Amazon delivers billions of each year packages, and for these Deliverries we love to use the little extra packaging as possible while still coming to products that arrive safely. When additional packaging is needed, the majority of the packaging material we use is made of paper. This included boxes, paper records and in some boxes, paper bags. One of the sustainability benefits of using paper over other packaging materials, such as conventional plastic, is that paper is generally easier to recycle for our customers. However, as with any material produced on scale today, the production process results in carbon emissions.
The carbon emissions associated with paper packaging depend on the Heavy of the type of paper mill, the process used and fuel and produced paper products. Currently, the most common type of container board paper factory in the United States is a mixed paper mill that uses both virgin and recycled fiber. The recycled fiber generally comes from “Old Wave Containers (OCS)”, which is a recycling current that included recycled boxes such as Amazon Boxes recycled by our customers. The virgin fiber is produced from wood chips that undergo a chemical pulp process that breaks the bonds between cellulose fibers in the wood and a glue -like substance called lignin that holds the fibers together. Containerboard Paper Mills, which uses both recycling and virgin fiber, is the most common Becaus of reduced energy requirements, the flexibility of the raw material, cost-effectiveness and the regulatory environment.
For mills that use at least some virgin fiber to produce paper, the process generated generates to get the virgin fiber, waste biomass that can be used as fuel to reduce the addiction of fossil fuel. This waste biomass includes wood waste from breaking down and cutting the wood and the remaining lignin (often called black spirits), a by -product of the pulp process. When this was biomass is used as fuel for generating steam and electricity on site, it generates what is called biogenic carbon emissions. Biogenic emissions are defined as CO2 Emissions related to the natural carbon cycle, which includes emissions that are the result of the combustion of biological materials.
Biogenic emissions from combustion of biomass release co2 It was recently (in geological time frames) sequested of biological materials, such as plants. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not include biogenic emissions in greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting and considering these emissions Neutral carbon Due to their insignificant net contribution to atmospheric co2 Concentrations. This is in contrast to the carbon emissions associated with the combustion of fossil fuels that Do Contribute to reported greenhouse gas emissions.
By 2021, approx. 74% of direct carbon emissions reported by the US pulp and paper sector Biogen, where the remaining emission came from the use of fossil fuel. If these biogenic emissions are trapped and stored permanently instead of being released to the atmosphere, it enables the production of lower carbon paper compared to traditional methods. By capturing and permanently storing biogenic carbon emissions, it is technically possible to sequest more biogenous carbon than the ament of fossil -based carbon release to the atmosphere as a result of the various industrial processes associated with paper production. This approach is generally back to as bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) and is considered by the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) as one of the most important carbon dioxide removal technologies needed to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C residence before industrial levels.
Decarbonized paper packaging
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Technology Together with Sustainable Manager together, together has the potential to create a paper industry that becomes a climate mlass by sequesting more emissions than industry is responsible for rewarding for the atmosphere. Although CCS technologies show promise to help reduce or even eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, these technologies have not yet been proven on a larger scale.
To help speed up the development and adoption of CCS, we gathered an interdisciplinary team to develop and suggest a concept of building a CCS system on a containerboard million run by one of our packaging suppliers. The proposal was one of only four elected by the Office of Clean Energy demonstrations in the US Ministry of Energy (Doe). Our team includes International Paper (IP), Schlumberger (SLB) for Design and Technology and RTI International, the research organization, which originally developed carbon recording technology. RTI took the lead on the submission of employees.
The price is for up to 88 million dollars and if we are able to successfully complete all internships in this first-of-stroke project (Target Date 2029), this major demonstration facility will capture up to 120,000 tonnes of co2 per year, some of which are biogenic emissions. A CCS -rich of this size can enable an annual production of approximately 100,000 tonnes of carbonized paper that can be for future Amazon boxes and other packaging, which benefits both our customers and the environment.
Carbon Capture Technologies
Carbon Capture Technologies absorbs and separates CO2 From exhaust gases associated with combustion process that burn fuels to generate thermal energy. There are the main approaches to how co2 can be separated from exhaust gases: 1) Recording before fighting that involves absorbing coen2 Before the combustion is completed; 2) Capture after battle involving the absorption of CO2 After the combustion process; and 3) Oxyfuel -burning trapping that refers to burning fuels in the Pure Oxygen Institute of Air. With the Oxyfuel -Gas mode, the exhaust gas is predominantly composed of CO2 and water vapor that make up co2 to be easily separated. Each of these ways of absorbing co2 Varies with regard to power cycle, energy needs and costs. The most well -developed approach is capture after battle.
To catch after fighting, co2 can be caught by a liquid or a solid mat that likes to tie to co2. For the floating approach, a mixture of water and 20-30% of an amin connection typically used to bind co2. The process begins by putting the water-amin mixture into contact with the exhaust gases to selectively absorb CO2 From the gas stream. After co2 has been absorbed, the liquid mixture is heated in another step to release co2. The separated co2 Can then be compressed for storage and amin can be regenerated for recycling. This water middlemen’s fluid method is known for its effective, but it is also relatively energy-intensive. Fixed materials garden just as good adsorption of co2But they also require relatively high love for energy to adsorb and release co2.
Over the past 13 years, RTI International has developed another water-amine liquid that has much less water and more amin to add the core challenges with the traditional water-amin solutions. By significantly reducing the water content of the amin-based fluid, TI’s non-aquatic amino solution (NAS) Carbon Capture technology is able to lower the energy demand to the absorption regeneration cycle with up to 36% compared to the traditional water-aminical fluid.
In addition to reducing energy consumption, NAS technology also minimizes operating risks and maintenance costs due to its extremely low corrosivity and improved physical chemical properties. The RTIS NAS process represents one step forward for industrial decarbonization. The implementation of RTI’s NAS Technology through the assigned DOE project on IP’s Vicksburg Containerboard Mill can help demonstrate the scale of this promising approach to carbon catching.
Amazon founded the climate relationship with a goal of reaching Net-Zero Carbon emissions across our operations by 2040, 10 years prior to Paris Agement. We recognize that achieving this ambitious goal requires partnership across all industries to explore and develop advanced carbon reduction technologies, such as CCS. This project allows Amazon to work with one of its paper packaging suppliers to scale up and demonstrate RTI’s NAS technology to decarbonize the paper making process. This project will also serve as the basis for risking and scaling this technology more broadly in the pulp and paper industry and across other sectors such as cement and steel.