Final Technical Report Steam Cycle Washer for Unbleached Pulp

Abstract

Project Abstract for “Steam Cycle Washer for Unbleached Pulp” When completed, the patented SC Washer will provide an innovative, energy efficient demonstration project to wash unbleached pulp using a pressure vessel charged with steam. The Port Townsend Paper Corporation’s pulp mill in Port Townsend, WA was initially selected as the host site for conducting the demonstration of the SCW. Due to 2006 and 2007 delays in the project caused by issues with 21st Century Pulp & Paper, the developer of the SCW, and the 2007 bankruptcy proceedings and subsequent restructuring at Port Townsend Paper, the mill can no longer serve as a host site. An alternate host site is now being sought to complete the commercial demonstration of the Steam Cycle Washer for Unbleached Pulp. Additionally, estimated costs to complete the project have more than doubled since the initial estimates for the project were completed in 2002. Additional grant funding from DOE was sought and in July, 2008 the additional DOE funds were procured under a new DOE award, DE-PS36-08GO98014 issued to INL. Once the new host site is secured the completion of the project will begin under the management of INL. Future progress reports and milestone tracking will be completed under requirements of new DOE Award Number DE-PS36-08GO98014. The following are excerpts from the project Peer Review completed in 2006. They describe the project in some detail. Additional information can be found by reviewing DOE Award Number: DE-PS36-08GO98014. 5. Statement of Problem and Technical Barriers: The chemical pulping industry is one of the major users of fresh water in the United States. On average the industry uses over 80 tons of water to produce one ton of pulp, some states use up to 50% more (Washington 120 and Wisconsin 140). In order to process one ton of pulp using 80 tons of process water, a large amount of: • energy is used in process heat and • power is required for pumping the large volume of pulp slurries through the pulping phases. Most water used in the pulping process ends up as warm waste water in the mill’s effluent discharge, which subsequently pollutes receiving waterways and carries an enormous amount of energy with it. Wash water reduction in brown stock washing with the Steam Cycle Washers (SCW) will save energy, up to 1+ million BTUs per ton of pulp in the evaporators alone. Reduction of liquid volume through bleaching stages will save process heat energy in the amount of 2+ million BTUs per ton of pulp, and as much as 80 – 100 kWhrs of electrical power per ton of pulp due to reduced pumping costs. Currently, the technical barriers to water reduction in chemical pulping are basically as follows: • conventional pulp washers wash the pulp at 10 - 14% consistency, • conventional pulp washers use 12 – 16 tons of wash water per ton of pulp, and • they leave 30 – 70 lbs of soda (Na2SO4) per ton of pulp as soda loss into the washed pulp. The amount of wash water in excess of the amount of process liquid in the pulp is called Dilution Factor (DF), even though it is not a factor in the mathematical sense but an addition. Modern pulp washing lines can wash efficiently with a DF of 3 but most pulp mills in the United States are washing with a DF of 5-7. Therefore, at 10% washing consistency 14-16 tons of wash water is required and 14% consistency requires 11-13 tons of wash water.