Mercer Peace River Pulp to set up on-site chipping facility
Peace River, AB - Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. (MPR) is undertaking a capital investment project to transform its fibre procurement process, improving environmental performance and creating a more sustainable business model.
Currently, MPR’s hardwood fibre procurement process utilizes portable chippers to debark and chip aspen trees in the forest or remote satellite yards, which are then delivered to the facility to be processed. After determining wood costs as a material competitive issue for the mill, MPR has decided to transition from off-site aspen chipping to an on-site centralized chipping facility. With the new investments, logs will be cut to length and transported to the mill on larger, more efficient 10-axle trucks and processed in the new stateof-the-art wood processing facility. MPR will significantly lower its carbon footprint through the reduction of fossil fuel emissions. This will be achieved by a number of changes. The company will move from diesel-powered debarkers/chippers with electrical machines powered by the mill’s biogenic green energy.
The move will result in a more efficient transportation system, decrease fibre handling and improve hog fuel quality which will reduce natural gas consumption. The new stateof-the-art wood room, planned for completion in May of 2022, will be equipped with some of the most innovative debarking, chipping, and monitoring technologies. These technologies will allow for greater utilization of the hardwood trees and optimization of the pulping process, resulting in the need for fewer fibre resources. MPR anticipates a reduction of approximately 500,000 trees annually to meet pulp production goals, creating a more efficient and economical process.
It is projected that through this investment, by 2050, MPR will have reduced fossil fuel emissions by over 900,000 tonnes of CO2e and sequester 2.6 million tonnes of CO2e through forest conservation; thusly, creating an innovative solution to make significant, cost-effective greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions.
