Agenda 2020 Webinar Reviews Technologies for Process Water Reuse

The Agenda 2020 (Washington, D.C., USA) Reuse of Process Effluents team hosted a webinar this past Tuesday, January 28, on technologies to enable reductions in fresh water consumption in pulping and papermaking. The team has the objective of identifying research pathways to develop new breakthrough technologies for removing non-process elements (NPEs) and other contaminants that inhibit the reuse of process effluent streams in pulp and paper mills. Paul Wiegand and Barry Malmberg of the National Council for Air & Stream Improvement (NCASI) and Dave Norman of Verso Paper co-lead the team.

Forty people from at least four countries participated in the event. Speakers included Janne Vehmaa from Andritz, Jeff Bachand from Kadant, Ryan Coda from VoithMeri, Michael Paleologou and Naceur Jemaa from FPInnovations, and Kim Nelson from American Process. They offered insights on current state and best available technologies as well as suggestions for future areas of research.

The team plans a workshop this spring to develop a research roadmap for specific approaches that could make a large impact on water use in mills.

The team is one of five developing plans for research into breakthrough technologies to address priority issues for the pulp and paper manufacturing industry. The other teams are addressing next-generation chemical pulping, black liquor concentration, delivering a drier sheet to the dryer section, and cellulosic nanomaterials.

For further information about the webinar or about the work of this team or the others, contact Agenda 2020 Executive Director Ron Brown Ron_Brown@agenda2020.org.

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