Case Study: Winstone Pulp International Heat Plant
Winstone Pulp International
An innovative partnership has enabled Winstone Pulp International to substantially reduce its use of LPG, and to end the costly land-filling of waste pulp biomass.
Leading New Zealand integrated forestry company, Winstone Pulp International Ltd (WPI), entered into a long-term partnership with Energy for Industry Ltd to build, own and operate a cutting edge heat generation plant at their central North Island, Karioi Pulp Mill.
The heat plant delivers significant energy savings and has substantially cut the use of LPG at the site. Under the long-term heat supply agreement, EFI produces heat for drying the pulp WPI produces for export. The energy plant is fuelled by by-products from forestry and mill operations – bark, other wood wastes, and pulp sludge partially dried using waste heat from the flue gases.
WPI Managing Director David Anderson says the alliance with EFI is an innovative approach to securing energy supply at the mill and enables ongoing improvements in the company’s energy efficiency improvement programme with beneficial environmental outcomes.
The heat plant produces up to 12MW of process heat and is conveyed to the pulp mill’s flash dryers using thermal oil as the transfer medium.
“Additionally, the plant has enabled us to move away from the need to dispose of pulp biomass by-products in landfill sites and to instead use this material to power the plant,” says Mr Anderson.
As part of an ongoing improvement programme EFI and WPI work closely together to bring continual improvement efficiencies to the site. In addition to the heat plant EFI has also built a refiner heat recovery plant on site to recover waste heat from WPI’s pulping refiners. Utilising low grade heat previously lost from the mill, this “green” energy project complements the existing heat plant and green house gas emissions by 4,000 t/y CO2e.
“We are always looking for new ways to extract best value from the forestry sector,” he says.
WPI owns its own forests which it mills for the manufacture of sawlogs and pulp for supply to a highly competitive export market. The heat plant and refiner heat recovery plant brings enables WPI to gain more value from its energy-intensive business.
Mr Anderson says that the heat plant, and concurrent upgrades to its wood handling facilities and in the pulp mill represent a significant investment by WPI and Energy for Industry.
“We are adapting to succeed in a highly competitive international market and we are very pleased to be able to partner with expert companies such as Energy for Industry to address energy efficiency challenges,” he says.
The success of the heat plant and heat recovery plant is evident in reducing carbon emissions from the mill. Reducing LPG use and enabling an end to the land-filling of methane gas producing pulp biomass WPI has been able to avoid the difficulty and expense of replacing its an existing landfill, which has now been resewn in new forest.
2006 EECA Awards – Heat Plant; winner of the Innovation Award
2009 EECA Awards - Refiner Heat Recovery plant; winner of Large Business Award
2009 EECA Awards – Refiner Heat Recovery plant; highly commended Innovation category
www.energyforindustry.co.nz
2006 EECA Awards – Heat Plant; winner of the Innovation Award
2009 EECA Awards - Refiner Heat Recovery plant; winner of Large Business Award
2009 EECA Awards – Refiner Heat Recovery plant; highly commended Innovation category
Leading New Zealand integrated forestry company, Winstone Pulp International Ltd (WPI), entered into a long-term partnership with Energy for Industry Ltd to build, own and operate a cutting edge heat generation plant at their central North Island, Karioi Pulp Mill.
The heat plant delivers significant energy savings and has substantially cut the use of LPG at the site. Under the long-term heat supply agreement, EFI produces heat for drying the pulp WPI produces for export. The energy plant is fuelled by by-products from forestry and mill operations – bark, other wood wastes, and pulp sludge partially dried using waste heat from the flue gases.
WPI Managing Director David Anderson says the alliance with EFI is an innovative approach to securing energy supply at the mill and enables ongoing improvements in the company’s energy efficiency improvement programme with beneficial environmental outcomes.
The heat plant produces up to 12MW of process heat and is conveyed to the pulp mill’s flash dryers using thermal oil as the transfer medium.
“Additionally, the plant has enabled us to move away from the need to dispose of pulp biomass by-products in landfill sites and to instead use this material to power the plant,” says Mr Anderson.
As part of an ongoing improvement programme EFI and WPI work closely together to bring continual improvement efficiencies to the site. In addition to the heat plant EFI has also built a refiner heat recovery plant on site to recover waste heat from WPI’s pulping refiners. Utilising low grade heat previously lost from the mill, this “green” energy project complements the existing heat plant and green house gas emissions by 4,000 t/y CO2e.
“We are always looking for new ways to extract best value from the forestry sector,” he says.
WPI owns its own forests which it mills for the manufacture of sawlogs and pulp for supply to a highly competitive export market. The heat plant and refiner heat recovery plant brings enables WPI to gain more value from its energy-intensive business.
Mr Anderson says that the heat plant, and concurrent upgrades to its wood handling facilities and in the pulp mill represent a significant investment by WPI and Energy for Industry.
“We are adapting to succeed in a highly competitive international market and we are very pleased to be able to partner with expert companies such as Energy for Industry to address energy efficiency challenges,” he says.
The success of the heat plant and heat recovery plant is evident in reducing carbon emissions from the mill. Reducing LPG use and enabling an end to the land-filling of methane gas producing pulp biomass WPI has been able to avoid the difficulty and expense of replacing its an existing landfill, which has now been resewn in new forest.
