The Effects of Mixing Pulp and Paper Mill Sludge Into Wood Bark on Storage-Related Environmental Impacts and Heating Value

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openAccess

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2022-08

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

12
3573-3584

Series

Waste and Biomass Valorization, Volume 13, issue 8

Abstract

The pulping industry generates vast amounts of bark and wastewater treatment sludges, which are combined and stored in stacks, often in the open air, prior to combustion for energy. The effects of incorporating sludge into bark on heating value and storage-related environmental impacts were investigated in laboratory and outdoors. Biological degradation was found to be higher in treatments containing 25% sludge (B75S25) and 50% sludge (B50S50) in comparison with pure bark (B100). Mean monthly dry mass loss was 2.1% (B100), 3.3% (B75S25), and 3.7% (B50S50) in the laboratory and 2.7, 4.2, and 4.8%, respectively, outdoors. Addition of sludge maintained degradation activity at low temperatures (+ 3 °C). Co-storage of sludge and bark led to loss of energy, mainly due to increased loss of biomass and increased moisture, which governed the heating value. Cumulative methane emissions were higher from the sludge-containing treatments than from pure bark, but emissions of nitrogen-containing gases (N2O and NH3) were negligible throughout. Sludge addition roughly halved the cumulative chemical oxygen demand (COD) of leachate and minimized its concentration of phosphate-P. However, larger amounts of inorganic elements were released from the sludge-containing treatments. Overall, these results indicate that finding alternative uses for the sludge fraction would be beneficial.

Description

Funding Information: Open Access funding provided by Aalto University. This study was supported by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes/Business Finland). Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).

Keywords

Bark utilization, Biological degradation, Energy value, Wood pulp, Wood storage

Other note

Citation

Oksanen, J, Keskinen, R, Heikkinen, J, Kaseva, J & Rasa, K 2022, ' The Effects of Mixing Pulp and Paper Mill Sludge Into Wood Bark on Storage-Related Environmental Impacts and Heating Value ', Waste and Biomass Valorization, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. 3573-3584 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-022-01716-x