TAPPI local section news Pacific Section winter meeting.

The theme of the January meeting hosted by Pacific Section TAPPI was "Reducing Effluent Temperatures." The attending mixture of mill personnel and engineers was taken through a history of effluent handling and treatment up to and including current practices and technologies. Considering today's environmental regulations and emphasis on closing up mill water systems, various strategies for recapturing the heat for process uses were considered.

Speakers from Poseidon, Alfa Laval, and Courtney & Nye presented information on the latest equipment available to help recover heat from effluent streams including heat exchangers designed to handle streams containing fines and fiber. A case study on effluent temperature reduction at the Weyerhaeuser mill in Rothschild, Wisconsin, was presented.

When no practical method for extracting useful heat from the effluent exists, the use of cooling towers as a solution to meeting temperature constraints was also examined.

Pacific Section TAPPI would like to thank West Linn Paper for hosting a tour of its facility prior to the meeting.