innovation and
because of its integrative function, the bioeconomy will be important for our future.
Bioeconomy needs to be strategically harnessed by the scientific and business
communities that lies in the development of new types of production and
production techniques, the creation and exploitation of synergies, as well as in
raising the resource efficiency of the various interrelated value chains: from the
production of biomass in agriculture and forestry, to the end products in the food
and energy sectors, and areas of industry such as the chemical, textile, paper and
pharmaceutical sectors. This is all to be based on the most up-to-date knowledge
and findings about the fundamental processes within plants, animals and
microorganisms (OECD 2009).
From the viewpoint of metallurgical industry, there are several industries within
the framework of bioeconomy that produce by-products suitable for bioreducer
production. Sawmilling industry has still an important role in the Finnish economy.
The availability of energy wood (logging residues, stumps and small-diameter
wood) has been recently analysed in the work of Suopajarvi & Fabritius (2013).
Beside primary wood and primary residues, there are other raw material sources
that can be utilized to produce bioreducers. In 2012 Finnish sawmilling industry
used 21.2 million cubic meters of round wood (Metla 2013b). Production of saw mill
products yields considerable amount of by-products. Yield of primary products (e.g.
board and plank) is around 45–50% and the yield of saw mill chips, saw dust and
bark is around 28–32%, 10–15% and 10–12%, respectively (Karhunen 2010).
Annual basis the amount of by-products from Finnish sawmilling industry is then
5.9–6.8 Mm3, 2.1–3.2 Mm3 and 2.1–2.5 Mm3 from chips, saw dust and bark
respectively.
Pulp and paper industry has been an important industrial sector in Finland for
many decades. Mechanical and chemical pulp is produced for paper industry raw
material. Despite the fact that production volumes have decreased from the peak

42
years, still some 39.1 million m 3 of round wood, including imported wood, was used
in pulp industries in 2012. Additionally 5.5 Mm 3 saw milling chips and saw dust was
used (Metla 2013b). Several by-products are produced in pulp production and
further in their refining within chemical industry that could be used in steel
industry. There is substantial room for increased production and utilization of forest
biomass as the current annual growth of attainable wood resources exceeds
substantially that required by the current production volume of traditional products.
Lignin extraction from the black liquor is considered as one alternative
possibility to increase the capacity of the pulp plant. There are 14 pulp plants in
Finland (situation in 2013) with capacities between 170 000–850 000 tons of pulp
per year. It has been calculated that the amount of lignin per air dried pulp ton is
0.39 t/Adt. It can be further assumed that 25% of the lignin in black liquor could be
extracted without major impact on the energy balance of the pulp plant (Wallmo
2009). The amount of lignin from the Finnish pulp plants that could be recovered
totals almost 730 000 tons annually (Fig. 17).
Crude tall oil (CTO) is by-product from sulphate pulping process. Total crude tall
oil production in Finnish pulp mills is approximately 250 000 tons (Heinimo &
Alakangas 2006). Calculated values using pulp mill capacities, raw material mix
(hardwood and softwood) and yield factors provided by (Gullichsen & Lindeberg
1999), result in 233 500 tons CTO yield annually (Fig. 17). Crude tall oil could
possibly be utilized as a direct substitute for oil injected today in Ruukki’s blast
furnaces, which means that complex pre-processing steps would be unnecessary.

Kraft lignin (tons/year) Crude tall oil (tons/year)

90 000
80 000
70 000
60 000
tons/year

50 000
40 000
30 000
20 000
10 000
0

Fig. 17. Calculated amount of Kraft lignin and crude tall oil from Finnish pulp
plants (Gullichsen & Lindeberg 1999).

CTO refining in distillery results in by-product, called tall oil pitch (TOP), which is
the heaviest fraction from the distillations. TOP has similar chemical composition
than heavy distillation residue oil, which make it possible candidate for replacing
part of the current oil use in Ruukki Metals’ two blast furnaces. In Finland there are
two CTO refineries that produce high-value chemical products from CTO. The

43
amount of TOP available in Finland is quite considerable. Some 60 000 tons are
produced in Forchem located in southwest Finland, in Rauma (Environmental
permit of Forchem, 2009). Smaller amount of TOP is produced in Oulu by Arizona
Chemical.

5.2 Research gaps

Several possibilities to integrate bio-based and metallurgical industry were

identified in this paper. Opportunities to more integrated industries are various,
however there are several research needs and other obstacles that have to be taken
care of before actualization of the integration.

5.2.1 Research needs

Bioreducer properties and behaviour in metallurgical processes

Bioreducers, more specifically charcoal has been used as reductant in early days of
producing hot metal in shaft furnaces, the precursors of modern blast furnaces.
Research concerning the product characteristics of bioreducers produced from
different feedstock has increased during the past decade because of the pursuit to
use more environmentally friendly raw materials in metallurgical industry. Similarly
the forest industries are continuously seeking new added value end uses for their
process side streams and available wood raw material. However there is still need
for deeper knowledge on the bioreducer properties and their behaviour in
metallurgical processes.
Properties of the bioreducers are mainly dependent on the conversion
technology and raw material properties. The chemical properties of the solid
bioreducers; charcoal and torrefied biomass have been evaluated from the
viewpoint of blast furnace injection (e.g. Babich et al. 2010). Physical properties of
the biomass-based reductants, namely their screening and grinding properties,
drying systems, injection system design (flow rate of bioreducers to the BF) should
be carefully studied. If co-injection of e.g. coal and torrefied wood/charcoal would be
practices, it should be studied whether the same screens and grinders could be used
or not. Information about the storage behaviour of torrefied biomass and charcoal is
needed. In case of the co-injection also the optimal particle size of the bioreducers
should be determined. The burning efficiency of the bioreducers in the conditions of
BF raceway is higher than with pulverized coals, so it might be that larger particle
size of bioreducers could be used. However, grinding of the bioreducers to a specific
particle size with low deviation in particle size might be difficult. Also here novel
processes based on particle comminution and classification research are needed.
It goes without saying that changing of raw material input from one to another,
changes also the behaviour of the process. In case of a BF injection, use of
bioreducers might change the reducing gas composition, which in turn impacts the
reduction behaviour of iron oxides. Changes might be also occurring in energy
balances inside the BF and flow of reducing gases in the furnace. These impacts
could be examined by developing models (e.g. continuum models, discrete element

44
methods) and running simulations and by conducting iron oxide (pellets,
briquettes) reduction tests with laboratory furnaces developed for that purpose
(Iljana et al. 2012)
Alternatively to BF injection, bioreducers could be introduced to blast furnace as
top-charged reductants. The mechanical strength of the lump charcoal is lower than
that of metallurgical coke, which sets challenges to replace coke with lump charcoal.
Biocokes in which part of the coking coal is replaced by charcoal, could be one
solution to decrease the fossil coal use. Addition of charcoal decreases the strength
of the biocoke, because biomass component acts as an inert material in the coal
blend concerning the softening and melting (Diez et al. 2012). The weakening effect
of charcoal addition could be reduced by using additional binders in biocoke
production. Hyper-coal, bitumen, coal tar or such could be used to bind the chars
together (e.g. Takanohashi et al. 2008). If good enough biocoke could be produced,
its impact on the BF shaft conditions should be discovered. It has been suggested
that more reactive coke could make it possible to reduce reductant rate in the BF
(Nomura et al. 2005).

Conversion technologies and future technologies

Biomass upgrading technologies have been under fast development during the last
decades. Most emphasis has been laid to fast pyrolysis and gasification technology
development, but also the production of solid energy carriers with torrefaction or
slow pyrolysis has attracted attention in recent years. Solid energy carriers such as
torrefied pellets are more energy efficient option when the transportation distance
becomes longer. Torrefied biomass could be used in coal power plants or input for
gasification process.
From the viewpoint of metallurgical industry, the production and use of solid
bioreducers might be the most feasible option. This is because most of the blast
furnaces are operated with pulverized coal injection. If the same injection
equipment could be utilized in bioreducer injection, it would decrease the needed
investments. One of the most important things in biomass upgrading is the efficient
utilization of the energy content of the biomass. For example production of charcoal
is not that efficient because only some 45–50% of the input energy is stored in the
solid product. Therefore it is more than important to utilize by-products to the last
bit. There might be opportunities to upgrade tars for various chemicals. According to
Vertes et al. (2010) acetic acid, pyroligneous spirit (mainly methanol) and wood tar
can be produced from slow pyrolysis by-products. Fagernas et al. (2012) have
proposed that wood vinegars containing acetic acid and furfurals, could be used in
biodegradable pesticides. According to Aysu & Kucuk (2014) oil phase from slow
pyrolysis could be upgraded into transportation fuels by hydrodeoxygenation into
aromatics or hydrocarbons and then further upgrading into transportation fuels.

Gas upgrading research

Several alternatives to utilize and upgrade off-gases from biomass processing, metal
production and pulp production by-products were identified. Upgrading

45
technologies and selected processes for off-gases depend on the wanted syngas
composition and initial gas composition and properties. Off-gases can contain
different contaminants, which require varying gas cleaning technologies.
For slow pyrolysis process, it has been suggested that pyrolysis vapors could be
upgraded with catalytic step to increase the gas yield and reduce the amount of
difficult liquids. Especially the H 2 content of the gas can be increased significantly.
Ni/Al2O3–CeO2 catalyst and Ni/Al2O3–ZrO2 catalyst were used in the study and both
worked well, but ceria modified catalyst outperformed zirconia modified catalyst.
(Adrados et al. 2013)
Pyrolysis and gasification of biomass have already reached the commercialization
stage. Top-gas recycling blast furnace, which is one of the future technologies in steel
making is still in development stage. Commercialization of the technology is
anticipated not until 2020 (Birat 2011), but this estimate can be too optimistic. Blast
furnace gas cleaning and upgrading research would be needed.
Technical and other issues related to the black liquor gasification have been
extensively discussed in the review paper of Navqi et al. (2012b). These issues
include e.g. deeper understanding of the black liquor chemistry, combustion
conditions, particle kinetics, fluid dynamics etc. Additionally, refractory linings face
hard conditions in the gasifier, which should be further developed.

Designing and planning of EIPs

If we consider hypothetical, future integrated EIP, there are considerable amount of

crossing material and energy flows, which must be identified beforehand to find the
best possible solutions. Future EIPs could consist of steel plant, thermochemical
conversion plants, pulp and paper mill, cement production plant and Fischer-
Tropsch plant. Also industrial integrates based on totally new multiproduct
biorefinery-platforms that have been envisaged in the forest industries should be
considered. There the synergies of bio-based raw material refining could meet the
needs of metal industry processes even better than conventional pulp mill setting.
Carbon capture could be also part of the solution to decrease the environmental
burden of industrial operations. This kind of integrate could possibly utilize more
efficiently by-product materials and energy streams so that the use of virgin and
more specifically non-renewable raw materials could be minimized.
Suitable tools for examining new symbiotic integrates include e.g. substance and
material flow analysis (MFA, SFA) methods as mentioned in section 2.5.2. Model-
centered frameworks have been proposed to assist more proactive development of
Eco-industrial parks (e.g. Zhang et al. 2008), which could be used also in this
occasion. Identification of the material and energy flows is also prerequisite for
evaluation of the economic feasibility of the possible EIPs. Complexity of EIPs can
also be a factor that can either limit the company interest towards participating or
mitigate the risk and cost of developing the EIP in the first place.
The next step in analysing the feasibility of the EIPs could be the evaluation of the
life cycle impact of the integrated systems. As mentioned earlier, life cycle
assessment has been used to study the environmental performance of the industrial
symbiosis in the Finnish pulp and paper industry Sokka (2010). LCA can be used to

46
identify jot spots of the planned EIP systems proactively by utilizing e.g. the data
from the identified material and energy balance analysis. Plant site studies do not
account for background system processes, which might contribute significantly to
the environmental sustainability of the production system.

5.2.2 External factors affecting the development of integrated industries

According to Tudor et al. (2007) Eco-industrial Parks are difficult to design, plan and
manage since most of the EIPs have developed on their own. There are several
factors beside the technical factors that impact the possible future symbiotic
network systems. Success and limiting factors of EIPs have been examined in various
publications (e.g. Heeres et al. 2004, Tudor et al. 2007, Sakr et al. 2011). According
to Sakr et al. (2011), EIP success and limiting factors can be categorized under:

1) symbiotic business relationships,

2) economic value added
3) awareness and information sharing,
4) policy & regulatory frameworks,
5) organizational and institutional setups,
6) technical factors

It is not our intention to fully analyse the possible barriers and opportunities that
EIPs between bioeconomy and metal industry might encounter. Instead some of the
particular factors related to bioenergy use and integration of metal and bioeconomy
industries are highlighted.
The Finnish manufacturing industry has gone through considerable changes
during the past years, which might continue and impact on the willingness to
participate in EIP design. Several mill sites, production lines and staff reductions
have been announced throughout the past decade and only recently there have been
a few positive glimpses foreseeable as the industries start again investing in Finnish
production sites. Despite the development of new bio-products the
commercialization of inventions has been very slow. Reasons for this are many,
among others the limited market size of products does not interest the large
companies to finalize products and diversify their product portfolio, SMEs lack to
some extent the capacity for RTD and the access to cheap raw material or
engineered intermediates. Other external factors that impact the future
development of EIPs are:

- Market pull for current products -> limited appeal of new parallel processes
- Legislation, e.g. ability to use wastes as raw material for new products (for
example bio-ash use in forest fertilization)
- Financial lack of competitiveness of European currency (export market as a
whole affected)
- Availability and cost of workforce (industry often in relatively rural areas)
- Business tradition between national companies and sectors of industry varies

47
 Policy instruments at regional, national and European Union level may play an
important role in EIP design. Especially the renewable energy targets of the EU and
resulting bioenergy objectives in national scale could impact on the feasibility of
alternative utilization scenarios of biomass. In Finland, where renewable energy
share in gross final consumption should be 38 % in 2020, several instruments
related to climate change and environmental policy have been implemented.
Examples that steer industrial actors towards the use of bioenergy are energy taxes,
investment subsidies, tax refunds, feed-in-tariffs and R&D funding (Kautto et al.
2012). The recent developments in the national Bioeconomy strategy and EU
research and innovation program should promote and encourage both parties to
seek synergies and new ways to collaborate.
Manufacturing industries in Finland have gone through difficult times during the
last years and the future is somewhat unclear. Several pulp plants have been closed
and also steel plant in Koverhar was closed in 2012. Despite the closing of the plants
and economic crisis, the role of the metal and paper industry remains still strong in
the Finnish economy (Fig. 18). Current development path of manufacturing
industries in Finland seems to be quite negative. Eco-industrial park development
between metal industry and bioeconomy industries could bring the needed boost to
the competitiveness of the Finnish manufacturing industry.

Fig. 18. Turnover of paper and metal industry in Finland 2000–2012.

It is evident that more intensified use of domestic raw materials would result also in
the development of new jobs and business potentials in Finland. There are good
examples of the research and development, which have led to industrial
applications. Bio-oil production plant integrated with CHP-plant is good example of
fast pyrolysis technology that seems to be economically feasible today (Fortum
2013). UPM has developed technologies to produce renewable diesel from crude tall
oil (UPM 2014). This kind of success stories could encourage further development
of integrated industrial applications.

48
5.3 Feasible visions to integrate bioeconomy and metallurgical industries

The rising landfilling cost forces companies to seek new end-uses to their residues.
For many organic residues incineration or other energy use remain the easiest but
the logistical cost usually prevents their use outside the close proximity of waste
generation site – thus making the integrated use between decentralized production
units challenging. The bioeconomy drive towards higher value applications remains
and several competing initiatives towards longer refining cycles and integrated raw
material uses are ongoing e.g. in composite materials and green chemicals. These
remain largely outside the integration of metallurgic industry and biomass-
processing industries and the cost-benefit analysis on raw material (virgin or
recycle) is always limiting its availability for low value energy use.
Joint interests for today’s development between these industries can hence be
easily found in the platforms of energy. To meet its international obligations Finland
must gradually replace its fossil fuel consumption with renewable and preferably
carbon-free production. Reed canary grass farming for energy seemed promising for
a while but its usage in furnaces has proven problematic and new energy plants are
being sought for. Similarly the debate over the recyclability and ‘eco’ nature of peat
remains unsolved. Energy harvesting from forestry residue also remains
controversial as the overall challenges in logistics, nutrient depletion and alternate
uses for that biomass have not been met neither by techno-economic evaluation or
political steering. There remains, hence, some doubt whether resources allocated to
bioenergy are able to serve sustainable economic potential for longer than a
necessary transition period from status quo to the post-petroleum era where bio-
resources are largely consumed by higher value products leaving only the residue
available for energy use.
The most likely scenario seems to be one where there is considerable co-
evolution with energy and other end uses of available biomass and the final form of
the prevailing value chain remains to be seen. Similar consideration are faced also by
other EU nations and the observable development path in shifting towards
renewable energy will nevertheless require a convergence of interests between
society, individuals and energy producers and consumers. Finland’s energy solution
will probably be based on a scenario in which growing levels of small-scale
distributed production and bioenergy are combined with nuclear power. On the one
hand, this will create a technological challenge in managing a large complex grid.
The input the bioeconomy can provide to this development is twofold: on one hand
the biotech way to promote emergence of new plants for energy use, on the other
hand, optimization of current resource pool, processes, value chain operations,
residues and wastes, a task where also the integration of technologies comes into
play.
From 2014 onwards R&D actions on these topics will be supported by all
national agencies; The Ministry of Employment and the Economy will have its own
programmes, Academy of Finland’s New Energy Research Program “New Energy”
will launch, as will the Arctic Research Programme, while the ongoing research
programmes OMA (programmable materials) and FICCA (climate change) will also
contain some themes supporting energy use of biomass. Several ongoing EU’s

49
framework programmes and the coming Horizon 2020 calls will also address these
issues on European level.
Change will require bold investments, the adoption of new technologies and the
upgrading of business models. Likely the present business units are unable and to
some extent also unwilling to pursue marginal business opportunities offered by the
available material, water and heat these industries can offer. Therefore new SMEs,
either jointly owned or fully independent, should be encouraged by tangible
incentives to make use of these cheap production factors.
In this work, several innovative alternatives to develop new products and
increase the efficiency of current production platforms were identified. Ten of these
alternatives are more thoroughly discussed below. Each of the alternatives has
differing technological gaps and economic potential, which are clarified in Fig. 19
and Table 7. The rating of the potential here is based to the assessment of the
authors that are fully aware of their highly case sensitive nature.

1) Utilization of available heat sources in metal and pulp production

2) More efficient utilization of by-products from steel industry
3) Short-term possibilities to integrate biomass upgrading with steel plant
4) Short-term possibilities to develop new products from biomass
5) Upgrading of the biomass into bioreducers
6) Integration of bioreducer production within steel plant
7) Utilization of metal production gases to produce chemicals and fuels
8) CHP, bio-oil and charcoal production
9) Pulp and paper industry residue utilization
10) Integration of biomass upgrading technologies to saw mills.

Fig. 19. Ten most feasible approaches to integrate some actions of bioeconomy
and metallurgical industries.

50
The feasibility assessment in Fig. 19 is based mostly on the identified potential of
present industrial landscape emphasizing the Oulu region. The potential for
integrating bioeconomy and metallurgical industries is highly case sensitive and
dependent on the existing production sites, infrastructure and raw material supply.
Also, the types of integrated production facilities and end products greatly affect the
integration potential. For example, steel plant in Raahe offers variety of integration
possibilities (e.g. biomass drying and biomass upgrading with excess heat and use of
steel plant off-gases in chemical refining), while pulp and paper mills provide
possibilities to utilize excess energy, lignins and organic residues in metal
production. Table 7 briefly summarizes the most feasible alternatives to integrate
these industries.

Table 7. Summary of technological and economic potential of industrial

integrates
Integration Technology
alternative
Utilization of available Technologies to produce e.g.
heat sources in metal electricity from low temperature heat
and pulp production sources are available (Organic
Rankine Cycle, Phase Change
Materials).
More efficient Production of precipitated calcium
utilization of by- carbonate (PCC) from steel slags,
products from steel which can be used e.g. as paper filler,
industry is in the development stage.
Short-term It is technologically possible to utilize
possibilities to steel plant heat sources in biomass
integrate biomass drying. Example in Lulea, Sweden.
upgrading with steel
plant
Short-term Wood and straw biomass can be co-
possibilities to refined with other by-products into
develop new products composite materials and locally
from biomass utilized biochemicals.
Upgrading of the Solid bioreducers (torrefied wood and
biomass into charcoal) are technologically possible substantial in Finland (Charcoal use
bioreducers to produce from biomass and could be in BF 300 000 t/year → 200-400 €/t
used in metallurgical furnaces. Large-
scale production units are scarce.
Integration of Use of excess heat (district heat water,
bioreducer cowper off-gas) in biomass drying might have competitive advantage in
production within should be straightforward. Use of
steel plant excess heat in bioreducer production
might be more challenging.
Utilization of metal COG, BFG and BOFG offer substantial
production gases to opportunity to produce several
produce chemicals chemicals or fuels; methanol,
and fuels methane, H2. Gas upgrading and
purification technologies should be
Economic potential
Some of the technologies can be
profitable (Johansson & Soderstrom
2014) depending on the
temperature of the heat source.
PCC is a valuable product.
Excess heat should be cheap. There
should be a user for drier biomass.
Potential of composites to replace
metals and plastics is high, local
production of chemicals to own
purposes would be a viable option.
Charcoal industry could be
→ 60-120 M€)
Use of charcoal in BF would require
high carbon allowance price, since
fossil coal is cheap.
Low carbon footprint products
certain industries (e.g. automotive).
This can be achieved with
bioreducers.
Gas quantities are large.
Investments for gas upgrading and
purification are probably
substantial. Products are of great
economic value; methanol, H2,

51
 further developed. methane.

CHP, bio-oil and There are existing examples of Marginal cost of char from
charcoal production integrating bio-oil and CHP plant in combined bio-oil and CHP plant
Joensuu Finland, Char could possibly could be quite close to biomass raw
be separated from the bed sand and material.
used as bioreducer.
Pulp and paper Technologies to refine crude tall oil Many of the first and second
industry residue and black liquor into chemicals and generation technologies in
utilization fuels are existing. Crude tall oil is used bioenergy and biochemicals
as a raw material for producing e.g. production base their profitability
paints and coatings. UPM produces on subsidies. In the scope of ten
diesel from crude tall oil. Gasification years, the third generation solutions
of black liquor to syngas and further should be economically competitive.
refining into transport fuels is in
development stage. Neste Oil uses tall
oil pitch to produce renewable diesel.
Lignin separation from black liquor is
also technically feasible (e.g.
LignoBoost technology).
Integration of By-product streams (chips, saw dust, Economic feasibility is challenging
biomass upgrading bark) from saw mills could be used to due to high labor costs and fairly
technologies to saw produce pellets, wood powder, low volumes. Higher value refining
mills. torrefied wood or other energy of wood residues is limited by easy
carriers. valorization as energy.

52
6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Integration of bioeconomy and metallurgical industries might bring interesting

opportunity to increase the material and energy efficiency in Finland. Other
plausible industry integration schemes could be looked for between agriculture,
bioenergy, general waste management and chemical industries. Joint beneficiation of
localized commodities such as power, heat, capacity, biomass, etc. could benefit a
number of SMEs and large facilities like metal refineries or pulp mills could reside at
the core of new kind of industrial hubs.
Some of the ideas presented in this work have already been realized in one way
or another. Biomass use as a reductant in blast furnace in Finnish conditions has
been investigated in PhD thesis sent in pre-examination (Suopajarvi 2014). The
main conclusions were that solid (torrefied wood, charcoal) and gaseous (syngas,
Bio-SNG) reductants could be used as blast furnace injectants without
compromising the process behavior. Charcoal could even enhance the efficiency of
hot metal production in the blast furnace. Use of bioreducers would result in
significant decrease in fossil CO2 emissions, also when the whole value chain of the
bioreducer production is accounted. Production costs of the bioreducers produced
from the Finnish energy wood are significantly higher than with fossil-based
reductants. However, with process integration and by producing valuable products
from the biomass, the economic competitiveness could be improved. Biomass-based
reductants are further studied in a new FIMECC run research program called System
Integrated Metal Processes (SIMP).
Off-gases from steel plant offer an opportunity to produce valuable fuels via gas
upgrading, conditioning and cleaning. By replacing part of the fossil coal in
metallurgical unit processes with bioreducers, part of the resulting off-gases can be
considered as renewable. This idea, born during the SMARCTIC project, along with
integrating bioreducer production to steel plant processes, was introduced to the
Finnish Academy New Energy Research Program as a letter of intent. Objective of
the proposal was to study the steel plant off-gas mixing, gas cleaning and catalytic
conversion of off-gas derived syngas to hydrocarbons or olefins or to methanol. At
the same time, the impact of bioreducer introduction to the blast furnace is to be
studied with iron burden reduction studies and biocoke research. Proposal included
also pyrolysis process and steel plant mass and energy balance modeling tasks to
evaluate the feasibility of the proposed system.
Biomaterials and chemicals can in many cases utilize industrial process residue
almost as easily as the energy sector but the yield could have higher added value to
the raw material than provided by the heat and power. Inorganics such as ash and
sludges can be housed in materials such as concrete, cement or geopolymers. Waste
heat has many potential uses from algae growth to biomass drying. Finding
synergies and win-win scenarios takes time, effort and ability to think outside the
box. It is not in the interest of any particular player to change the conventions of
doing business - it takes a team effort and a lot of communication to realize and
jointly capitalize the industrial (and communal!) streams of resources.

53
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