Decarbonization in

Indian Pulp & Paper

sector
• IPPTA Seminar 2023
• 17-18 March 2023, Hyderabad

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 Indian Paper industry – Capacity
• 5th largest producer & consumer of paper
in the world, with 21.9 million tons of
installed paper capacity in FY 19
• ~4% of world’s paper production
• Total operational mills – 500 nos.
• The Indian paper industry consists of four
basic segment of product category
• Writing & Printing, Packaging Paper & Board,
Newsprint & Specialty papers
• The pulp & paper industry is also
categorized on the basis of raw materials
usage
• Wood based, Agro based and Recycle fibre
based

© Confederation of Indian Industry (Source: CPPRI report, Jan 2020)

Indian Paper industry – Per capita consumption
Paper consumption per capita worldwide by
• The industry is highly fragmented with region
varying sizes ranging from 10 TPD to
World Average 57
1500 TPD
India 15.75
• 75-80% production are from medium
Africa
and small category mills 8

Rest of Asia 17
• Per capita consumption of paper
Latin America 46
(15.75 kg) is significantly low
Rest of European Union 52
compared to global per capita paper
consumption (57 kg) China 78

Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong, Singapore &… 155

European Union 158

North America 200

Japan 209

0 50 100 150 200 250

Consumption in Kilograms per capita

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 Indian Paper industry – Growth potential & Demand drivers

Projected growth of Indian Paper Sector

Rising income level and per capita
60.0 56.6 expenditure

Demand Drivers
50.0 48.1
Uptrend of Literacy level
39.0
40.0
Increase demand of better-quality
30.0 27.2 36 packaging for FMCG products
31
19.4 26
20.0 Govt. initiative to withdraw plastic from
19 the market
10.0 15
Increasing preference for ready to eat
0.0 food
2019 2025 2030 2035 2040
Paper production Par capita paper consumption

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 Decarbonisation in Indian paper industry – Need
• Assess the potential for a low-carbon future
across the energy intensive industrial sectors
• Energy cost – 16 to 25% of manufacturing
costs
• Need to decarbonize and increase energy
efficiency whilst remaining competitive
• CO2 emissions from Indian Paper industry –
1.09% of total net CO2 emission
• Few major players are already carbon positive
• Need to focus on small and medium size mills
for energy efficiency improvement

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Decarbonization in Indian paper industry – Challenges
Raw material availability & quality issue
Uncertainty regarding the availability of uniform High production cost due to
Writing & printing paper raw material high cost of raw material
industry – impacted due to
pandemic High cost of raw material
including wood, non-wood,
and wastepaper
increased production cost &
reduced profit margin
Wastepaper collection /recovery
mechanism is not very strong. Poor
collection of used paper resulting in low
Technological obsolesce and cost
recovery rate and undue dependence on
of implementing new technologies
imports to meet domestic needs
The medium & small agro and
recycle wastepaper-based mills are
yet to adopt some of the existing or
emerging advanced technologies to
achieve the desired efficiency
Transition to digital media and paperless
communication
increasing competition from electronic Highly fragmented industry
media and digital communication
alternatives. The Indian paper industry is
highly fragmented with
Resulting in reduced demand for writing & capacities ranging from less
printing paper and graphics paper than 10 TPD to 1500 TPD
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Decarbonization in Indian paper industry – Opportunities
Support climate goals of the nation & world
Paper sector can play a vital role in achieving climate
goals

Enable Partnerships among

stakeholders – bring
together R&D, industry, Circular economy and resource efficiency
government, experts, Waste material usage promotes industrial
innovators, technology symbiosis and reduce dependance on virgin
providers toward common materials.
agenda

Brand image & social

acceptance of the sector will Breakthrough technologies & innovations
improve
Breakthrough technologies, for example those
reducing the use of heat in paper production
through reduced water consumption, are
needed
Reduce Production cost &
fossil fuel dependency

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 Energy and GHG Performance
(Baseline Scenario)

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Indian Paper industry – GHG emissions

• India is the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse

gases and accounted net emissions of 2.53 billion
tons in 2016
• 7% total global emissions
• Estimated GHG emission from Indian Paper
sector
• GHG emission – 30.5 Million MTCO2e ,
• Carbon emission intensity – 1.58
MTCO2e/MT paper
• Paper Sector contribution in total net
emission – 1.09%

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Decarbonization in Indian paper industry – Baseline year

Baseline year
• 2019

Production details
• 19.36 million tons of paper production
• Raw material share – Wood : 22%, Agro : 9%, RCF : 70%
Energy Performance
• 0.57 TOE/ton of paper

GHG levels
• Carbon emission intensity – 1.58 MTCO2e/MT paper

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Decarbonisation in Indian Paper Industry – Proposed scenarios

Scenario 1 : Business As Usual (BAU)

• Moderate efforts

Scenario 2 : Ambitious – Deep decarbonization

• High efforts

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Potential levers for decarbonization of Indian Paper sector

Electrification and use of Energy efficiency Circularity, material

clean energy efficiency, Alternate
materials

Biomass and zero Breakthrough technologies

energy fuels

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Estimated projections – Paper production and par capita consumption

Projected growth of Indian Paper Sector

60.0 56.6

50.0 48.1

39.0
40.0
36
30.0 27.2 31
26
19.4
20.0
19
15
10.0

0.0
2019 2025 2030 2035 2040
Paper production Par capita paper consumption

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 Emissions and emission intensity – Proposed scenarios
GHG emissions, Million MTCO2e
80.00 69.82
62.98
60.00 54.50
40.36
40.00 30.54
46.05 43.25
38.89 35.05
20.00 30.54 Emission Emission
0.00
2019 2025 2030 2035 2040 increase intensity
BAU Ambitious 129% in BAU scenario 22% reduction in BAU
15% in Deep scenario
Emission intensity, MTCO2e/MT of paper
decarbonization 61% reduction in Deep
2.00
scenario decarbonization
1.58 1.48 scenario
1.40 1.31
1.50 1.23
1.58
1.43
1.00 1.18
0.50 0.90
0.62
0.00
2019 2025 2030 2035 2040
BAU Ambitious © Confederation of Indian Industry
 BAU Vs Ambitious scenario – impact of various levers on emission reduction

Baseline Vs BAU – Baseline Vs Deep decarbonization scenario

Impact of various levers - Impact of various levers
Energy efficiency
Energy efficiency 15% improvement 17%
improvement
0% Fuel mix change
Fuel mix change (biomass,
6% (biomass, zero carbon
zero carbon fuel) 36%
fuel)
Renewable energy Renewable energy
16%
Breakthrough technologies Breakthrough
17% technologies
Circularity and Material 62%
Efficiency Circularity and Material
Efficiency
10%
21%
• Energy efficiency – important role in paper sector decarbonization – major contribution
• Use of biomass or zero carbon fuels to be accelerated
• Breakthrough technologies to be introduced by 2030 to further reduce the emissions
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 Approach for decarbonization in
Paper and Pulp sector

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Energy efficiency improvement

• Centralized refining
• Vacuum blowers in place of vacuum pumps
• Shoe press in paper machine
• Advanced process control systems
• Micro turbine in place of PRDS
• Oxy-fuel burning in lime kiln and black liquor boiler
• Blow down steam recovery
• Condensate recovery improvements
• Steam trap monitoring and improvements
• Waste heat recovery
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 Breakthrough Technologies
Breakthrough technologies
• Direct electric heating
• Solar thermal
• Gas fired dryer
• Carbon capture and storage
• Barriers
• Cost of technologies
• Awareness of breakthrough technologies
• Uncertainty of energy saving

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Conclusion & way forward
• As per the projection and potential,
• 60 to 70% reduction in emission intensity is possible in deep decarbonization scenario
• Carbon neutrality – can be achieved through
• Selecting a combination of technologies,
• R&D for making the technology viable commercially
• Carbon tax introduction
• Schemes like PAT, CDM etc
• Futuristic technologies –
• need to be demonstrated at the earliest – should be cost effective
• Industry leaders and best performers should come forward and demonstrate their
commitments to the adoption of latest technologies
• set examples for others to follow

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Thank you!

© Confederation of Indian Industry