Process Engineering for Environmental Solutions in Paper Mills

Functionality of Process Engineering

Process engineering at meri Environmental Solutions focuses on designing, analyzing, and optimizing systems that minimize the ecological footprint of paper production. Its core functions include:

  1. System Design & Integration
    • Designing effluent treatment plants (ETPs), water recycling loops, and sludge and reject and residual handling systems.
    • Integrating treatment processes with mill operations to ensure minimal disruptions.
  2. Mass & Energy Balances
    • Calculating water, fiber, chemical, and energy flows through the mill and its treatment units.
    • Identifying sources of waste and opportunities for reuse or recovery.
  3. Process Simulation & Optimization
    • Modeling treatment processes (e.g., aeration, anaerobic digestion, chemical dosing).
    • Optimizing performance to reduce OPEX (chemicals, electricity, sludge volume).
  4. Technology Selection
    • Evaluating and recommending Best Available Technologies (BATs) such as advanced oxidation, membrane filtration, or anaerobic reactors.
    • Ensuring selected technologies match local regulations and mill-specific needs.
  5. Monitoring & Control Strategy
    • Designing instrumentation and automation for pH, BOD/COD load, dissolved oxygen, flow rates, etc.
    • Enabling real-time control to avoid shock loads or compliance breaches.

Importance of Process Engineering at meri Environmental Solutions

  • Regulatory Compliance → Ensures effluent, air emissions, and waste streams meet environmental standards.
  • OPEX Reduction → Optimizes chemical dosing, aeration, and sludge handling, cutting treatment costs.
  • Resource Recovery → Enables recycling of water, fiber recovery from sludge, and biogas generation from organic loads.
  • Sustainability → Supports ISO 14001, FSC, and eco-label certifications by embedding environmental best practices.
  • Operational Reliability → Reduces downtime and ensures stable mill performance by integrating environmental processes into the production cycle.

Typical Scopes of Process Engineering in Paper Mill Environmental Projects

  1. Baseline Assessment
    • Water balance, pollution load mapping, sludge characterization.
  2. Feasibility Studies
    • Evaluate treatment/upgrade options, CAPEX & OPEX estimates, payback analysis.
  3. Process Design
    • Flow diagrams, hydraulic calculations, sizing of tanks/reactors, equipment selection.
  4. Detail Engineering
    • Piping & instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), control philosophy, layouts.
  5. Revamp/Upgrade Studies
    • Debottlenecking existing ETPs, retrofitting with advanced units, capacity expansion.
  6. Commissioning & Optimization
    • Start-up support, operator training, and fine-tuning for performance.
  7. Environmental Audits & Compliance Studies
    • Continuous improvement recommendations, benchmarking against BAT.

Typical Documents Produced

  • Mass & Energy Balance Reports
  • Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs)
  • Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs)
  • Equipment Data Sheets & Specifications
  • Design Basis Memorandum (DBM)
  • Hydraulic & Process Calculations
  • Operational Manuals & SOPs
  • CAPEX & OPEX Analysis Reports
  • Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) inputs
  • Audit & Compliance Reports