Date: August 12 , 2011 (Finalized September 22, 2011)

Subject: Trip Report for Site Visit

– MeadWestvaco of Virginia, Inc. Risk and Technology review for pulp and paper production and combustion sources NESHAP

I

. Purpose

The purpose of the site visit t o MeadWestvaco of Virginia, Inc. in Covington, Virginia, was to obtain information about pulp and paper operations, equipment, and air pollution control devices. This information

- gathering effort was part of regulatory development work for the Risk and Tec hnology Review (RTR) for the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the pulp and paper industry.

II

. Place and Date

MeadWestvaco of Virginia (Covington Mill) 104 East Riverside Street, Covington, VA 24426 (540) 969

- 5385

August 11, 2011

Mailing address: 104 East Riverside Street, Covington, VA 24426

III

. Attendees

MeadWestvaco of Virginia

• Jim Taylor

• Gregory Hansrote

• Tim Morse

• Tom Botkins

• John Pinkerton, NCASI

• Ashok Jain, NCASI

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA )

• John Bradfield, Environmental Engineer, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards

(OAQPS)/Sector Polices and Programs Division (SPPD)/Natural Resources Group (NRG)

• Kelley Spence, Environmental Engineer, OAQPS/SPPD/NRG

• Karen Thundiyil, O ffice of Policy & Resources Management (ORPM)/Policy &

Regulatory Analysis Division (PRAD)

• Rafael Sanchez, Monitoring Assistance and Media Programs Division (MAMPD)/ Air

Branch (AB)

• Katie Hanks, EPA Contractor, Research Triangle Institute (RTI)IV

. Visit Summary

The site visit began with introductions and a meeting to discuss mill background, environmental air operations, safety, and the agenda of the visit. Following the meeting, a tour of the facility was provided and the foll owing areas were ob served: wood yard, unbleached pulp mill, recovery, wastewater treatment, bleach plant, powerhouse, and No. 1 and No. 2 paper machines. The information obtained during the site visit and from the Information Collection Request (ICR) response is discussed bel ow. The topics discussed are (A) general information, (B) pulp mill, (C) bleach plant, (D) paper mill, (E) chemical recovery and energy generation, and (F) wastewater treatment.

A

. General Information

The Covington mill (NEI759, RTI146) is the world’s large st solid bleached sulfate (SBS) mill, with a paperboard capacity of over 900,000 tons per year. The facility is real estate limited, but is located in one of the world’s largest areas of available forestland, as well as one of the world’s most productive h ardwood forests. The facility has access to the port of Norfolk, which it uses to ship to countries worldwide

. MWV is the largest customer of the port

, as it exports 40

- 50% of its product, and it is the 10 th largest exporter in the US. The facility is also located in an area where 50% of the manufacturing in the US occurs, allowing it to service the surrounding companies. The mill employs 1,156 people, and the main grades produced are solid bleached boxboard, liquid packaging board, food service/cup stock b oard, and other paperboard.

In 1852, the Luke family from Scotland came to the United States to found a paper company similar to those his family owned in Scotland; he founded the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company in 1988. The first paper machine was a Pusey and Jones machine and it started up in 1900. This machine remained running until 1970, when it was shut down for economic reasons. The second paper machine (PM8) was installed in 1953. In 1985, the facility started the biggest industrial expansion i n Virginia history ($346 million capital investment), involving the construction of PM1, PM2, a new recovery boiler, a new evaporator train, a new lime kiln, and a new wood yard. The two new paper machines were commissioned in 1986 and 1993, providing the mill two of the most modern board machines in the world. The mill recently announced that it will construct a new biomass boiler with a total investment of $285 million. This project is expected to enable the mill to become self

- sufficient in electrical po wer and steam generation.

B

. Pulp Mill

Wood i s received as logs and chips at approximately 70% hardwood and 30% softwood. The logs are debarked and chipped, and then sent to chip piles, where they are combined with other chips. Chips from the chip piles ar e collected and sent to chip screening and chip bins for storage , Figure 1. The softwood and hardwood chips remain separate during these processes.The facility performs chemical pulping utilizing the kraft process with 18 batch digesters, Figure 2. Appr oximately 250,000 gallons per year of turpentine is collected and sold as a by

- product. There are two traditional brown stock washer lines and one pressurized compaction baffle washer line. The facility also utilizes closed screening and knotting. NCGs fro m these processes are sent to a thermal oxidizer (with the lime kiln as back

- up). Approximately 2,200 air

- dried tons of unbleached pulp per day is produced.

Chipping and Debarking Storage Chip Screens Chips

Logs To Pulp Mill

Figure 1: Wood yard process flow diagram

Digester Chips Blow Tank Knotters

Brown Stock Washer O2 Delig Pressure Screens

Decker Washer To Bleach Plant Batch process

Figure 2: Pulping process flow diagram

C

. Ble ach Plant

There are three elemental chlorine free bleach plant lines. Line 001, which bleaches a blend of softwood and hardwood, is a D Ep D D sequence with a production of 1320 air

dried tons of bleached pulp per day, with an oxygen delignification pretr eatment. Line 002, which bleaches a blend of softwood and hardwood, is a D Ep D D sequence with a production of 1540 air

- dried tons of bleached pulp per day, Figure 3. Line 012, whichbleaches hardwood only, is a D Eop D sequence that utilizes an oxygen de lignification pretreatment, Figure 4. This line produces 1320 air

- dried tons of bleached pulp per day.

Do Bleach Stage Unbleached Pulp Washers EP Extraction Stage

EP Washer D1 Bleach Stage D1 Washer

D2 Bleach

Stage D2 Washer Bleach Pulp Storage

Figure 3: Bleach lines 001 and 002 process flow diagram

Figure 4: Bleach line 012 process flow diagram

D

. Paper Mill

There are three fourdri nier paper machines at the Covington facility. PM1 was installed in 1986 and has a machine width of 304 inches and a maximum speed of 1,750 feet per minute. PM1 also has an online coater (blade style) and produces solid bleached boxboard at a capacity of 3 14,000 tons per year (approximately 990 tons/day). PM2 was installed in 1993, and has a machine width of 278 inches and a maximum speed of 2,500 feet per minute. This machine also has an online coater (billblade) and produces foodservice/cup stock board ( capacity 7,000 tons per year) and solid bleached boxboard (capacity 223,000 tons per year, with a total production of approximately 1070 tons per day). PM8 was installed in 1954 and rebuilt in 1981 and 1992. The machine width is 219 inches and has an onlin e coater (double head coater). Grades produced on PM8 include food service/cup stock board (capacity 25,000 tons per year) and solid bleached boxboard (capacity 175,000 tons per year, with a total production of approximately 570 tons per day). The paper ma king process is shown in Figure 5.

Stock Tanks Headbox Screen

Forming Section Press Section Dryer Section Pulp

Coating Section Dryer Section Calender Section

Figure 5: Paper making process flow diagram

E

. Chemical Recovery and Energy Generation

The mill has two recovery boilers, installed in 1991 and 1973, with a solids capacity of 9.5 million pounds per day and a st eam capacity of 1,500,000 pounds per hour. Both systems utilize tertiary air and one is a non

- direct contact system (NDCE) and the other is a direct contact system (DCE). For No. 2 recovery, approximately 3,700 tons of black liquor solids are burned per da y. Six power boilers are used at the mill with a capacity of 1,700,000 pounds of steam per hour, utilizing bark/waste, coal, and natural gas as fuel. Two boilers are coal

- fired burners with low NOx burners

, a scrubber

, and an ESP. Two boilers are combinati on coal and wood burners with overfire air, a scrubber, and an ESP. The two remaining boilers burn natural gas, one of which is equipped with low NOx burners. The mill generates 70% of its electricity (25 Hz and 60 Hz), approximately 2,030 MWh/d

, and purch ases 920 MWh/d from the grid (total demand is 2950 MWh/d). The chemical recovery systems are show in Figure 6 and 7.Recovery Boiler Blox

Smelt Dissolving Tank Green Liquor Clarifier To Causticizing Liquor From Digesters Evaps

Smelt

Figure 6: Recovery process flow diagram

Lime Mud

Washer White liquor Clarifier

Pre

- Coat

Filter Lime Kiln Green Liquor

Causticizers To White Liquor Storage Slaker

Lime

Figure 7: Causticizing process flow diagram

F

. Wastewater Treatment

Approximately 32 m illion gallons of effluent per day is sent to wastewater treatment, which utilizes the activated sludge process. The mill has various containment and diversion equipment to minimize the impact on the WTP. The mill is equipped with a condensate stripper whi ch uses steam to remove organic compounds (primarily methanol) from certain pulping process streams to decrease the organic loading on the WTP and to lessen emissions from the pulping process. The mill wastewater is collected in mix tanks; however, samples from each source flowing into the mix tank can be obtained from a sampling sink to determine the properties of each incoming stream. If an issue is notedwith the incoming stream (e.g. there is black liquor coming from the recovery area), actions can be t aken to isolate certain streams, contain them, or alter the WTP operations to lessen or eliminate the impact on the WTP. The effluent flows from the mix tank to one of three primary clarifiers. The clarifier overflows are sent to a cooling tower to reduce temperature before going to the aeration basins, where biological degradation occurs for approximately a retention time of 3

- 4 hours. Overflow from the aeration basin passes through the final clarifiers and is eventually discharged to the river. Secondary sludge settled in the final clarifiers is returned as recycle material to the aeration basins to allow for continued biological treatment.

Sludge from the clarifiers is collected and dewatered. The dewatered sludge is then landfilled in one of 5 facility landfills. The facility is unable to burn the large amount of generated bark from the wood yard; therefore, it landfills the sludge instead of burning it. The facility installed the activated sludge treatment system in 1955, which was the first AST in the paper industry, due to its real estate limitation. As a potential emission control strategy for Phase II of MACT I, a UNOX system was investigated recently as a potential upgrade, but its technical feasibility was questioned.



## Primary Clarifier Cooling Tower Aerator Basins

Final Clarifiers River Effluent

Figure 8: Wastewater treatment process flow diagram