Low carbon and cost-effective pathways for specialty paper production in China

The paper and pulp industry is one of the critical sectors with respect to regulations of carbon emissions. In this study, real-time data from a specialty papermaking enterprise were collected to analyze the life-cycle carbon footprint of fine-grained grammage paper products, and pathways for economic carbon mitigation in papermaking enterprises were proposed. The results showed that the carbon footprint of the products ranged from 0.95 to 1.83 tCO2e/t paper. Low-grammage products have a high life-cycle carbon footprint and manufacturing emissions owing to their high raw materials and energy consumption. Conversely, high-grammage products have a low lifecycle carbon footprint but high manufacturing emissions owing to their low energy consumption and high raw material consumption. Various scenarios have shown that purchasing green electricity and implementing rooftop photovoltaics are the most cost-effective measures for enterprises to substantially reduce their carbon footprint. In addition, using information technology and intelligence to optimize and control papermaking systems can provide a more efficient and economical approach for mitigating carbon emissions without relying on external changes in energy structures. This study offers valuable insights for papermaking enterprises to reduce their carbon footprint and adhere to China's carbon emission regulations.