Design, Implementation and Start-up of the Secondary 'Treatment Facilities at Domtar Fine Papers, Cornwall, Ontario, Mill, 1996 Environmental Conference Proceedings

In 1992 Environment Canada adopted regulations restricting the levels of contaminants in Pulp and Paper Mill effluents sent to receiving waters. In 1993 the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy (MOEE) adopted even tighter regulations. Both sets of regulations came into effect at the end of 1995. To ensure the Cornwall fine papers operation would comply with Domtar Environmental Policy, the mill embarked on an extensive review program, analyzing water consumption, identifying discharge sources and investigating potential treatment processes. This paper describes the various steps taken by the Domtar Cornwall mill to design, implement and start up its Activated Sludge Treatment (AST) system, using a combination of traditional and Engineer-Procure-Construct (EPC) techniques. It also describes the obstacles encountered during implementation, the operator training program as well as the system’s performance after start-up, which took place five (5) months ahead of schedule and was well under budget.