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Water


The impact of Northern Pulp’s operations on air quality and wastewater was not acceptable, and we can do better. 

Tomorrow's Mill will be the cleanest in Canada. One example will be the use of tertiary wastewater treatment. This additional level of treatment will surpass provincial and federal standards across the country that only require a primary and second treatment.  

This third level of water cleaning only exists in one mill in Canada, the Paper Excellence-owned Skookumchuck Mill in BC, which feeds into a small body of water much smaller than Pictou Harbour. 

The predicted water improvements include:

  • 45% reduction in water use
  • 50% reduction in chlorine-based compounds (absorbable organic halides known as AOX)
  • 69% reduction in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and Chemical oxygen demand (COD)
  • 31% reduction in total suspended solids (TSS)
  • 72% reduction in colour

Reduce the volume of water used

Outcome: 45% reduction in water use   

  • Implement a mill-wide water reduction and segregation system
    • Cooling water used at the mill will be segregated from the main mill effluent, cooled, and reused throughout the mill.  
    • Water use will be reduced by 45% to a volume of 45,000 m3 per day 

Improve wastewater before treatment 

Outcome: Reduce pre-treatment wastewater components by 75%

  • Implement oxygen delignification in the pulping system to reduce bleaching chemical requirements by close to 50%.
  • Modernize the spill detection and collection systems within the mill to reduce effluent loading and maintain efficient wastewater treatment.
  • Implement a new process in the Steam Plant, removing 10% of the wastewater components before effluent treatment.
  • Implement a new process in the knot recovery cycle removing 5% of the wastewater components before treatment.

Improve wastewater treatment

Outcome: Among the best-in-class Canadian Kraft Mills in terms of suspended solids, colour, organic halides, and biological oxygen demand (BOD)

  • Install new primary and secondary treatment systems to remove solids, organics, and colour.
  • Install a new tertiary treatment system (rotating disc filters) to ensure the highest quality water release and additional color removal. Solids generated during the treatment process steps would be collected for disposal. Northern Pulp will be the second pulp mill in Canada with a tertiary treatment system.
  • Fully treated wastewater would be released into Pictou Harbour adjacent to the Mill site. The exact location will be determined through environmental studies. There will be no pipeline through neighbouring communities.

Other Water Transformation Initiatives

  • Install lignin extraction process to address the extra lignin solids generated by oxygen extraction. Lignin extraction is an innovative process supported by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and is only operating in one Canadian mill.
  • Install cooling towers to cool and recycle process water.
  • A large (35,000 m3) spill basin will be built to provide a buffer between the Mill and the replacement effluent treatment facility in case of a major process upset. This spill basin, able to contain approximately 24 hours of Mill effluent, would normally be maintained in an empty state. The spill basin will provide environmental protection for the effluent treatment facility as well as the receiving environment.

Learn more about Northern Pulp's transformation plan.