Water Purification Moving Up A Gear at Iggesund

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 10/22/2009

Iggesund Paperboard is to begin using a new purification system that will further ensure the purity of waste water from its Iggesunds Bruk mill. Later this month, chemical treatment will start to complement the mill's current mechanical and biological water purification systems. Overall, the company has spent just over €25 million on improving water purification at Iggesunds Bruk. "This new purification stage means we will be able to satisfy the environmental requirements that may be placed on us within the foreseeable future," said mill manager, Staffan Jonsson. "We're reducing our emissions of nutritive salts like phosphorus and sulphur, which are particularly critical to the already eutrophic Baltic Sea. We're also removing much of the brownish tinge that currently affects our waste water." Iggesund's large-scale combination of biological and chemical purification is unusual and officials at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency who have followed the project are said to be looking forward to its upcoming evaluation. "It is a very interesting combination of purification techniques and we're very hopeful it will prove to be an effective method of reducing emissions from these types of forest industries," said Erik Nyström, senior advisor at the agency. In many ways the mill's environmental efforts already make it a model within the paper and paperboard industry. The facility operates using 95 per cent bioenergy and plans to stop using any fossil fuels within the near future. "Our vision is a mill that operates completely on biofuels and emits no carbon dioxide from fossil sources," Jonsson said. "Our other air- and water-borne emissions will be at low levels that reinforce the leading position we already enjoy due to our product quality." Jonsson emphasised also the environmental significance of paperboard as a product. It was excellent for recycling either as a material or as energy, and its raw material, timber, was renewable, he added. Enditem