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News
1/8/2025 A joint proposal was funded by DOE EERE, which targets "Decarbonizing Chemical Recovery Process in Kraft Pulping through Novel Membrane Electrolysis"
o City/State: Cincinnati, Ohio
o Federal Funding: $2,999,791
o Project Lead: University of Cincinnati
o Partners: Bettergy Corporation, Giner Inc, Idaho National Laboratory, Washington State University
The University of Cincinnati and partners intend to develop a novel system approach to reduce energy use and emissions associated with recovery of kraft pulping chemicals, specifically the steps that involve concentration of spent cooking liquor and regeneration of lime that takes place in a kiln. The key innovations are developing new membranes for concentration of black liquor to reduce thermal energy consumption in evaporators, and sodium hydroxide recovery from green liquor via membrane electrolysis to eliminate the need for the lime kiln and the resulting emissions. The proposed work will establish lab scale equipment and processes that would serve as the basis for scale up, as well as technoeconomic analysis and life cycle analysis to inform such decisions. The proposed technologies, have the potential to reduce energy consumption by 20% and carbon intensity by 60% compared to the incumbent kraft pulping process.
o City/State: Cincinnati, Ohio
o Federal Funding: $2,999,791
o Project Lead: University of Cincinnati
o Partners: Bettergy Corporation, Giner Inc, Idaho National Laboratory, Washington State University
The University of Cincinnati and partners intend to develop a novel system approach to reduce energy use and emissions associated with recovery of kraft pulping chemicals, specifically the steps that involve concentration of spent cooking liquor and regeneration of lime that takes place in a kiln. The key innovations are developing new membranes for concentration of black liquor to reduce thermal energy consumption in evaporators, and sodium hydroxide recovery from green liquor via membrane electrolysis to eliminate the need for the lime kiln and the resulting emissions. The proposed work will establish lab scale equipment and processes that would serve as the basis for scale up, as well as technoeconomic analysis and life cycle analysis to inform such decisions. The proposed technologies, have the potential to reduce energy consumption by 20% and carbon intensity by 60% compared to the incumbent kraft pulping process.
