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Crofton mill to invest in odour-eating technology |
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Crofton mill to invest in odour-eating technology
By EDWARD HILL
The Chronicle (Ladysmith)
Jul 19 2005
The sulphurous stink of the Crofton pulp mill could be slashed up to
one third by the fall with the installation of odour-eating equipment,
say NorskeCanada officials.
The mill is planning to pipe sulphur-laden gases - which produce a
putrid rotten-egg smell - from its wood chip digesting system to a
boiler for incineration. Also, one of five backup kilns on site without
odour scrubbing will be fitted with piping.
The chip bin is a really big source," said environmental supervisor
Michelle Vessey. We are looking at 30 per cent of total emissions from
the site being collected and incinerated."
The project will cost around $1 million and should be completed during
a scheduled shutdown in October. Vessey said it's a continuation of a
$12 million odour dilution scheme started in 2001, which cut about 70
per cent of the sulphur emissions.
That may be so, but the mill still receives around 40 odour complaints
per year, mainly because people can smell sulphur compounds at very low
levels. It's a nuisance gas. It's very difficult to eliminate. Our goal
is to reduce odours," Vessey said.
Vessey stressed data from the mill's ambient air stations show the
daily release of sulphur compounds is well below government health risk
thresholds. The Jacques Whitford mill emissions study released last
year also showed no health risks associated with TRS Â - total reduced
sulphur" in engineering parlance   - although engineers hired by the
Crofton Airshed Citizens Group called into question the validity of the
report.
The Norske Community Advisory Forum (CAF), a community-based group that
liaises with the mill, has been grappling with issues of mill
pollution, not always smoothly, for the better part of the year, and
soon will have smell on the agenda.
CAF member Carole Donnelly, who represents Crofton, plans to present a
2004 Nobel Prize-winning study on the human olfactory system and other
data that shows odours can significantly impact the quality of life.
The report suggests smell can effect health just as much as inhaling or
ingesting," Donnelly said. We need to strike a balance and need to
encourage the mill to get rid of toxins and the smell."
How sulphur compounds distribute themselves across the area is poorly
understood and can rely on anecdotal information. Four monitoring
stations around Crofton track TRS particulate, but one part TRS in a
million or even a billion can upset the delicate human nose.
A decade ago Donnelly could smell the mill as far away as Duncan. These
days the fumes tend to skip downtown Crofton, she said, and settle in
surrounding neighbourhoods.
Lots of people who complain live farther out of town. Although
sometimes going by the mill can be nauseating, but not all the time,"
Donnelly said.
Whether things have gotten better is hard to say, but Norske seems to be trying to clean up as much as they can." |
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