Consumables

Major investment to improve wastewater purification

The biological aerated lagoon, which plays an important role in Iggesund Bruk's wastewater treatment process, will now be complemented by an additional purification stage using chemical precipitation. The investment will cost 21.5 million pounds.

Wednesday 17. September 2008 - Paperboard manufacturer Iggesund Paperboard, which is part of the Holmen forest products industry group, is investing £ 21.5 million ( € 27 M) to improve wastewater purification at its Swedish mill Iggesunds Bruk.

The purification facility will come online in the autumn of 2009. The mill manufactures Iggesund’s flagship product Invercote, which has a leading market position as a packaging material for prestige products and for use in graphics applications such as book and brochure covers and greeting cards.
Iggesunds Bruk’s current purification system involves oxygenating the mill wastewater in a biological aerated lagoon before releasing the water into the Baltic Sea.
“After having investigated possible additional biological purification stages we have chosen to work with chemical precipitation in the new facility,” explains Iggesunds Bruk mill director Staffan Jonsson. “The process will result in a substantial reduction to the oxygen-consuming substances in the wastewater plus improvements to basically all our other parameters as well.
“The new treatment facility will enable us to maintain world-class standards for wastewater discharge within the foreseeable future.”

Earlier this year Iggesunds Bruk was given the green light to energy investments to reduce the mill’s emissions of fossil carbon dioxide by 75 per cent over the next few years. The reduction is the equivalent of taking 20,000 cars, each driving 15,000 kilometres a year, off the road.