We are proud to announce that two of our leaders, Lee Hill (Chief Operations Officer) and Sofia Rouzinou (Technical Director), recently represented American Process International (API) at TAPPICon 2026 in Columbus, Ohio.
During their session, “Process Integration Applications for Energy and Carbon Footprint Reduction in the Pulp and Paper Industry,” they shared critical insights from 30 years of API experience. Their presentation highlighted how mill-specific Pinch Analysis remains the most effective framework for identifying practical energy-saving opportunities that generic benchmarking often misses.
Key Technical Highlights:
- Proven Impact: Based on approximately 500 studies, API’s methodology has demonstrated an average practical steam saving of 100 MMBtu/h (roughly 17% of total steam).
- Carbon Footprint Reduction: These energy optimizations correspond to an average reduction of 58,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year per mill.
- Rapid ROI: The identified projects typically offer a simple payback period of less than two years, with “Capital Light” improvements often paying back within just 3-4 months.
- The Holistic Edge: Unlike departmental reviews, a mill-wide Pinch Analysis ensures that synergies across pulp, chemical, and utility streams are fully captured, preventing suboptimal local solutions.
As the industry faces increasing pressure to reduce operating costs and meet strict climate regulations, API continues to provide the rigorous, site-specific frameworks necessary for robust decarbonization.
Access the Full Presentations
Explore the technical data and case studies presented at the conference:
- View Sofia Rouzinou’s Presentation Abstract – A detailed summary of methodology and results.
- Download the Full TAPPICon 2026 Slide Deck – View the composite curves, economic scenario analysis, and CLIP methodology.
For more information on how these strategies can be applied to your facility, contact our team at lhill@americanprocess.com or srouzinou@americanprocess.com.
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Why Do Biorefineries Fail? Lessons from 20 Years of Industrial Experience
We are proud to share that Stamatina Sideri, our Business Development Manager, represented API Europe as a speaker at the BIOKET 2026 conference in Fribourg (March 17-19).
At BIOKET 2026, API Europe shared hard‑won insights from more than two decades of industrial biorefinery development, addressing a critical question for the bio‑based economy: why have so many first‑of‑a‑kind biorefineries underperformed or failed?
Despite strong market pull and policy support, deployment has proven far more challenging than expected. Experience shows that failure rarely stems from a lack of ambition or innovation, but rather from rushing to commercial scale without adequate derisking, weak scale‑up strategies, insecure biomass supply, and insufficient collaboration across the ecosystem.
A central message of the presentation was the importance of crossing the “Valley of Death” through continuous, integrated demonstration plants. Proper demo‑scale validation of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs)—up to TRL 7/8—is essential to de‑risk CAPEX, OPEX, product performance, and operational reliability before first commercial deployment. Skipping this step has repeatedly led to technical setbacks and financial underperformance.
Equally critical is the need for long‑term commitment. Successful biorefineries require 6–10 years of staying power, secured fiber supply with built‑in flexibility for feedstock variability, and long‑term offtake agreements to attract capital and stabilize operations.
The presentation also highlighted the paramount importance of open innovation. Defensive postures around IP, speed, and ownership often slow progress, whereas strong ecosystems—built on partnerships, shared learning, and collaboration—accelerate technology maturation and reduce risk.
These lessons are captured in the FIELDS framework, which defines the foundations of successful biorefineries:
- Fiber supply – Reliable, affordable biomass
- Investment – Deliberate, stepwise capital deployment
- Execution – Disciplined scale‑up
- Long‑term planning – Strategic vision and staying power
- Derisking – Stepwise validation of KETs
- Supportive markets and policies – Mandates and incentives
The conclusion is clear: biorefineries succeed in the field, not on paper. Long‑term thinking, disciplined execution, robust demonstration, and strong ecosystems—not speed alone—are what ultimately enable sustainable, circular bio‑based industries.
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The presentation was under the KETBIO Workshop.
Theodora Retsina, CEO, API EUROPE, and American Process International LLC, gave the presentation “Collaboration as an essential ingredient for commercial success”.
Chemelot Institute for Science & Technology (InSciTe)is a public-private research and technical validation institute that is knowledge driven and society oriented.
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]]>Theodora Retsina, American Process & API Europe CEO gave a presentation on “The critical role of pre-treatments in biorefineries”
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]]>More details about workshop here
Read more and register here
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