Environmentally sound technology for pulp industry

By Buntario Tigris

JAKARTA (JP): Pulp and paper is a very essential part of human life. This is why the industry is a global business in terms of competition and standardized quality. Slowly, the effect of pulp and paper on the environment has become a global concern as well.

It is regrettable that the development of pulp and paper technology has been relatively slow. A technological innovative breakthrough was made only recently with the introduction of the environmentally friendly elemental-chlorine-free (ECF) production process.

Indonesia, which is endowed with the world's second largest tropical forests, naturally enjoys a comparative advantage in the pulp and paper industry. The country's paper industry started in 1923 when the Padalarang mill in West Java produced 3,000 tons. Now there are 45 pulp and paper mills and 15 exclusively pulp mills.

Indonesia's pulp production capacity is now estimated at 2.06 million tons a year, of which 50 percent uses a bleaching process. Indonesia's paper making capacity is 3.72 million tons a year and consists of 1.51 million tons of high quality paper and newsprint, 2.11 million tons of industrial paper, like cardboard, and 0.11 million tons of tissue paper.

Recently, however, the massive development of the pulp and paper industry has triggered debate over its impact on forest resources and the environment.

The most heated debate concerns the bleaching process. This process is seen by many environmentalists as a threat to the environment.

The debate has been prompted by the fact that most paper mills in Indonesia use the traditional bleaching process, chlorine bleaching, which is environmentally unfriendly.

Environmentalists have strongly pressured the pulp and paper industry to use the elemental chlorine free process or the totally chlorine free (TCF) process, both of which are considered environmentally safe.

Most industrialists, however, argue that it is extremely difficult to change the production process from the conventional technology to ECF or TCF because the required investment is so large it would destroy the commercial viability of the industry.

The industrialists also contend that TCF has not adequately been tested overseas to ascertain its economic and technical viability and only a few mills in the world have used the new processing technology.

The bleaching process for pulp and paper production normally uses the following chemicals: Chlorine elements, chlorine dioxide, sodium hypochloride, NaOH for extraction, oxygen, ozone and hydrogen peroxide. The application of chlorine elements in the bleaching process is to eliminate lignin elements, which tie together cellulose fibers in wood, which cannot be removed during cooking and washing. Removing the lignin improves the brightness of the pulp. When the lignin is absorbed by chlorine, it becomes chlor-lignin which is dissolved into soda in the next stage of the bleaching and extraction process.

Bleaching Process

The next bleaching process uses chloride dioxide or hydrogen peroxide to further purify and bleach. This is used to protect the cellulose fibers, to achieve low-cost process and to avoid damage to health which can occur when elemental chlorine is used in conventional technology.

Special attention should be given to the organic chlorine which emerges during the bleaching process. These should be measured by the Absorbable Organic Halides (AOX) parameter which indicates the tolerable industrial standard. However, such a standard has not been set in Indonesia. Other countries such as Japan, Australia, Canada, Germany and Sweden have set their standards in 1990. Japan, for example, enforces a maximum 1.5 kilograms of AOX per ton of pulp, and Canada has reduced the standard of AOX contents from 2.5 to 1.5kg of AOX per ton of pulp.

The chemical form of chlorine shows halogen with a chemical structure consisting of chlorine in the form of greenish yellow gas. In its simple form, chlorine is made from cooking salt. This chlorine does not damage human health. Chlorine is used not only for bleaching but also to kill germs in the drinking water.

Contamination

Chlorine found in drinking water is used in most cities to prevent contamination occurring in the distribution system. It is used to keep algae from growing to secure the water flows smoothly through pipelines. So far, chlorine used in water distribution systems has not threatened humans because it is a mix of compounds which is environmentally friendly.

New pulp manufacturers in Indonesia such as PT Inti Indorayon Utama in North Sumatra have used the elemental chlorine free process since the early 1990s. This environmentally sound system is also used widely in Japan, the United States, Canada and many other countries. Only a few mills in the world have installed the totally chlorine free technology because it is not only very expensive but the quality of the pulp it produces is not as high as that using the elemental chlorine free technology.

Therefore, Indorayon's use of ECF technology is based not only on environmental considerations but also on the need to compete in the global market. Moreover, the majority of consumers in the world prefer pulp that is produced with the ECF technology.

Not only is the quality of pulp produced with ECF technology much higher than that with TCF technology but the price is also much more competitive. The production cost with ECF is US$35-50 per ton cheaper than the TCF process.

Global Production

Only in Germany do several mills use the TCF technology for pulp making. It is estimated that the world demand for pulp with TCF technology is only around 50,000 tons a year, or a mere four percent of the global production.

According to a recent study by Finland's Kvaerner Group, of the 32 million tons produced globally a year, 65 percent is produced by the traditional chlorine bleaching process, 31 percent with the elemental chlorine free process and only four percent with the totally chlorine free process.

It can be concluded therefore, that ECF technology is the most viable choice, technically and economically, for the pulp and paper industry. What is required, though, is greater attention to the process of dissolving the chlorine to ensure the lowest possible AOX content. I am optimistic in the near future there will be a national AOX content standard as a firm guideline to protect our nation.

*The writer is an analyst of green production technology in Jakarta.