News
Howe Sound Pulp and Paper held an open house on September 22 in Gibsons. The purpose was to explain their recent application to the BC Ministry of Environment to amend their air emissions permit to enable them to increase the use of biomass fuel (construction and wood waste) and reduce the use of natural gas fuel.
The company says they need this additional wood waste as the regular hog fuel from logging and sawmilling on the coast is in decline. HSPP's manager of environment, Al Strang, explained "by using this wood waste material they would be considered carbon neutral. They would not be burning a fossil fuel, natural gas.”
Strang considers burning as a viable part of a sustainable solid waste management program. “You cannot recycle everything,” said Strang, “and it is better to capture this energy than put the waste in a landfill
SCRD’s manager of sustainable services, Dion Whyte attended the open house and stated that there were issues around importing waste to burn. “We must consider what is the highest and best use of all materials,” said Whyte. He says there will be more discussion on this and it has not been totally resolved by the Solid Waste Management Plan committee.
The company is installing a new boiler that they are calling a biomass power boiler. It burns fuel that boils water to create steam. The steam drives the generators to create electricity. It is also used for heating and drying the pulp and paper.
The wood waste for the boiler would contain:
¨ 75% hog fuel and pine beetle wood
¨ 20% construction and demolition wood waste
¨ 5% natural gas
The construction and wood waste would contain:
¨ 91% wood waste
¨ 7% pressboard and plywood
¨ 1% paper, fabric and Formica
¨ 1% plastic and vinyl
The construction wood waste is chipped by Urban Woodwaste Recyclers of New Westminister and then barged to Port Mellon. The pine beetle wood is chipped in Merritt, trucked to Mission and then barged to Port Mellon.
There were a lot of charts and information on the emissions from the plant’s boilers at the open house. The emissions tests have been conducted by A. Lanfranco and Associates while Levelton Consultants Ltd. have conducted the air quality modeling. Strang pointed out that all substances remain well below the BC ambient air quality objectives and reference exposure levels.
In comparing the annual stack emissions of the boiler fuel with and without wood waste, all emissions and total particulate matter were higher with 20% C&D wood waste. Total particulate matter increases from 25.01 to 37.31 kg./year. Lead increases from 57.13 to 97.16 and arsenic increases from 48.52 to 100.51.
Strang reports that currently the mill has a 10 year contract for the beetle wood waste from the interior. He also says they have signed an agreement with BC Hydro to sell any extra energy they produce. “We need steam for our plant. Any extra energy we can sell,” said Strang.
When asked about newer technologies that are being used to produce bio-gas from waste materials, Strang replied that these gases are not high enough in energy to be used by their plant. He said, "The return on investment doesn’t meet the very short time frames that we operate with – typically less than 1 year for a simple return on investment."
He pointed out that they are members of Forest Products Association of Canada which is working to reduce CO² emissions. The FPAC has made a commitment to become carbon neutral by 2015 without carbon offset credits.
When asked how this commitment afftects their mill, Strang replied, "FPAC’s commitment is to be carbon neutral across the whole supply chain, from the forest to product disposal (landfilling, recycling, burning etc.) There is no expectation, in fact its not possible, that each and every individual facility will be carbon neutral."
Strang also reported that the Ministry has not given them any timeline as to when they might hear a decision on their application.
Howe Sound Pulp and Paper has been in business for over 100 years and currently employs over 400 people on the Sunshine Coast.