THE BIOREFINERY CLUSTER: STRATEGY FOR INCREASED PROFITABILITY OF INTEGRATED FOREST BIOREFINERIES

摘要

The purpose of this work is to show how integrated forest biorefineries (IFBR) can be made profitable by creating new biorefinery clusters. The integration of forest biorefining technologies into pulp and paper mills requires high capital investment and additional energy and water resources. To remedy this situation, a biorefinery cluster, which involves the pooling together of resources to enable the conversion of biomass into fuels and/or specialty chemicals at a single location, has been proposed. In this work, the technical feasibility and economic viability of a cluster for furfural production was investigated. The results obtained show that a biorefinery cluster based on three Canadian pulp mills can satisfy the North American demand for furfural.