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Articles containing the keyword 'roundwood equivalent (RWE)'

Category : Research article

article id 1611, category Research article
Ilpo Ervasti. (2016). Wood fiber contents of different materials in the paper industry material chain expressed in roundwood equivalents (RWEs). Silva Fennica vol. 50 no. 4 article id 1611. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.1611
Keywords: pulpwood; paper production; raw materials; roundwood equivalent (RWE); wood pulp; recycled fiber; recovered paper; material recycling
Highlights: The paper industry material recycling chain consists of different material streams; Consumed paper products form a huge fiber source for industry. However, a reliable measuring system should be developed to quantify these fiber volumes; Converting factors are introduced to quantify the wood fiber contents of different paper industry-related materials of the chain, namely, wood pulp, paper and recovered paper; By using these conversion factors it is possible to convert for example global recovered paper utilization volumes into wood fiber volumes expressed in roundwood equivalents (RWEs).
Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

At present, there are no means for reliably comparing the wood fiber contents of different material streams within the paper industry material chain with each other. The aim of this article is to introduce conversion factors that make it possible to quantify the volume of wood expressed in roundwood equivalent (RWE) values for different paper industry-related materials in the material chain. These conversion factors apply to wood pulp, paper, and recovered paper. European data are used in quantifying the paper industry material streams and calculating the RWE conversion factors. The introduced conversion factors can be used to estimate RWE volumes at a global scale. With assumption that paper recycling did not occur and that paper production volume remained unchanged, an additional volume of 666 million m3 RWEs would be required globally per annum to produce 167 million tons of virgin wood pulp to replace 222 million tons of recovered paper utilized by the paper industry in 2010. This volume is approximately the same as 1.6 times the total removal of wood in Europe (EU27), or the total annual removal of wood in the USA, Canada, and Brazil combined.

  • Ervasti, Aalto University, Industrial Engineering and Management, Maarintie 8, 02150 Espoo, Finland E-mail: ilervasti@gmail.com (email)

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