Project description

Kruger Products Ltd.’s installation of the Canadian pulp and paper industry’s first biomass gasification plant decreases the New Westminster tissue mill’s carbon emissions by up to 50 percent annually. Kruger’s new installation, developed by Vancouver’s Nexterra Systems Corp., converts local wood waste into clean-burning syngas to provide steam for the mill.

How it reduces emissions

Paper producers rely on steam to power their mills. Usually, this steam is created by natural gas, which produces carbon dioxide emissions, or by hog fuel, which emits particulate matter. Kruger Products has utilized groundbreaking, made-in-BC technology to replace two of its standard boilers with a clean biomass gasification system. Kruger now meets about half of the plant’s steam requirements by converting local wood waste into clean-burning syngas.

Other Benefits

Kruger’s biomass gasification system makes productive use of locally supplied waste material. Developed to operate well with low-quality, high-moisture-content biomass fuel, the boilers use wood that would otherwise be incinerated (generating emissions) or delivered to a landfill (generating methane). And because BC has abundant biomass resources – from beetle-killed timber, sawmill waste, unused roadside slash, forest thinnings and agricultural residues – biomass is an ecologically sound fuel choice. This innovative clean-tech project provides a competitive advantage for the BC industry and underscores the province’s potential to become a world leader in clean energy.