Kruger Products – Energy & Emissions Reduction

One Year Update

Updated Results:

Project started up on October 27th, 2010. As of January 31st 2010, the system has delivered a total of 37,399 million BTUs vs 55,162 million BTUs expected at maturity for a comparable period. Adjustments have been implemented late January, early February, in order to reach – and possibly exceed – the full capacity of the system. The project is expected to reduce consumption of heavy oil by 1.54 million litres and consumption of natural gas by 2.86 million m3 annually, providing significant financial savings in energy costs. The reduction also represents a reduction in CO2 emissions of 10,000 MT/year—a 14.4% reduction vs. 2009 baseline. These are significant reductions in energy and emissions at this facility and represent a key contribution towards KPLP’s overall 15% objective towards its Sustainability 2015 initiative.

Six Month Update

Challenge:

Kruger Products LP is Canada’s leading manufacturer of tissue products for consumer, commercial and industrial use with well-known brands such as Cashmere®, Purex®, SpongeTowels® and Scotties®’.

Kruger Products has declared an objective of reducing its energy consumption by 15% as well as its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 15% over the next five years as part of its Sustainability 2015 initiative being launched in 2010. Sustainability 2015 is a five year strategic initiative aimed at reducing its environmental impact by reducing its energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, waste, emissions from transport and packaging material.

Papermaking by its very nature is a large user of both electrical and thermal energy. Heat is required to dry the paper. In addition it is a capital-intensive industry with large machinery requirements.

At Kruger Products’ Gatineau, QC mill, paper machine (PM) 3 had no heat recovery installed on the exhaust from the drying section. PM 4 had a heat recovery system installed however energy was still available to be recovered. Approximately 40 million BTUs per hour were lost from these two sources.

Strategy:

Working with a company specializing in energy systems, a central heat recovery system was proposed to capture this energy from both paper machines and to reuse it to heat process water as well as facility buildings during winter. The solution is unique in that it allows combination of multiple heat sources into a single recovery unit.

The hot exhaust is pulled from the paper machines and forced through an energy recuperation tower. Water is sprayed into the tower and the energy is drawn from the exhausted air to the water. This water is filtered and circulated through separate heat exchangers to transfer the energy to the process.

The project was subsidized through the Heavy Oil Reduction Program of the Agence de l’efficacite energétique of the Province of Quebec. This program targets GHG reduction initiatives through the reduction and/or elimination of heavy oil combustion.

Results:

When completed in October 2010, the project is expected to reduce consumption of heavy oil by 1.54 million litres and consumption of natural gas by 2.86 million m3 annually, representing a reduction in CO2 emissions of 10,000 MT/year—a 14.4% reduction vs. 2009 baseline. The reduction also providing significant financial savings in energy costs.

These are significant reductions in energy and emissions at this facility and represent a key contribution towards Kruger Products’ overall 15% objective towards its Sustainability 2015 initiative.

©2010, TM Kruger Products, LP. ®’ Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc., used under licence.