Pratt Paper Picks Ecovation for Wastewater Treatment
Pratt Paper's new recycled paper mill in Shreveport, La., will be complemented by a wastewater treatment system designed and built by Ecovation of Rochester, N.Y.
The wastewater treatment facility is expected to significantly offset the plant's energy usage with the production of renewable biogas. The project is expected to generate 156 MMBtu's per day of biogas upon completion, targeted for November 2008.
The system will treat plant effluent from Pratt's 100 percent recycled paper mill, using the Biotim Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) technology. The plant's wastewater stream will be treated in an anaerobic reactor, where a floating blanket of bacteria, or "sludge granules," will digest the organic contaminants in the wastewater, producing a mix of carbon dioxide and methane known as biogas. The treated water, biogas, and sludge mixture will travel through a proprietary solid, liquid, and gas separation process. The biogas will be reclaimed for use as a renewable fuel source in the plant's boilers, while treated water will be discharged and the remaining sludge granules recycled for use in the anaerobic reactor, or sold as seed sludge for other anaerobic systems.
Pratt Paper's new plant will make corrugated cardboard from recycled materials. The wastewater treatment solution will enable the facility to comply with permitted discharge limits and provide a renewable source of energy to offset the plant's fuel consumption. Pratt previously installed the Biotim UASB technology at a similar facility in Brisbane, Australia.
Ecovation, recently purchased by Ecolab, provides value-driven, sustainable solutions to meet the wastewater management and renewable energy needs of industrial clients.