Based on the personal experience of the author in being part of the biorefinery team of a major Brazilian pulp company, this forward-looking paper provides a high-level discussion on major guidelines pulp companies are advised to be currently analyzing in order to support informed and systematic...

Based on the personal experience of the author in being part of the biorefinery team of a major Brazilian pulp company, this forward-looking paper provides a high-level discussion on major guidelines pulp companies are advised to be currently analyzing in order to support informed and systematic decisions about the design of their future mills, and possible retrofit of existing ones. The guidelines were conceived based on open-ended considerations involving major trends in the Brazilian pulp industry, as well as pertinent aspects related to product diversification, and the dispute power generation versus new products. The main line of reasoning of the guidelines is the assumption that a sequence of strategic decisions will lead to different types of mills in the future, in contrast to the current standard kraft plant model with market pulp and power production. Furthermore, with a multidisciplinary (business/technological) approach, major trade-offs are mainly discussed taking into account energy-related aspects and the valorization of by-products and residues

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