ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain.
Sec. Waste Management
Scenario Analysis of Hydrochar Production for Incorporation into Boreal Soils: A Life Cycle and Technoeconomic Assessment
Provisionally accepted
- 1Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden
- 2Luonnonvarakeskus, Helsinki, Finland
- 3Karlstads universitet, Karlstad, Sweden
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Agriculture and forest ecosystems are significant contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making mitigation strategies essential for sustainable land application. This study assesses the sustainability impact of converting wood residues into hydrochar for use as a soil amendment to reduce GHG emissions and enhance carbon sequestration. Through a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) and technoeconomic analysis (TEA) of establishing hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process in pulp and paper mills, this research addresses a critical knowledge gap. The LCA indicates that applying hydrochar in boreal soils without additional fertilizers is advantageous in terms of climate change mitigation, resulting in net CO₂-equivalent savings of up to 300 kg per year. The TEA indicates that although advanced technologies for wastewater treatment from the HTC process entail higher initial costs, they yield greater financial returns compared to conventional methods. These findings suggest that HTC units have the potential to offer climate change mitigation benefits and improved economic performance when valorizing wood residues compared to the mono-incineration process.
Keywords: Economic viability, Hydrothermal carbonization, Paper mill, sustainability assessment, Wood residue
Received: 20 Nov 2025; Accepted: 31 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Ebrahimian, Bhattarai, Granström, Shurpali and Mohammadi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Farinaz Ebrahimian
Ali Mohammadi
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