Papermills come in all different types of sizes and have many different characteristics. They can be Kraft mills, bleach mills, pulp mills, specialty or 100% recycle. They can be very old paper mills, or have the latest, state of the art technology on the process side as well as the wastewater side. Some pre-treat and discharge to a local POTW and some have final effluent permits.   Delivering the final product is what it all comes down to! Many times Papermills have very similar problems to other treatment plants when it comes to wastewater treatment.

Typical Papermills generate tons of lime mud, bark ash and boiler ash as well as significant tons of biosolids if they have activated sludge plants and have many opportunities for beneficial reuse and co-product development.
The pulp and paper industry uses 84% of the energy consumed by the forest products industry. Some average benchmarks include: Solid Waste generation- .01-.26 tons per ton of product (TPT), Landfill cost-$10-20 million, Knots- reuse them or waste, wood yard waste - .02-.06 TPT, Sludge from a de-inking
process has only 50% of the energy of bark, Typical Sludge generation- .02-.06 TPT, Lime mud is limited by kiln production -up to 200 tons per day.Ash generation rates are approximately 0.04 TPT from Georgia pulp mills.

Ash generation rates are approximately 0.04 TPT from Georgia pulp mills. If you remove the ash and lime and possibly locate local brick, construction companies or road fill, many times you will have cleaner biosolids. These then
can be used in the bark boiler if you have one onsite and lower your energy costs. The biosolids sometimes can be used for compost. There are some companies that are using paper solids for retention aids in mining applications
also.

EPA Office of Compliance Sector Notebook Project, Profile of the Pulp and
Paper Industry. More information can be obtained on the EPA website http://es.epa.gov/oeca/sector or by
contacting Environmental Leverage

Pulp and Papermill Case Histories

There are tons of files containing information on every subject from A to Z on the internet with standards, benchmarks and industry BMP's.  The problems is, who has time to dig and find it all. It is not always in easy to find places.  We have tried to show you some of the ones we though might be useful. There are links to the places where we found some of them in case you want to dig deeper on a particular subject and find out more.

Approximately 26% of the bleached kraft and soda mills in the United States have essentially complete spent pulping liquor management and control systems, approximately 29% have partial systems, and approximately 45% would require major upgrades to fully implement effective control systems. Sulfite mills in the United States are estimated to have a status similar to the bleached kraft mills.

Black Liquor can be a big problem at wastewater treatment plants at papermills. The chemical components are of particular interest due to the fact that a spill can have an adverse impact on the biomass in the system.  If the spill is large enough and passes through the system, the impact on the receiving water and the aquatic life present might also be of concern, not to mention any emissions of TRS and HAP's to the air that black liquor also might contain.  Below is a chart that shows some of the components that might be found in black liquor.  Usually black liquor is not toxic to the bacteria in a system though. A spill usually means tons of high food loading, white foaming may be seen on the lagoons or aeration basins, but high BOD or TSS can be present in the effluent if the system is not properly adjusted to handle the spill.  On the other hand, Green liquor or white liquor spills can be toxic to a system in some cases.

Since toxicity can be an issue at Pulp and papermills here are some chemicals and the impact they have on Daphnia and Fathead minnows. Below are some typical removal rates for some common pollutants found in paper mills. BOD and TSS are almost always critical in a final permit effluent, unless the receiving water is a P.O.T.W. Typically the final effluent rates might be higher, but in those cases the surcharges also are higher.

What does a paper mill use? Below are some of the materials used and some of the wastes that might be generated

The forest products industry generates 51% of its energy needs from biomass and black liquor

Boiler fuel and machine drives represent the largest energy end use in pulp and paper and lumber and wood, respectively

The pulp and paper industry uses 84% of the energy consumed by the forest products industry

Solid Waste generation- .01-.26 tons per ton of product (TPT)

Landfill cost-10-20 million

Knots- reuse them or waste

Wood yard waste - .02-.06 TPT

Sludge from a de-inking process has only 50% of the energy of bark

Typical Sludge generation- .02-.06 TPT

Ash generation: .04 TPT

Lime mud is limited by kiln production –up to 200 tons per day

Process waste- Averages 16-17,000 PTP

• Brownstock- 5,000-12,000 gals per ton
• Bleach and pulp- 13-25,000 pt (50% in the bleaching process)
• Specialty- up to 40,000 per ton
• Recycle- more

Stormwater may contain dust, bark and wood debris that contribute to TSS problems in the wastewater treatment systems if entering at the back of lagoons or ponds

Boiler Ash-

• Can be used as soil conditioner to control soil acidity
• Road repair material
• Landfill
• Reuse- construction, bricks

Forest products account for about 11% of all manufacturing energy costs

The forest products industry is the largest co-generator in the manufacturing sector

Energy intensity has declined since 1972

Did you know that a 1% fiber capture recovery yields ~$1MM in profits ?

For a full onsite audit of your plant- Contact Environmental Leverage inc. 630-906-9791

Microsolv 118 for Pulp and Paper Mills- Bioaugmentation product