Sequential Batch Reactor Technology: An Old Technique Applied to the Treatment of Pulp and Paper Mill Effluents, 1995 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Florent Villeneuve

Stone-Consolidated. Corp.

Hélène Tremblay

Stone-Consolidated. Corp.

In the early nineties, the environmental scene was very active in Quebec, Canada. The federal government was going through a consultation process to revise pulp & paper mill effluent discharge regulations; the provincial government had initiated a similar review of its own regulations. In anticipation of the adoption of the proposed new discharge levels, Stone-Consolidated Inc. decided to carry out definition studies to construct conventional secondary treatment systems at its four white paper mills. All studies were completed by fall of 1991; costs were substantially higher than budgeted for. This situation, in conjunction with the on-going recession, and an extended compliance date spurred us to look at novel approaches covering both the treatment technology and the project realisation. The result was the adoption of a novel technique for the pulp and paper industry, the sequential batch reactor technology to treat the wastewater. Three of the four projects are carried out on an engineer/procure/construct basis. This approach combined with the benefits of the selected technology has reduced the projected overall capital cost by approximately 30%.