Summary

The pulp and paper industry is one of the oldest industries in India. There are about 350 paper mills in India, using a variety of raw materials ranging from forest-based wood to agricultural residues such as wheat straw, rice straw, and bagasse. This case study deals with the cleaner production programme initiated in an agricultural residue-based pulp and paper mill, Raval. This company was one of the demonstration units which participated in the UNIDO-sponsored project DESIRE (DEmonstration in Small Industries for REducing wastes).

Implementing cleaner production techniques has created multiple benefits for Raval Paper Mills. Firstly, the economic benefits: the investment of USD 80,000 made in implementing the first 30 measures generated a saving of USD 88,000 per year. It led to an 8 per cent increase in production capacity due to less paper breakage and better fibre recovery. The process water consumption came down by 28 per cent thus enabling the unit to operate at full capacity even during the water-scarce summer period. The specific steam consumption was brought down by 8.5 per cent. Consumption of chemicals such as caustic soda and alum was also reduced. On the environmental front, the cleaner production measures reduced the solid waste generation by 18 per cent, water pollution load by 46 per cent and air pollution load by 8.5 per cent. The effluent treatment costs have come down by approximately USD 55,000 per year. Other advantages for the company have been; improved paper quality; reduced maintenance requirements and the creation of a better work environment. Efforts are now underway to launch similar programmes in other industries in India.

Country context

India is the world's largest democracy with a population of over 900 million and an area of 3.32 million km2. The Indian cultural tradition is estimated to be 5000 years old. The societal pattern in the country has been a matter of surprise and delight to the rest of the world with its unique feature of ”Unity and Diversity”. The Indian economy has been conventionally agricultural. However, over the years the share of agriculture has declined from 56 per cent in 1950-51, to 32 per cent in 1990-91. The share of industry has increased from 15 per cent to 28 per cent, and that of services has increased from 29 per cent to 40 per cent during the same period. Following the globalisation and liberalisation programmes launched by the Indian government a few years back, the economy in the last three years has been growing at a rate of 8 to 10 per cent per year.

Sector overview

The paper industry in India is one of the oldest industries, dating back more than a century. Production, 19,000 tonnes/year, was moderate at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1993 Indian paper production had risen to 2.4 million tonnes/year, following the increasing emphasis on literacy. The demand for paper is likely to increase at a much faster rate in the future. Paper consumption in India was 2.8 million tonnes in 1993-94, and it is expected to reach 4.2 million tonnes by the turn of century, and 6.9 million tonnes by the year 2010.

There are about 350 paper mills in the country, of which only 10 per cent are forest-based, and the remaining are agricultural residue- or waste paper-based. Over the last two decades there has been a decline in the use of forest-based raw materials, from 84 per cent in the 1970s to 43 per cent in the 1990s. The use of agricultural residues has increased from 10 per cent to 32 per cent during the same period, and is projected to rise to a level of 60 per cent by the year 2010.

The pulp and paper industry has been recognised as one of the highly polluting industrial sectors in the country. The agricultural residue-based mills are of particular concern, due to their relatively small size, with an output of 10 to 40 tonnes/day, their technology constraints, and their larger specific pollution load. Environmental management is particularly necessary in this sector.

Company description

Raval Paper Mills is a 300-employee enterprise, located in Rae Bareilly, a small semi-industrialised town in Uttar Pradesh, about 500 kilometres from New Delhi. It is an agricultural residue-based paper mill. The company is privately owned, and the owners are qualified engineers. The operating capacity of the plant is 25 tonnes/day. 10 tonnes of the daily output consist of unbleached semi-kraft paper, and the other 15 tonnes consist of bleached and dyed writing paper. Depending on the season, various combinations of wheat straw, rice straw and waste paper are fed as raw material.

Driving forces

The main reasons for the company to adopt cleaner production techniques and technologies were:

• Shortage of water especially in the summer period, leading to poor capacity utilisation. During this period the company normally produces 15 tonnes/day, i.e. 65 per cent of operational capacity;
• Pressure from State Pollution Control Board (Regulatory Authority);
• Pressure from local bodies and NGOs for environmental protection, and;
• Opportunity of participating in a demonstration project on Waste Minimisation (project DESIRE - DEmonstration in Small Industries for REducing wastes).

Raval’s main aims in implementing cleaner production were as follows:

• To reduce the water consumption to enable operation at full capacity even during the summer period;
• To reduce the waste water treatment costs;
• To reduce the raw material costs and thus be more competitive in the market, and;
• To facilitate meeting the effluent discharge standards.

Problem definition

The major environmental issues and problems faced by the company were:

• High process water consumption and high waste water generation. The process water consumption was 176 m3/tonne as against the recommended level of 120 m3/tonne of paper;
• High costs related to raw materials, chemicals and energy consumption, adding up to Rp 8071/tonne of paper, thus eroding the profitability of the company;
• High environmental pollution load, particularly the water pollution load which was: 0.20 tonnes of BOD/tonne paper; 0.99 tonnes of COD/tonne paper; 0.34 tonnes TSS/tonne paper and; 1.21 tonnes TS/tonne paper.

Implementation of Environmental Measures

Under the project DESIRE, a Cleaner Production Demonstration Project was launched in the company. The waste minimisation assessment methodology developed by the National Productivity Council (NPC) was used. A waste minimisation team comprising mill employees and NPC consultants was formed, which was assisted by an expert from UNIDO. The process steps were identified, a material and energy balance was prepared, and the causes of wastes generation were determined to enable the team to develop waste minimisation solutions. Towards the end of the project period, 64 waste minimisation measures were identified. Of these, 29 measures which were directly implementable were taken up straightaway.

Another 22 measures required further technical feasibility and economic viability analysis. The environmental aspects of these measures were also analysed. These were then ranked in terms of priority and an implementation plan was drawn up. Towards the end of the project, the company had already implemented 31 measures, and another 20 were being implemented or planned for implementation in the future. 13 measures were rejected because of low expected economic gains and/or poor technical viability.

External support was provided to the company in the form of:

• Measurement and monitoring facilities for preparing the material and energy balance, waste stream characterisation, quantification and assessment of pollution load. The required facilities and expertise were provided by the National Productivity Council.
• Expert advisory assistance for identifying cleaner production measures and training of company staff was provided by UNIDO and the NPC.,

Resources invested

A total of USD 80,000 was invested in the first 30 measures implemented. The annual savings amounted to a total of USD 88, 000. The overall payback time was 11 months. In addition, the reduction in the pollution load saved the company an additional USD 55,000 per year in effluent treatment costs. The operation production capacity increased from 25 tonnes/day to 27 tonnes/day. The financial benefit accrued by this increased capacity particularly in summer months has not been included in the above figures. The entire expenditure was financed through the company's own resources.

Obstacles to Goal Achievement

The main problems experienced by the company in implementing cleaner production are as follows:

• Lack of enterprise-level technical expertise
  The unit lacked in technical expertise in relation to cleaner production. It could take up the project only with the full involvement and availability of external experts from UNIDO and NPC.
• High turnover of employees
  The unit had a high turnover of employees which prevented it from forming a sustainable cleaner production team with long-term programmes. This limited the ability of the enterprise to work on cleaner production measures requiring deeper and longer involvement of the employees.
• Limited decision-making powers of employees
  The decision-making powers, particularly those relating to financial matters, were mostly in the hands of the top management and the owners. The middle-managers had little say in the decision-making process. Consequently it took longer to implement the cleaner production measures.
• Inappropriate pricing of natural resources
  The prevailing low price of natural resources, in particular water, had a negative effect on the economic viability of some cleaner production measures.
• Continued emphasis on end-of-pipe pollution control
  The regulatory authority still focuses on achieving discharge standards which continue to be concentration-based. The enterprise therefore is obliged to have an elaborate effluent treatment plant in order to meet the discharge limits.
• Lack of funds
  During the project period, the plant was undergoing a financial crisis, and had serious constraints on financing. The financial institutions prefer to provide funds for expansion and/or end-of-pipe pollution control, rather than modifications related to cleaner production. The plant therefore had to depend solely on its own resources, thus limiting its capability to take up the more capital-intensive cleaner production measures.

Partnerships

The project was successfully conducted because of the partnership of various organisations. The main partners in the project were:

• Concerned Industry: Raval Paper Mills,
• Industry Association: Agricultural Residue-based Pulp and Paper Industry Association;
• Professional Organisation: National Productivity Council;
• International Support Organisation: UNIDO;
• Government: Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests;
• Research Institute: Central Pulp and Paper Research Institute.

Table 1: Delegation of Project Responsibilities

Several employees of the company were involved in the project. The project team consisted of Mr. N. Verma, Managing Director (overall coordinator), Mr. A. K. Sinha, (works manager/team leader), Mr. Laxman Singh, (project manager), Mr. Raman Kumar, (pulp mill overseer), Mr. D.P. Singh, (maintenance overseer), Mr. Ajay Singh, (laboratory analyst), Mr. Dinesh Singh, (operator). In addition, shopfloor personnel were involved from time to time.

Being a small industry in a rural location, the communication was mainly informal on a person-to-person basis. Regular meetings were held between the company and external support organisations to monitor the progress. Interim reports were prepared mainly by the external support organisations to keep track of the developments. Towards the end of the project, an overall report was prepared by the experts and submitted to the management, to enable the company to incorporate the project into its managerial procedures, and to enable Raval’s management to take the project further on its own. The responsibilities of the different agencies/individuals involved in the cleaner production project are presented in Table 1.

Results

Production capacity

The overall production capacity of the plant has risen by about 2 tonnes/day (i.e. by 8 per cent). This increase is shown in Table 2. This was made possible by implementing double felting in the paper machine and by providing uniform pressure to the edge-cutting nozzle. These alternatives effectively reduced the paper breakages by about 18 times a day equivalent to about two hours of paper production. As this production was achieved without any additional overhead expenditure the profits increased by approximately Rp 4000/day.

Table 2: Increase in Production Capacity

Water consumption

The implementation of the following cleaner production alternatives has effectively reduced the specific water consumption by 28 per cent (see Table 3), that is on the average by about 35 m3/tonne of paper:

• Screw press, which after squeezing of pulp requires less water for washing
• Substitution of fresh water by fibre-rich back water, where ever possible

Table 3: Reduction in Water Consumption

* For a paper production of 27 TPD

Electrical energy consumption

The specific electrical energy requirement for the paper-making section alone increased by 8 per cent, due to the fact that the cleaner production measures required additional electrical energy for transfer of waste materials (back water, Decker filtrate) for recycling, reuse and recovery. However, the total electrical energy consumption for combined pulp and paper sections decreased by approximately 42 KWH/tonne of paper*. The decrease is mainly due to the reduced electrical energy requirements for waste water treatment. This was achieved by segregating the concentrated black liquor for solar drying. Table 4 presents the changes in electrical energy consumption.

Steam consumption

Implementation of cleaner production measures such as dedusting of agricultural raw materials, insulation of condensate return line and, waste heat recovery through use of an economiser to provide hot water for maintaining bath ratio in digester, resulted in a reduction of specific steam requirement by 8.5 per cent (see Table 5). In addition, the solar-dried black liquor cakes could effectively produce an additional 0.50 tonnes of steam/tonne of paper, equivalent to 12.5 per cent of existing steam requirement.

Table 4: Reduction in Electrical Energy Consumption

Table 5: Reduction in Steam Consumption

Raw material consumption

The reduction in fibrous raw material consumption is mainly due to the recovery of fibre from the fibre-rich waste streams. The fibre recovery amounts to about 53 kg/tonne of paper. Taking an average fibrous raw material yield as 54 per cent, the above fibre recovery is equivalent to fibrous raw material of about 98 kg/tonne of paper. The fibrous raw material consumption for kraft grade paper was further reduced, as after refining Johnson screen rejects were recycled to this stream. The rejects were of the order of 73 kg of fibre/tonne of kraft paper. This was equivalent to 138 kg of fibrous raw material per tonne of kraft paper. The reduction in alum consumption was mainly due to improved washing of pulp. The caustic consumption was reduced partly due to partial recycling of black liquor and partly due to dedusting of raw materials.

Solid wastes

The solid waste generation from process reduced by 32 kg/tonne as a result of recycling of Johnson screen rejects. Although the dust from raw material increased by 60 kg per tonne of paper due to the dedusting operation, it will ultimately be reutilised in boiler with solar dried black liquor cakes. Thus effectively the process solid waste contribution reduced by about 32 kg/tonne. The sludge from the water treatment facility is reduced because of the black liquor segregation. The total solid waste generation was reduced by 18 per cent due to the cleaner production programme.

Water pollution load

The reduction of approximately 46 per cent in the overall water pollution load was achieved after the implementation of cleaner production. About 70 per cent of this impact is due to the solar evaporation of black liquor. (See Table 6) The other measures which contributed to this impact are:

• recycling of fibre-rich streams for pump dilution;
• installation of Johnson screen showers;
• maintenance of digester bath ratio;
• use of fibre saver at centricleaner, and;
• removal of dust from raw material which would otherwise result in waste water.

Table 6: Reduction in Water Pollution Load

Solar evaporation of black liquor has not only given fuel in the form of black liquor cakes but has also reduced the colour in the treated waste water. The waste water treatment cost was reduced through reduced electrical energy requirements for aeration and also through reduced requirements of nutrients and neutralising chemicals.

Other benefits

Other benefits which followed the implementation of cleaner production at Raval are as follows:

• The image amongst the local bodies, NGOs and regulatory bodies has improved and the company is now being considered as ”environmentally conscious”.
• Most importantly the cleaner production programme has resulted in improving the work environment, thereby improving the worker productivity and morale.

Cost-savings

A total investment of 2.75 Rp million (approximately USD 80,000) was made in the Raval cleaner production project. The savings which resulted from this investment are presented in Table 7. The total annual savings realised by the company amounts to approximately 5 million Rp (USD 143,000). The overall payback period on the investments made was less than 7 months.

Table 7: Cleaner Production Costs-savings

Lessons learned

The most important lessons learned through the experiences at Raval are as follows:

• Cleaner production has immense potential particularly in SMEs;
• The success of cleaner production can be optimised if workers at all levels, from the shop floor, to middle management are included in the decision-making processes;
• Cleaner production is economically very attractive;
• Demonstration projects help to convince the industries of the scope and potential of cleaner production;
• Industrial enterprises require professional support for implementing cleaner production;
• SMEs require hardware facilities and expertise for the measurement and monitoring of waste streams;
• For a sustainable cleaner production programme in industry, the training and involvement of plant personnel is essential, and;
• Adoption of a systematic methodology of cleaner production assessment helps maximise benefits.

For further information contact

Mr. N. Verma
Managing Director, Raval Paper Mills
A-6&7 Industrial Area Site 2, Amawan Road
Raibarelli-229 001, Uttar Pradesh, India
tel: 91-535-803-453