Advanced Pollution Prevention

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24th April 2016

The Greening of a Pulp and Paper Mill

The article The Greening of a Pulp and Paper Mill is a case study of International paper (IP) which was the world’s largest manufacturer of forests products and operated the Androscoggin Mill. This plant was a large paper mill located in Jay Maine in the North Eastern part of the United States. The article discusses the transformation that the mill went through from an object that caused a lot of conflict among the members of the public to a model show case of environmental management (Hill, Saviello & Groves, 2002). A strike occurred in the 1980s and lasted for a period of 18 months. During this time, the plant was left in a state of total disaster. As a response to the violations of the environmental laws by the mill, some of which the state regulators considered criminal, the town of Jay went ahead and passed its own environmental laws to control and monitor emission coming from the mill (Hill, Saviello & Groves, 2002). The initial emphasis was on establishment and maintenance of compliance which was later expanded to include the aggressive pollution prevention efforts which led to a joint project with the Maine Department of Environmental protection. IP has since formed community advisory committees at each of their integrated pulp and paper mills.

The Androscoggin Mill was started in 1854 as Arkwright Company but it changed its name to Androscoggin Mill in 1860. The company capital increased from $500, 000 to $1,000,000. Since then, the mill grew in terms of production, increase in the number of workers and expansion of the production plant. The annual production at the mill was approximately 10,400,000 yards of sheeting, seersuckers, shirting, and sateen jeans, and 3,000,000 seamless bags. There were a total of 960 employees of whom 610 were women. Early in the 1990s, the new management that took over at the Mill tried to change the business approach that the mill had taken in its operations. The goal was mainly to turn the mill into an industrial performer. The management emphasized on compliance which was later developed into essential principles that protected industrial ecology (Harrison, 2009). New principles that mainly focused on finding beneficial uses of the landfilled wastes, replacement of the hazardous chemicals and the reduction of the generation of solid wastes were also developed. The Mill also tried as much as possible to pursue the establishment of a symbiotic relationship that began using the mill by product on site and an on-site natural gas burning facility that formed part of the Mill’s steam demand (Hill, Saviello & Groves, 2002). The Mill also formed an advisory committee to advise them on matters to do with sustainability.

References

Hill, M., Saviello, T., & Groves, S. (2002). The Greening of a Pulp and Paper Mill: International Paper's Androscoggin Mill, Jay, Maine. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 6(1), 107-120.

Harrison, K. (2002). Ideas and environmental standard‐setting: a comparative study of regulation of the pulp and paper Industry. Governance, 15(1), 65-96.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Opportunities for Concrete Pavements

According to the article Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Opportunities for Concrete Pavements, concrete pavements comprise of approximately 25% of the entire transport infrastructure within the United States. The industry is continuously seeking methods that can be used to reduce the carbon footprint. It is important to evaluate the emission of greenhouse gases and also reduce the existing opportunities in the lifecycle of the concrete. The article explores some selected few of the available opportunities as a representation of the overall available opportunities and he overall cost. Some of the strategies that have been tested indicate that there is some significant amount of greenhouses gases emissions that have been proved to be possibly reduced (Santero, Loijos & Ochsendorf, 2013). With the right conditions, each of the scenarios can reduce the amount greenhouses that are produced out into the environment. Greenhouse gases are released out into the atmosphere during the process of design, construction of the infrastructure (roads and pavements) and also the subsequent use of these structures by vehicles. Passenger and freight movement contribute about 83% of the total amount of emissions that are released out into the environment.

Some of the opportunities that are presented for the reduction of greenhouse gases in pavement include reduction of the embodies emissions, increasing the albedo, increasing the carbonation and reducing the consumption of fuel in vehicles. The embodied emissions are those that are released out during the process of manufacture and the construction of the paving materials. These are normally the emissions that are embodied into the pavement when it is constructed and begins its service of life and those that are added through maintenance processes (Santero, Loijos & Ochsendorf, 2013). The albedo measures the amount of incoming solar radiation as reflected on the surface of the pavement. Concrete has a high albedo level. Carbonation on the other hand is a chemical process through which carbon dioxide is sequestered naturally from the concrete. The rate of carbonation for the concrete pavement is minimal and penetrates for only a few centimeters into the pavement. Only a fraction of carbon dioxide is sequestered through the process of calcination (Santero, Loijos & Ochsendorf, 2013). The amount of crushed concrete is normally recycled as a base fill which gives an opportunity for the sequestration of carbon. Vehicle consumption on the other hand is normally influenced by the choice of the pavement design, maintenance and the materials. Most of the emissions done by the vehicles are not affected by the pavements (Akbari, Menon and Rosenfeld, 2009).

Five main greenhouse reduction strategies recommended include addition of fly ash into concrete. This material serves to reduce the amounts of embodied emissions. 10% and 305 additions have been proved to reduce the rates of carbonation. Secondly, white aggregates can be used in pavement designs. The strategy increases the albedo and the reflectivity of the surface allowing the decrease in lighting demand (Akbari, Menon and Rosenfeld, 2009). Thirdly, the EOL stockpiling can be used to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Another strategy that can be used is extra rehabilitation of vehicles over the next 10 years to improve the ease of movement in vehicles and reducing the amount of carbon released by vehicles. Finally, avoiding overdesign can be instrumental in reducing the level of carbon footprint in the pavements. Proper designs which are well optimized can be instrumental in reducing the amount of carbon that is released. Life cycle cost analysis technology is one of the best practices in the reduction of the amount of Greenhouse gases (Akbari, Menon and Rosenfeld, 2009). The strategy not only helps to evaluate the magnitude of the reduction but also the cost implications of the strategy used.

References

Akbari, H., S. Menon, and A. Rosenfeld (2009) Global cooling: Increasing world-wide albedos to offset CO2. Climatic Change 94(3–4): 275–286.

Santero, N., Loijos, A., & Ochsendorf, J. (2013). Greenhouse gas emissions reduction opportunities for concrete pavements. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 17(6), 859-868.