Environmental Benefits of Ozone-Based Bleaching, 1993 Environmental Conference Proceedings

There exists a great need to find economically sound alternatives to chlorine-based bleaching processes. The engineering challenge is to produce bleached pulp which exhibits the physical properties required for production purposes and which meets the quality specifications necessary for customer satisfaction. The environmental challenge is to develop processes which operate in an environmentally “friendly” manner. Union Camp’s ozone-based bleaching sequence produces pulp with desirable strength and brightness properties, and operates with a minimal impact on the environment.

The bleaching sequence - oxygen, ozone, caustic extraction, and chlorine dioxide - does not use elemental chlorine in the process. This directly leads to a variety of environmental benefits, including a reduction in the formation of chlorinated organic by-products, an improvement in effluent BOD and color, and a reduction in the amount of water consumed in the bleach plant.

A study was performed to compare the environmental impact of chlorine free bleaching to conventional CEDED and O(DC)ED bleaching sequences. This paper presents the preliminary results of this study.