Physical-Chemical Treatment of
Pulp and Paper Wastewaters
W. BRUCE McCUAIG, Senior Staff Engineer
Environmental Services Department
Giffels Associates, Inc.
Detroit, Michigan 48226.
PETER F. ATKINS, JR., President
DALE A. SCHERGER, Engineer
Environmental Control Technology Corporation
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
INTRODUCTION
Physical-chemical treatment of wastewater consists of a combination of one or all of
the following processes: chemical coagulation and sedimentation, chemical oxidation,
filtration, and activated carbon adsorption. This method of treatment has proven its
effectiveness on a number of representative domestic wastewater systems (1, 2, 3, 4) and
numerous industrial wastes (5, 6, 7, 8, 9).
This report discusses in detail the operation and performance of a pilot-scale
wastewater treatment facility that was used to treat an integrated kraft mill wastewater
containing approximately 25% of chemical pulping effluents and 75% of papermaking
effluents. In addition, the results of preliminary chemical coagulation studies and the
feasibility of thermally regenerating the spent carbon and the effectiveness of recycling this
regenerated carbon to the wastewater stream are considered. This pilot-scale facility was
located within the laboratory of the Institute of Paper Chemistry, Appleton, Wisconsin
with the wastewater being obtained, in truckload quantities, from a local mill.
The study outlined herein forms a portion of a larger report designed to evaluate the
technical and economic feasibility of an integrated physical-chemical treatment system for
the treatment of combined municipal and pulp and paper wastes (10). A major portion of
this larger study has been reported recently (11). The previous paper (11) discussed the
practical feasibility of using the physical-chemical process to effectively treat a municipal
wastewater containing approximately 80 percent paper industry (de-inking and
papermaking) effluents. This pilot-scale facility was located at the Neena-Menasha
Wastewater Treatment Plant, Menasha, Wisconsin. Due to the interlocking nature of the
complete study, portions of this municipal study (11) will be included herein.
Although it was recognized that the results obtained on a particular waste would not
necessarily be applicable in detail to particular wastes from other operations, the combined
results of this study have a broad applicability to similar wastewater treatment facilities.
METHODOLOGY
Pilot Treatment Facility
The basic pilot plant configuration is shown in Figure 1. The wastewater was
transported, in truckload quantities, from the semibleach kraft mill of the Thilmany Pulp
and Paper Company Division of Hammermill Paper Company of Kaukauna, Wisconsin,
and deposited in two insulated 5,000-gallon capacity stainless steel storage tanks located
directly outside the building housing the pilot facility. The pilot unit was designed to treat
1,500-gallons of wastewater per day.
The wastewater was pumped from the holding tanks to the rapid-mix chamber where
716