Experimental Spray Irrigation of
Strawboard Wastes
A. D. Meighen, Technical Director
The Weston Paper and Manufacturing Co.
Terre Haute Division
Terre Haute, Indiana
The treatment of paper mill waste is a subject about which many
volumes have been written, and many speeches delivered. Out of the
volumes of the written word and the records of speeches little comfort
may be afforded those persons charged with the .treatment or disposal
of strawboard mill wastes. Existing strawboard mills in the United
States are small manufacturing plants when compared with the board
mills producing semichemical and kraft board grades. The strawboard
mill is not, by reason of size, adaptable to the recovery of chemical
cooking agents used in producing pulps.
The waste treatment phases of strawboard operations are complicated
by the necessity for treating the waste cooking liquors and other pulp
mill effluents. In some of the early work on strawboard mill wastes, the
methods and techniques of sanitary sewage disposal have been explored.
From the work sponsored by The National Council For Stream Improvement, it may be seen that economical treatment of strawboard wastes by
either aerobic or anaerobic decomposition does not appear feasible under
mill operating conditions. Of the better methods for treating strawboard
wastes developed during the past 20 years the oxidation lagoon appears as
the most economically feasible. As is often the case, economic as well
as other factors must be considered when adopting a process; thus, while
the lagoon may provide adequate treatment, the by-products of the
process may not add up to good community relations, particularly when
the prevailing winds blow across the proposed lagoon site toward a
densely populated area.
The treatment of industrial wastes by spray irrigation is not
new. The spraying of wastes from milk processing, canning operations,
paper mills, and other manufacturing operations has been practiced for
a number of years. The pilot scale experiment was set up at the Terre
Haute mill of the Weston Paper and Manufacturing Co. on November
5, 1956. The aim of the project was to investigate the feasibility of land
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