Development of the energy consumption in the German pulp and paper industry

The German pulp and paper industry is number five in the industrial consumption of energy. The specific energy consumption went down from 8,242 kWh/t paper in 1955 to 3,000 kWh/t paper in 1997. The reasons therefore were technical optimization in power plants, of paper machines and the change of the raw material structure. Fuel changed also during the last 45 years from coal over heating oil to gas. Regenerative fuel from production residues of the pulp and paper industry increased over the last years. In 1997 the part of the regenerative fuel input was 14%. Because of optimization during the production of paper and board the use of steam decreased. That is why the possibility of the production of electricity by co-generation also dropped down. Due to the production of high sophisticated products and environmental reasons the use of external produced electricity is increasing. With 8.8 m MWh per year the German pulp and paper industry is number four among the industrial user of external produced electricity In future efficient use of energy by saving energy during production and further optimization by generating energy will be a long term business for the German pulp and paper Industry.