Ultimate Effluent Treatment Allows for ever Larger Pulp Mill Capacities, 2015 PEERS Conference

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The pulp and paper industry has been sharply improving its effluent quality since the 1990s with the spread of secondary (or biological) effluent treatment for removal of organic matters and the ban on chlorine bleaching. However mega pulp mills reject today as much COD at one single point as typical pulp mills 20 years ago: technology improvements allowing for a lower specific COD load have been balanced with higher capacities. It makes the development of ever larger pulp mill capacities dependent on the implementation of either tertiary effluent treatments or green bleaching practices. This paper introduces the opportunity to apply to pulp mills a state-of-the-art tertiary effluent treatment already implemented in paper mills: the combination of ozone and biofiltration. Our research findings on eucalyptus pulp effluent show the efficiency of this new technology and an economic way to upgrade existing tertiary treatment installations.