Bowater Mersey Paper, Liverpool, NS

A great deal of energy is required to produce 250,000 tonnes of newsprint every year. The numbers speak for themselves: the Bowater Mersey Paper plant in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, accounts for 6% of the province's total electricity consumption.

A process integration study allowed the plant to establish its energy efficiency priorities. Process integration is one of the most efficient approaches to improving the energy efficiency of large and energy-intensive industrial facilities. To determine the best strategies for efficient resource use, the process integration method takes a systematic look at all the ways in which energy is used throughout a facility and how its various systems interact with one another.

Main Objective: Maximize Recovery

There are several streams within pulp and paper plants that must be heated (heat demands) and others that must be cooled or released into the atmosphere (heat sources). A process integration study determined how these streams could be combined in order to increase the plant’s heat recovery potential. By maximizing heat recovery, heat demands met by steam are therefore minimized.

The plant’s steam is provided by a cogeneration facility which burns biomass to produce steam and electricity. Through an agreement with Brooklyn Power, which has a facility nearby, the plant receives steam from this company in exchange for a portion of the mill’s wood waste. Generated electricity is sold to the regional utility services.

Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) provided financial assistance for the process integration study conducted at Bowater Mersey.

For additional information about process integration and Pinch analysis, see the:

• Process Integration Brochure
  (PDF, 351 KB)
• Pinch Analysis Guide
  (PDF, 1.2 MB)

CanmetENERGY experts also conducted process integration studies in other Canadian pulp and paper plants. For more information, see the list of success stories for that industrial sector.