‘other’ category and hog fuel 27%.)  Natural gas is the second largest category at 21.3%, with coal and net 
(purchased) electricity at 9.9% and 9.4%, respectively.  “Net Electricity” totals 223 TBtu (65,339 million kWh), and 
is obtained by summing the purchases, transfers in and generation from noncombustible renewable resources, minus 
quantities sold and transferred out.  It does not include electricity inputs from onsite co-generation or generation of 
combustibles fuels because that energy has already been included in generating fuel (e.g. coal, hog or black liquor).  
On-site generation has been taken into account separately and is 51,208 million kWh (44% of its total electrical 
requirements) (Table III).   
 
Cross check of the DOE MECS numbers against energy consumption figures reported by American Forest and 
Paper Association (AF&PA) in the 2002 Statistics Report (Table IV) indicated close agreement (difference of about 
8%) [4].  Neither database covers the complete paper industry, and the accuracy of the data is dependent upon the 
effort the reporting companies invested in collecting the data.  The MECS is based on companies that responded to 
the survey.  AF&PA data is generally limited to AF&PA member companies, although some non-member 
companies have given AF&PA information, and not all member companies provide information to AF&PA.  In 
addition, the AF&PA and MECS numbers were checked against Paperloop’s (now RISI) Analytical Cornerstone

®

 

database which reports purchased energy consumed by the paper industry [5].  The check did not identify any 
significant differences and validated the AF&PA and MECS purchased energy numbers. 
 
PAPER INDUSTRY PRODUCTION 
 
AF&PA 2002 Statistics data (which reported the revised production data for the year 2000) are the basis for the 
production figures used in the current bandwidth study.  The AF&PA production figures were compared against 
Fisher International’s database

 

[6]. The check did not identify any significant differences.   

 
In 2000, paper and board production was 94.5 million tons and market pulp production was 11.1 million tons (Table 
V).  Note that all tonnage units reported are short tons unless otherwise indicated.  The largest category of paper 
products was board (52%), followed by printing and writing paper (22%), mechanical paper grades (14%) and tissue 
products (7%) (Figure 1.  For the same period, pulp production was 92 million tons (Table VI).  Kraft pulp 
accounted for 56% of the total pulp production in the U.S. (Figure 2).  The largest category was bleached kraft 
(33%), followed by unbleached kraft (23%).  Recycled fiber accounted for 32% of the total pulp with old corrugated 
containers (OCC) being 62% of the total recycle fiber (Table VI).   
 
PAPER INDUSTRY AVERAGE PROCESS ENERGY DEMAND IN PULPING AND PAPERMAKING  
 
To relate the MECS energy numbers and the AF&PA production (shipment) data, as a starting point consumption 
figures (units per ton) were used as available from available published databases.  Comparison of the various 
databases shows that there are wide variations in the reported amount of energy used by different pulping processes 
and by the individual process steps.  The same goes for the paper manufacturing energy information.  The large 
differences between the databases and the published information are in part due to the large number of 
manufacturing variables, including age of equipment, mill / system configuration, and mill reporting systems- e.g., 
not all mills have the same accounting systems or mill system classifications; metering systems are in many cases 
missing; data is in some cases assumed based on other mill operations, leading to potentially incorrect results.  
Therefore, using an average number based on the various databases minimizes the impact of the use of incorrect 
information.   
 
The first step was to determine how much of the fuel consumed by the paper industry was actually available for 
manufacturing processes.  To do this, determination was made of the amount of non-process fuel consumed in the 
powerhouse based on boiler efficiencies and energy estimates for auxiliary systems (fans, pumps, coal crushers, bark 
hog, turbine loses, transformer losses, environmental systems, etc.) and other losses such as leaks and venting.  
Subsequently, based on a simple analysis it was estimated that approximately 69% (1,623 TBtu) of the 2,361 
Trillion Btu (TBtu) reported in MECS (Table 3.2) is available for paper industry manufacturing processes  (Table 
VII).  
 
The second step was to distribute the energy consumed among the various pulp and paper making processes.  
Published data referencing energy consumption per ton was used and indicated a wide range of energy consumption 
for the same unit operation and/or paper grade.  An initial estimate was made based on consumption numbers