PAPER TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL Renewable gas at the mill: a practical route to decarbonise tissue drying. Thomas Bräck, Msc, Business Development Director, Meva Energy

PAPERTECHNOLOGYINTERNATIONAL
Figure 2: Meva Energy renewable gas process for a tissue mill.
The challenge is therefore not simply to find a low-carbon
fuel. Tissue producers need an energy solution that can address
three requirements at the same time: secure supply, competitive
cost and substantially lower climate impact.
Biogas from biomass: renewable industrial gas produced
where it is used
Meva Energy’s answer is to produce renewable biogas
directly at the mill from local or regional solid biogenic residual
streams. Through thermochemical gasi昀椀cation, low-value biomass
such as sawdust, pellets, wood 昀椀bres and other suitable residues
can be converted into a combustible gas consisting mainly of carbon
monoxide, hydrogen and methane.
The gas can then be used directly in industrial heat
applications. This is an important distinction compared with several
other renewable gas pathways. The gas does not need to be
upgraded to grid quality, lique昀椀ed, compressed or transported over
long distances before it reaches the industrial process. It is produced
for a speci昀椀c customer, at a speci昀椀c site, for a speci昀椀c heat demand.
For a tissue mill, this creates a local energy system in
which biomass residues are converted into renewable process heat
and biochar. The model reduces dependence on external fossil
fuel value chains and gives the mill greater control over a critical
production input.
Veri昀椀ed in tissue production at So昀椀del Kisa
The clearest proof point is Meva Energy’s installation at
So昀椀del Sweden’s tissue mill in Kisa. The 4.5 MW gasi昀椀cation plant
supplies renewable biosyngas to the mill’s tissue drying process,
replacing fossil LPG.
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The feedstock is locally produced wood pellets made from
sawdust, and the process also produces approximately 400 tonnes
of biochar per year.
The project was commissioned in 2023 and has
demonstrated that biosyngas can be integrated into an existing
tissue production environment. Multifuel burner solutions from
ANDRITZ EnviroBurner support the use of biosyngas in the drying
hoods, while the existing fossil fuel system remains available as
redundancy. This ability to switch between fuels is important for
industrial adoption because it reduces operational risk and supports
production continuity.
At Kisa, the potential fossil CO2 reduction is approximately
8,500 tonnes per year compared with fossil LPG. When the
carbon storage effect of biochar is included, the total climate
impact potential is approximately 10,600 tonnes CO2e per year.
Strengthening security of supply
Energy security has become a strategic issue for energyintensive industry. Tissue mills cannot afford uncertain fuel
availability or unpredictable interruptions in process heat. By
producing gas at the mill from local biogenic residual streams, Meva
Energy’s model shifts part of the energy supply away from imported
fossil fuels and towards regional resource 昀氀ows.
This has several implications. Shorter supply chains can
improve resilience. Local biomass sourcing can reduce exposure
to international fossil fuel volatility. The use of existing burner
infrastructure and fuel redundancy means that renewable gas can
be introduced without removing the operational safety net that mills
require.
In practical terms, the
mill gains a renewable energy
supply that is physically close to
the process and commercially
less dependent on the fossil gas
market. For producers seeking
greater control over energy risk,
this can be as important as the
climate bene昀椀t.

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