Development of a Technology for Desilication of

India 1985 Full scale

Bamboo Black Liquor

MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND PAPER PRODUCTS # 51

Background

The Hindustan Newsprint Ltd (HNL) mill in Nagar, Kerala, India. The UNIDO/SIDA (Swedish Industrial
Development Authority) assignment was to develop a desilication technology for black liquors suitable for
use in tropical developing countries. The work has been funded by SIDA, the government of India and the
co-operating pulp mills.

In 1984 the pilot desilication plant was ready to be scaled up to a full-size industrial demonstration plant and
this was erected in the recovery department of an Indian kraft bamboo pulp mill by end 1985.

This effort is still going on for operational fine tune improvements and identification of operational costs
after optimization.

Cleaner Production Principle

Recovery, reuse and recycle

Cleaner Production Application

Non-wood fibrous raw materials normally have a higher ash and silica content than wood. Most of the silica
gets dissolved during cooking and remains as an undesirable constituent of the black liquor. The silica causes
many problems as washing is difficult owing to the poor drainability of the pulp and high viscosity of black
liquor. The outcome is scale-formation in evaporator tubes; deposits on the furnace walls of recovery boilers,
slow setting rate of caustizing white liquor and lime sludge unsuitable for reburning.

The presence of silica is a major technical obstacle to the efficient chemical recovery of non-wood black
liquor. Together with the economic barriers, this is one of the reasons why most small- and medium-sized
non-wood pulp mills in developing countries do not have any chemical recovery systems and thus severely
pollute rivers and other water-courses.

Some mills using non-wood raw materials have chemical recovery systems in order to reduce pollutant loads
and recovery pulping chemicals. However, as the lime sludge is unsuitable for reburning it is not recovered
and large amount of solid waste is discharged in the soil. A mill producing 120 tpd of bleached pulp and
paper from bamboo, generates roughly 16 000 t/year of lime that need to be dumped outside the mill.

Bearing in mind the problems faced by non-wood based pulp mills, a project was designed to develop,
demonstrate and disseminate a technology for desilication of bamboo black liquor.

The conclusions drawn from the study of available publications on the subject led the project management to
select, as the most promising approach, the pH reduction of dilute or semi-concentrated black liquor (10-24%
TS) using hot recovery furnace gas.

The demonstration plant results were satisfactory and the process is technically feasible.

A full-size demonstration desilication plant was erected.

The bamboo black liquor desilication process has been fully implemented.

Environmental and Economic Benefits

The desilication technology will enable many mills with chemical recovery to install lime sludge reburning,
with a reduction of 60-70% of their solid waste disposal. It also will reduce the operational difficulties in the
recovery cycle and will enable a number of mills without chemical recovery to install it, including lime
reburning, with a reduction of 60-70% of the liquid waste disposal.

The Hindustan Newsprint Ltd (HNL) mill is in the process of installing a lime kiln and only after the
installation will it be possible to have cost figures to prepare an accurate economic evaluation of the process.

Constraints

The project faced the normal problems to be overcome in any development of a technology. There are still
some problems to be solved in the demonstration plant such as correct type of filter cloth and instrument
sensors. These, however, are non-technical problems that are being handled by HNL and CPPRI and are
expected to be solved.

Contacts

Industry/Program Contact and Address

Ralph Luken

Environment Co-ordination Unit, UNIDO

Vienna International Center

P.O.Box 300

A-1400 Austria

Tel: +43 211 310

Fax: +43 232 156.

Telex: 135612 uno a

Abstractor Name and Address

Mrs Virve Tulenheimo, MSc, Research Engineer

Technical Research Center of Finland

Non-Waste Technology Research Unit

P.O.Box 205

SF-02151 Espoo Finland

Tel: +358 0 4561

Fax: +358 0 460 493

Telex 122972 vttha sf

Review Status

This case study was submitted by the UNEP Working Group on Cleaner Production in the Pulp and Paper
Industries, based at the Technical Research Center of Finland (address above) in 1992, as part of a contract
for UNEP IE. Before submission the case studies were reviewed at the Center. They were edited for the
ICPIC diskette in June 1997.

Subsequently the case study has undergone another technical review by Dr Prasad Modak at Environmental
Management Centre, Mumbai, India, in September 1998.