Grant: Engage Grants Program

Biomass fly ash is generated in the pulp and paper industry from the combustion of ""hog fuel"". Hog fuel can bebark and sawdust to combinations of woody biomass and petroleum. At the Zellstoff Celgar LP (ZCLP) plant,hog fuel is wood particles (sawdust/pin chips), bark, sludge from the bio-treatment facility (organic matter,fibre, and lime), and other impurities. Ash is the single largest contributor of material going to the ZCLPlandfill, at 6500 m3/year. Fuel, manpower, and permitting for the landfill are all significant costs to the mill. Inaddition, the heat of the ash can contribute to landfill fires, a safety concern. Developing an alternative marketfor the ash would decrease the load on the landfill, reduce safety and environmental concerns, and decreaseoverall costs. In order to determine alternative uses for the ash, it must first be characterized. In this project, wepropose to characterize the hog fuel ash (HFA) and based on this characterization investigate the HFA as anadsorbent for mining wastestreams. The location of the ZCLP plant is relatively remote but with significantmining activities. If the HFA proved to be an effective treatment system, the proximity to the mining sitescould be advantageous addressing two problems; disposal of fly ash and mining effluent treatment. Theutilization of the fly ash as an adsorbent will benefit Canada economically and environmentally in reducing thedemand for landfill space and reducing the toxicity of mining effluents. This is a sustainable approach to wastehandling, in that we are utilizing one waste stream for the treatment of another.