Efficient consumption of energy and material resources, including water, is the primary focus for process industries to reduce their environmental impact. The Conference of Parties in Paris (COP21) highlighted the prominent role of industrial energy efficiency in combating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Consumption of energy and material resources, especially water, are strongly interconnected and, therefore, must be treated simultaneously using a holistic approach to identify optimal solutions for efficient processing. Such approaches must consider energy and water recovery within a comprehensive process integration framework which includes options such as organic Rankine cycles for electricity generation from low-medium-temperature heat. This work addresses the importance of holistic approaches by proposing a methodology for simultaneous consideration of heat, mass, and power in industrial processes. The methodology is applied to a kraft pulp mill. In doing so, freshwater consumption is reduced by more than 60%, while net power output is increased by a factor of up to six (from 3.2 MW to between 10-26 MW). The results show that interactions among these elements are complex and therefore underline the necessity of such comprehensive methods to explore their optimal integration with industrial processes. The potential applications of this work are vast, extending from total site resource integration to addressing synergies in the context of industrial symbiosis.

A shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is essential to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and climate change effects. Biofuels represent a promising low-carbon alternative for sectors that are hard to electrify, such as freight transport or aviation. This work investigates possible pathways for increasing the value of biomass at a Kraft pulp mill, focusing on black liquor and bark streams. Mathematical programming is coupled with superstructure optimization and systematic solution exploration to identify meaningful process configurations. The analysis of solutions under market variations allows for the identification of robust and competitive configurations for the co-production of pulp and fossil fuel alternatives. The results show that the integration of biorefineries in pulp mills results in better resource use and higher energy efficiency - diversifying the product portfolio and providing bio-based fuel products to the market while being economically viable. By incorporating fuel production in the conventional Kraft process, the carbon conversion efficiency of the mill can be increased from 48% to up to 67%. Extending the analysis, up to 2% of the European road freight transportation fuel could be provided with combined pulp and fuel production, and 5% of the worldwide fuel demand for passenger aviation.

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Biomass, bioenergy and negative emission technologies are inherent to the future design of energy systems. Urban clusters have a growing demand for fuel, heat and electricity, which is both a challenge and an opportunity for biomass-based technologies. Their deployment should meet demand, while minimizing environmental impact and staying cost-competitive. We develop a systematic approach for the design, evaluation and ranking of biomass-to-X production strategies under uncertain market conditions. We assemble state-of-the-art and innovative conversion technologies, based on feedstock, by-products and waste characteristics. Technical specifications, as well as economic and environmental aspects are estimated based on literature values and industry experts input. Embedded into a bi-level mixed-integer linear programming formulation, the framework identifies and assesses current and promising strategies, while establishing the most robust and resilient designs. The added value of this approach is the inclusion of sub-optimal routes which might outperform competing strategies under different market assumptions. The methodology is illustrated in the anaerobic digestion of food and green waste biomass used as a case study in the current Swiss market. By promoting a fair comparison between alternatives it highlights the benefits of energy integration and poly-generation in the energy transition, showing how biomass-based technologies can be deployed to achieve a more sustainable future.

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