West Fraser eyes $25M renewable energy project at Alberta pulp mill

By James McLaren, Senior Editor, PPI Pulp & Paper Week, RISI

SAN FRANCISCO, July 4, 2011 (RISI) - West Fraser Timber is looking at a potential $25 million project to install an anaerobic digestion system at its market pulp mill in Slave Lake, AB.

The Slave Lake Pulp Bio-Methanation Project involves the integration of an energy efficient anaerobic digestion system into the mill's existing effluent treatment system. The system will treat effluent and generate a methane rich biogas while significantly reducing energy, chemical consumption and sludge generation. The biogas will be used to generate electricity and heat for use in the pulping process.

The Slave Lake mill, built in 1990, has capacity of 240,600 tonnes/year of bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp (BCTMP).

West Fraser's project gained $5 million in funding from Alberta's Climate Change and Emissions Management Corp. (CCEMC). If the company goes ahead with the project, it would take two years to complete. ECO NRG Systems of Okanagan Falls, BC, has been West Fraser's partner in developing the project.

Slave Lake is one of three projects to net $15 million in CCEMC funding. The three projects are valued at more than $129.9 million.

Another project is a $44.9 million plan to produce pyrolysis oil from wood waste and biomass at Tolko Industries' sawmill in High Level, AB. High North BioResources LP is a 50/50 partnership created by Tolko and Ensyn Technologies. The venture gained $5 million in CCEMC funding.

The High North RTP Project will be the world's largest commercial fast pyrolysis plant, CCEMC noted. The facility will be capable of producing 75 million litres (19.8 million US gallons) of pyrolysis oil annually from 400 tonnes/day of sawmill residual biomass that is currently being incinerated with no energy recovery. The pyrolysis oil will be used to produce renewable energy in the form of electricity and heat that will be used in the sawmill.