Norampac Trenton, Ontario, Canada

Norampac is the largest manufacturer of containerboard in Canada.  Its Trenton mill produces 500 tons per day of corrugating medium from mixed hardwoods, semi-chem pulp and old corrugated containers (OCC).  The mill is a zero effluent facility and is committed to the highest environmental standards and operating efficiency. Prior to installing the TRI spent liquor gasification system the mill had no chemical and energy recovery process. Spent liquor was stored in ponds and sold to local counties for use as a soil binder and dust suppressant on gravel and dirt roads. This practice was terminated in 2002. After reviewing all options for the processing of spent liquor, Norampac chose the TRI system because it would provide the capability for both chemical and energy recovery, have minimal environmental impact, have a scale-up and turndown capability to meet current and future mill needs, allow the mill to continue as a zero effluent operation, and be affordable.

The spent liquor gasifier is designed to processes 115 Metric tons per day of black liquor solids (at 40% moisture content). The chemicals are recovered and sent to the mill for pulping and the energy is recovered as steam which offsets the production of steam using purchased natural gas. The process started up in September of 2003. The project completed its performance test in April of 2005 and it completed air emissions testing in October 2006 thereby transitioning from commissioning to full commercial operation. The gasifier has logged more than 18,000 hours of operation.

Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Big Island, Virginia

Georgia-Pacific Corporation, one of the world’s largest paper companies. The Big Island mill produces 900 tons per day of linerboard from OCC and 600 tons per day of corrugating medium from mixed hardwoods semi-chem pulp.  The project was environmentally driven and displaced two 50 year-old smelters that provided chemical recovery but no energy recovery. The project was funded 50% by the U.S. Department of Energy as a demonstration project for low temperature spent liquor gasification.   The system was designed to process 200 tons per day of black liquor solids (at 40% moisture).

Starting in the first quarter of 2004, Georgia-Pacific commissioned TRI’s steam reforming spent liquor gasification process at its Big Island, Virginia mill. The start-up and operation of the reformer system was not nearly as successful as the similar system at Norampac, and in October of 2006, Georgia-Pacific decided to no longer continue operation of their reformers. Their decision was based on the expected cost of modifying the reformer to improve performance. In contrast to Norampac, GP’s system was designed by another engineering company and incorporated significantly different process designs than those implemented by TRI at Norampac. More details on these differences can be found by downloading "Comparison of GP-Norampac Gasifier Projects.pdf"