Editorial
Here we are back with our Eucalyptus
Newsletter plenty
of fresh knowledge about the eucalyptus. I hope you enjoy this issue.
Up to a certain
extent, I'm not been very successful to guarantee a regular frequency
in these newsletter editions. This is due to the fact
that this service is being completely voluntary from my side. Till now,
we have not a single sponsorship or financial support to these services.
Because of this, I need to dedicate also efforts in my consulting services.
I hope that as soon as some organizations may decide to provide support
to the Eucalyptus Online Book & Newsletter, I may be able to dedicate
more time on writing what I have in mind and to offer these services
more regularly to you, hopefully in a monthly basis.
In case your organization may wish to financially support this project,
and to have its logo/banner associated to it in the different pages and
products of our website www.eucalyptus.com.br , please, get in touch
with me via the e-mail address foelkel@via-rs.net
In
this edition, I've tried to offer more information about Forest Management
Plans from forest companies having business in Brazil, Chile,
Uruguay, Argentina, Spain, New Zealand, South Africa and Portugal. These
companies have their forests certified by some of the worldwide schemes
in force today . The forest certification process requires that the companies
have their plans for managing the forests available for public knowledge
and comments. Transparency and communications are essential. Through
these plans, it is possible to know more about the companies, the species
they plant, the growth rates, the area they act, their management cares
and practices, etc. Let me remind you that in the Eucalyptus Newsletter
# 03, several forest management plans were presented. Now, we are complementing
with information from other companies, mainly those planting eucalyptus,
and/or some pine
and acacia.
I'm also bringing a great number of Euca-Links. Some are about the
conflicting situation between two countries: Argentina and Uruguay, originated
from the construction of two modern new eucalyptus market pulp mills
in Uruguay. There is a lot of information available, and we are able
to learn a lot about the environmental issues involved in this controversial
dispute. The great opportunity to all of us acting in the forest and
pulp/paper business is to take contact with well-elaborated Environmental
Impact Assessment Studies.
I have also decided to show links to very good technical material from
events, such as the CORMA Forest Meetings in Chile and the Wood as Biorefinery
Workshop. A very good link with an online book about the utilization
of the wood for house construction has also been provided.
In case you like these Euca-Links, please download the files as soon
as possible, since the web is very dynamic, and websites are always being
changed, updated or restructured.
In this newsletter issue, my mini-article is about the polemic comparison
between ECF and TCF bleaching sequences, and my viewpoint looking some
years ahead.
Just in case you are not registered yet to receive the Newsletter,
and the book chapters attached to it, when they are made available, do
it immediately. There are no costs involved. Please, use the short cut
Click here to register. Please, accept my most sincere thanks for supporting
our work when accessing regularly our websites.
In
case I may eventually count with your help, please, send a recommendation
to your friends who have the same level of interest for the eucalyptus,
suggesting them to register to receive these virtual publications. Thanks
for this cooperation.
Remember, this is a no-cost service offered to you. What we want is
to provide good benefits to the users.
Thanks for all
Celso Foelkel
http://www.celso-foelkel.com.br
http://www.eucalyptus.com.br
Lots
of
Euca Links
The websites we are suggesting as links are not ours. Their contents
are not our responsibility. Our suggestion is based on the fact
that they are offering good technical material that we feel could
be valuable to you. In case you do not agree with their contents,
please get in touch directly to their web addresses. Please, be
patient when opening some of the suggested URLs. They may take
some minutes
due to the fact some files are very heavy. In case the URL does
not open in your first attempt, try it again, one or more times.
In case of heavy files, this is a common problem in the internet
use. Since most of the URLs are contemplating pdf files, you are
recommended to have Adobe
Acrobat Reader in your computer. Please,
give some minutes of your precious time for these links, you are
not to feel sorry.
Forest
Management Plans (documents in Portuguese or Spanish)
Back to the series of documents opening to the public the management
plans for plantation forests, please, visit several plans from renowned
forest companies, whose forests have already been certified. Know
their cares about the environment and their thoughts and actions
towards
sustainability. Also, it is important to understand the procedures
to mitigate and to monitor the environmental impacts of the forest
plantations. In case you may wish to read more of these plans, visit
the Eucalyptus Newsletter # 03, in the website www.eucalyptus.com.br
Handbooks for developing a forest management plan:
http://www.imaflora.org/arquivos/maual_manejo_final.pdf
http://www.manejoflorestal.org/guia/pdf/guia_cap1.pdf
Forest
management plans for several world companies (documents in Portuguese
or Spanish):
Aracruz
Barra do Riacho - Brazil (new edition)
http://www.aracruz.com.br/pt/ambiente/amb_manejo_090106.pdf
Aracruz
Guaiba - Brazil
http://www.aracruz.com.br/pt/ambiente/amb_manejo_guaiba.pdf
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/forestry/smartwood/documents/unidade_guaiba.pdf
CELBI -
Portugal
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/forestry/smartwood/documents/celulose_beira.pdf
CENIBRA
- Brazil
http://www.br.sgs.com/pt_br/resumo_publico_versao_final_revisada_pelo_comite.pdf
COFOSA -
Uruguay
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/sgs-fm-0606.pdf
Compania
Forestal Uruguaya - Uruguay
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/sgs-fm-0734.pdf
ENCE Norte
Forestal - Spain
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/8298-es-fm-norfor_sa_ma2004_-_ad65_2005_update_gm-psummary.pdf
EUFORES
- Uruguay
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/8365-uy_eufores_ma2004.1-ad63.0___espanol_-psummary.pdf
Faber-Castell
- Brazil
http://www.scscertified.com/PDFS/forest_fabercastell_port.pdf
FIPLASTO
- Argentina
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/sgs-fm-1400m1.pdf
Forestal
Monte Aguila - Chile
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/sgs-fm-0603.pdf
Forestal
San Gregorio - Uruguay
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/sgs-fm-1502m1.pdf
Mundial
Forestacion - Uruguay
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/8877-uy-fm_mundial_ma_2005_10_ad_36-a-01-mb-psummary.pdf
Satipel
- Brazil
http://www.satipel.com.br/pdf/manejo.pdf
Seta - Acacia
- Brazil
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/forestry/smartwood/documents/SetaSAFMpubsum04_000.pdf
SILVASUR
ENCE - Spain
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/sgs-fm-coc-1879_main_assessment_report.pdf
Souza Cruz
- Brazil
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/forestry/smartwood/documents/souza_cruz.pdf
Tanac - Acacia - Brazil
http://www.tanac.com.br/PT/upload/resumo/resumo_publico_2004.zip
TILE Forestal - Uruguay
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/9060-uy-fm-tile_forestal_s.a.ma_2005.10_ad_36-a-01_mb-psummary.pdf
VCP
Capao Bonito & Vale do Paraiba - Brazil
http://www.scscertified.com/forestry/PDFS/forest_vcpsouth_port.pdf
http://www.vcp.com.br/NR/rdonlyres/10288F17-E8D7-47D2-B95E-316B7317468E/13355/FolderPlanodeManejo.pdf
V&M
Florestal - Brazil
http://www.forestry.sgs.com/sgs-fm-coc-0212_reassessment_report_(portugese).pdf
Forest
Certification
Now,
in continuation to our purposes to promote the knowledge about the
sustainable forestry
in eucalyptus plantations, we'd like to introduce
some links with great literature. Please, visit the websites: IMAFLORA,
FSC Brazil - Forest Stewardship Council & FSC International, INMETRO
(CERFLOR - Brazilian certification system), SGS Forestry, SCS Forest
Certification, Rainforest Alliance - Smartwood and PEFC (Programme
for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, anteriormente denominado
Pan European Forest Certification). In these websites, it is possible
to obtain a very good explanation about the certifications of the forest
management and chain of custody. The certification is a valid process
to guarantee to consumers, in the form of a green label, that the woods
used in the saleable products are from certified forests.
Beyond
these processes for forest certification and green labeling, there
is also the traditional ISO 14001 for certification of the environmental
management system (http://www.iso.org/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage).
Some forest companies prefer to get certifications from one or several
of these schemes.
http://www.imaflora.org
http://www.imaflora.org/?fuseaction=content&IDassunto=17 (excellent
publications in Portuguese for download)
http://www.fsc.org.br (FSC
Brazil)
http://www.fsc.org.br/index.cfm?fuseaction=conteudo&IDsecao=154 (Revision
of the document about plantations, in Portuguese)
http://www.fsc.org (FSC
Internacional)
http://www.fsc.org/plantations (Revision
of the document about plantations, in English)
http://www.inmetro.gov.br/qualidade/cerflor.asp (CERFLOR
- Brazilian System for Forest Certification)
http://www.pefc.org/internet/html (among
several issues, the PEFC has the responsibility for comparing and
to develop a system for mutual recognition of the many countries
forest certification schemes)
http://www.sgs.com/forestry_services_index/forestry_certification_index.htm (SGS
Qualifor - Forest Certification)
http://www.scscertified.com/forestry (SCS
Forestry)
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/programs/forestry/smartwood (Rainforest
Alliance Smartwood)
It
is also important to share the vision of the SBS - Brazilian Society
of Silviculture about forest certification and sustainable forestry.
Following, we have some speeches given by Mr. Rubens Garlipp, SBS superintendent.
http://www.sbs.org.br/secure/PalestraWorkshopFlorestalParanavai.pdf
http://www.sbs.org.br/secure/valorizacaodafloresta.zip
http://www.sbs.org.br/secure/UFPR.ppt
Wood
as a Raw Material for Houses and Furniture
Definitively,
we have here a precious pearl of the online literature: a book in
Spanish about Wooden Houses, edited by CORMA - Corporación
Chilena de la Madera. The first chapter of this book is a masterpiece
about the wood properties and derived products, with graphs and drawings
to allow everybody to understand this matter.
We are also introducing two websites very good about the structural
utilization of the wood, and among them, the wood from eucalyptus:
CETEMO (Furniture Technological Center - SENAI) and LAMEM (Laboratory
of Wood and Wooden Structures from the University of Sao Paulo)
http://www.corma.cl/libro/indice.html (Check
the chapter about wood anatomy, wood quality and wood products in http://www.corma.cl/libro/pdf/unidad1.pdf )
http://www.set.eesc.usp.br/lamem (See
the chapter on wood structure at
http://www.set.eesc.usp.br/lamem/ueint.htm)
www.cetemo.com.br (
Access the available publications for sale in http://www.cetemo.com.br/publicacoes.html and
the online journal Mobiliario e Madeira in http://www.cetemo.com.br/it_mobiliario_madeira.html )
Workshop
and Articles about the Wood as a Biorefinery
Now-a-days,
the concept of the "wood as a biorefinery" has had a
stead growth in the Northern Hemisphere. The idea is to use the
enormous potential of the wood biomass as source of valuable chemicals,
including biofuels as ethanol and biodiesel. Today, the major utilizations
of the wood are charcoal, firewood and pulp and paper. In all of
them, a substantial amount of the wood is lost as low quality fuel
or as pollution. Lignin, hemicelluloses and derivatives, carbohydrates,
extractives, resins, turpentine, etc, are the new targets to be "extracted" from
the wood and wood residues. The great opportunity is exactly in
the pulping process, using the cellulose fibers to manufacture
paper, and part of the remaining chemicals to generate other valuable
products to the society. In the integrated production of ethanol
and pulp, the initial phase of the kraft digestion would be a light
hydrolysis to extract the loose fraction of hemicelluloses. It
is well known that very easily, around 10 to 15 % of the wood may
be removed by a mild water hydrolysis. These mannans and xylans
may be fermented and converted to alcohol, and the refinery will
be at work.
The literature is vast on this issue, although recent in the science.
In 2005, a workshop was held in Washington, sponsored by the US Department
of Energy. The speeches are freely available at:
http://www.biorefineryworkshop.com/speakers.htm
Other
valuable articles:
http://www.tri-inc.net/Biorefinery%20Business%20Case-June1%20_2_.pdf
http://www.esf.edu/outreach/pd/2005/growing/pdfs/Amidon2.pdf
http://www.pacificbiomass.org/documents/ForestBiorefinery_APartialView_Georgia%20Pacific.pdf
http://www.nccp.ca/NCCP/pdf/Wood_Ethanol_Report.pdf
http://www.biorefineryworkshop.com/presentations/Axegard.pdf
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/WoodEthanolReport.html
http://www.biorefineryworkshop.com/presentations/Roj.pdf
Forest
Meetings in Chile
First
of all, it is important to define Chile as a forest country, due
to the competitiveness of its forest sector. To show this, there
is a recent document presenting the magnitude of this country in
this specific business. Access in:
http://www.cormabiobio.cl/6accionar/bibliotecas/documentos/Charla%20CORMA.pdf
Every
year, CORMA - the Corporacion Chilena de la Madera promotes in
Concepcion a series of workshops about forestry and forest products.
The presentations
from the years 2004 and 2005 are available to be downloaded. Go there
to grab yours, they are rich on knowledge about forests, woods, forest
products as pulp and paper, roundwood, sawtimber, wood panels, etc.
http://www.cormabiobio.cl/encuentro2004/presen04.htm
http://www.cormabiobio.cl/encuentro2005/present05.htm
Environmental
Impact Assessment Studies of the New Market Pulp Mills (Botnia
and ENCE) in Uruguay
A
great interest has been placed in the conflicting dispute between
Argentina and Uruguay. Two modern and state-of-the-art
mills are being built in Uruguay to use eucalyptus as raw material,
but the Argentineans are strongly opposing them. Both mills are engineered
according to the "BAT - Best Available Technologies" in
the pulp segment. However, technical and environmental questions
are being raised, since the mills are located in the left bank of
Uruguay River, a borderline between the two countries. Both mills
are located in the municipality of Fray Bentos, a few miles distant
from each other. The cumulative effect had also to be evaluated,
because the two mills environmental impacts are additive. This controversy
has been also managed by IFC - International Finance Corporation,
an organization from the World Bank. This is due to the fact that
both pulp companies are requesting financing from the World Bank,
and this entity is recognized to provide support only to environmentally
sound projects.
To
give maximum transparency to the process a public consultation
framework was established with incentives to the participation
of
the society in both countries. Botnia and ENCE have placed the individual
environmental impact assessment studies freely available in the web.
The IFC requested an international environmental auditing company
to perform a environmental cumulative impact assessment, evaluating
the effects of the two mills together. This study is also available
in the web.
To
all of us, it is a great opportunity to take contact with well-elaborated
documents about environmental impacts of the kraft pulping process,
and the procedures to mitigate and to monitor them. This vast documentation
is available in Spanish and in English, in the Botnia, ENCE and IFC
websites.
The Botnia project
is known as Orion mill in Uruguay, and the ENCE is named Celulosa
de M'Bopicuá .
This valuable literature may be found in the following addresses:
Information about Botnia, ENCE and the individual environmental
impact studies:
http://www.metsabotnia.com/es/default.asp?path=284;292;439;944;1116;960
http://www.metsabotnia.com/en/default.asp?path=204;208;231;1146
http://www.metsabotnia.com/es/default.asp?path=284,292,598,639
http://www.ence.es/english/pdfs/ENCE_Presinver2005_eng.pdf
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/lac.nsf/Content/Uruguay_PulpMills_Back_Docs_CMB
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/spiwebsite1.nsf/2bc34f011b50ff6e85256a550073ff1c/
9b67b10ae7244d32852570b6007d293e?OpenDocument
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/lac.nsf/Content/Uruguay_PulpMills_Background_Docs
Informations about the cumulative environmental
impact evaluation contracted by the IFC - World Bank:
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/lac.nsf/Content/Uruguay_Pulp_Mills_CIS
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/lac.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/Uruguay_PulpMills_AnnexE/$FILE/CIS_AnnexE_ecoImpact.pdf
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/lac.nsf/Content/Uruguay_PulpMills_FAQ
Online
Video about Pulp Manufacture
(options for English and Spanish)
One
of the main weaknesses of the forest industry is the lack of communication
with the society. Although this segment
is rich in good examples to show, the ability to introduce them to
people is frequently very limited. I've recently found an interesting
video about pulp manufacturing, available online. It is an edition
of the Finish
Botnia company. Have a look and tell your friends. A good example
to be followed.
http://www.botnia.ru/mb/pulp_mill/main.htm?time=1113460343010
http://metsabotnia-new.visualsystems.com/en/default.asp?path=204;214;251;260&voucher=216602F1-2045-4C57-9676-D2C469E0246
Technical
Mini Article by Celso Foelkel
ECF
and TCF Bleaching Sequences for Eucalyptus Kraft Pulps
Along
the 90’s, the debate about pulp bleaching
sequences was very common. TCF or ECF, this was the key point.
Today, these disputes have been weakened, but they usually regain
force once and a while. When a pulp company has a decision to raise
bleached pulp production in an existing mill, or to build a new
greenfield mill, the discussions restarted again. Since the mill
has to prove its environmental performance and cleanliness in an
impact assessment study, the opposition against ECF sequences always
comes to the scene, even considering they are renowned as “best
available technology under the environmental viewpoint”.
Pulp mills want to supply the market with a clean, bright and resistant
product, obtained with the minimum production costs. The selection
for the bleaching sequence has been, in most of the cases, an ECF
sequence. This is due to the high efficiency and low chlorine dioxide
production costs. On the other hand, the environmentalists claim
for a TCF bleaching sequence. They imagine sequences like these
have no impact at all to the environment, because they do not use
chlorine compounds as oxidants. The real truth is that both types
of bleaching sequences have environmental impacts: they need to
be identified, measured, monitored and minimized. Both, an ECF
sequence in the state-of-the-art technology, or a TCF sequence,
have environmental impacts. There are many scientific articles
proving that both types of sequences are equivalent in terms of
toxicity or major impacts. If so, why the controversy? Part because
the lack of technical knowledge by the people involved in the dispute,
and part because the emotions involved usually overcome rationality.
The truth, in a dispute like this, is located somewhere in between
the two extreme positions. Truth is also not absolute, it is going
to change position according to new scientific discoveries. Depending
on the selection of chemicals, closures of water and filtrates,
and available wastewater treatment plant, each bleaching sequence
may have a lighter or heavier impact. Today’s targets are
to build mills with minimum environmental impact. There is one
thing that we may guarantee: today’s bleaching technologies
are definitively better than those used about one decade ago. Surely,
the technologies to be offered in a decade from now, are to be
much better than today’s. It’s only a matter of timing.
The
root cause to all this debate is the search for the whiter white
by the pulp and paper industry. Using an ECF sequence, this is
easier achieved and at a low
operation cost in the kraft fiber line. We know that using chlorine dioxide
in the sequence, the bleachability is greater and better than
using other chemicals. This chemical has a great ability to oxidize
and to bleach pulps. At the same time, a pollution
in the form of chlorinated organics and chlorate ion is generated and discharged
through the bleaching line effluents. There are very good ways to treat and
to mitigate this pollution load, but they demand capital and
operational costs.
Wastewater treatment plants are forced to result in very good quality effluents,
and this means more money in the total pulp costs. Thus, the total costs of
ECF sequences are not only the costs in the chemicals and steam
used in the bleaching
line.
On
the other hand, when a high brightness is targeted with a TCF
sequence, to supply a standard kraft pulp market, more no chlorine
chemicals are required.
This happens because TCF sequences are less effective to bleach kraft pulps.
Oxygen chemicals are less effective to provide
high and stable brightness. The consequence
is harmful to the environment in the form of higher chemical charges and
residuals. The residuals of chemicals, in higher concentrations,
are harmful
to the microorganisms
in
the biological steps of the wastewater treatment plant. Remember that hydrogen
peroxide is a powerful disinfectant and biocide, very used in medicine. The
overcharged chemicals also overoxidize cellulose fibers. As a consequence,
fibers become
weaker and the pulp yield is lowered due to the dissolution of more fiber
chemical components. More wood will be required to the manufacture
of one ton of pulp,
what is an additional environmental impact. Paper made with TCF pulps may
be eventually weaker, and paper recycling impacted. The weaker
TCF fibers will not resist
as many recycling cycles in their use as wastepaper for paper manufacturing.
The
overall costs are also impacted due to chemical charges and losses in yields
and pulp & paper qualities.
Today
the best environmental option may be located somewhere in between
ECF and TCF: an optimized combination of low
chlorine dioxide charges, oxygen
compounds (hydrogen peroxide, oxygen and ozone), caustic soda and acids.
These combinations
lead to what we call “ECF light” or “Light ECF” sequences.
They are growing in importance and popularity. These light ECF sequences
in general start with a double oxygen delignification, for maximum lignin
removal from the
unbleached pulp. The next step is the use of a stage to destroy and to
hydrolyze the hexenuronic acids, very common in eucalyptus kraft pulps.
These HexAc
are fairly decomposed by either one of the following measures: hot acid
(A), hot
chlorine dioxide (Dhot) or ozone (Z). The resulting pulp has now low lignin
content and it is not very demanding on oxidative compounds. The combined
use of low
charges of ClO2, NaOH, O2, and H2O2 allows to reach the required pulp brightness,
strengths and cleanliness. The ECF light sequences are based on the utilization
of recipes with low charges of each chemical, in an optimum use of each
one. The responsibility for bleaching is shared among different chemicals.
Some
soup of letters very common now-a-days as ECF light sequences are: OODhotEoP
; OOADEopD;
OOADEoP, OOZEoD; OOZEoDP. Sequences containing ozone have been recommended
to situations where the water consumption and effluent color are very strict.
Although
more expensive in the bleaching line, the sequences containing ozone allow
savings in the wastewater treatment plant. This is very eco-efficient.
Eucalyptus kraft
pulp bleaching technologies are to show a steady trend towards ECF light
sequences. New sequences to come are to incorporate quelants and catalysts
(molybdate, manganese
complexes or polyoxomethalates) and efficient final stages to preserve
brightness (hydrogen peroxide in adequate pH and temperature). Closer we
walk towards
TCF alike sequences, shorter becomes the distance to total water cycle
closures in
kraft pulp mills, without the use of end-of-pipe techniques (as nanofiltration,
for example). Today, it is being possible to reach 10 m3 effluent/adt in
an ECF light bleaching line. It’s clear that environmental impacts
are being minimized and water consumption approaches to closure. In this
particular, pulp washing
between bleaching stages are playing important role. Wash presses have
gained the status of the “best available technology” for this
service.
However,
an enormous jump on environmental performance would be obtained
by a reduction on the final pulp and paper brightness and whiteness.
A
lot of
more
efficient than an environmental legislation, imposing strict controls
in
effluent quality, it would be a product legislation, limiting paper brightness.
Tissue
papers and most of printing and writing papers could fulfil market needs
with a lower brightness level. To the consumer, these high brightness
are not relevant,
unless exceptionaly. To these cases, industry could manufacture specialty
papers in specific runs, with higher brightness. Paper and pulp manufacturers
and environmentalists
are invited to join efforts towards this target. The overall environmental
impact would be lower, the eco efficiency would be better, the pulp and
paper production
costs would decrease and final paper price in the markets could better
favor the consumers. Why not to think more about this? Or, why not to
act faster?
Today, we are doing close to nothing in this direction, but this
is an issue that
is definitively to succeed in the future.