Ilim Group is finalising the construction of one of the largest Kraftliner Mills in Ust-Ilimsk. It is the first mill in the Russian pulp and paper industry to use a two-stage biological wastewater treatment system.
Ilim claims the Ust-Ilimsk Mill will be one of the largest kraftliner production sites in Russia, with an output of 600,000 tons per year, which will allow them to reach the annual total of 4.6m tons by 2025. It says state-of-the-art equipment and wastewater treatment system will be installed at the plant.
Ilim Group expects to start the first hydraulic tests of the wastewater treatment system this month, being the key environmental facility of the new mill. The KLB Mill will use a two-stage biological wastewater treatment technology intended to significantly reduce the production discharges into the Angara River. Wastewater from the Company’s production sites will undergo three treatment stages: mechanical, biological, and physico-chemical. It is the first time that this technological solution has been used at a Russian pulp and paper mill.
“The new wastewater treatment plant of the KLB Mill is constructed to comply with the latest international standards. Some of the plant performance indicators will be even higher than those stipulated by the Russian environmental standards,” commented Aleksandr Pozdniakov, Senior Vice-President, Chief Operations Officer, JSC Ilim Group.
Another important environmental aspect at the new KLB Mill is the operation of the recycling water supply plant with a cooling tower. It was constructed to reduce water consumption and water discharge at the mill. The new water treatment facility will serve the KLB Mill and partially Ilim Group’s existing mill in Ust-Ilimsk. Due to the best available cutting edge technologies, the design maximum capacity of the new wastewater treatment facilities is 3.5 thousand cubic meters per hour.
