During my first week working at Thunder Bay’s pulp and paper mill, a superintendent named Alex Hiiback took the facility’s summer students on a tour of the water quality department. As we stood atop clarifiers and watched mats of sludge detach from rotary filters, he patiently explained the basics of the water intake and treatment processes and left us all eager to explore more of water quality and Alex’s work.
While we’ll spare Alex having to repeat his tour spiel over again, I can’t pass up the opportunity to spill some interesting insight into water treatment (spill — get it? It’s a water pun!). The water quality department treats river water from the Kaministiquia and handles the critical task of cleaning mill effluent before it’s discharged back to the river.
There’s a separate intake treatment process for the two different processes at the mill: for the kraft pulping process that produces market pulp, coagulant and flocculant cause fine particles to stick together and settle out in a massive round tank called a clarifier, and for the thermomechanical pulping and papermaking process (i.e., the newsprint side), for which the cleanliness requirement is less stringent, filtration and light disinfection suffice. The boilers require extra-clean water so that the resulting steam doesn’t corrode the mill’s pipes, so water from the huge kraft clarifier is passed through an ion exchange process.
Once this large quantity of water becomes effluent, solids are settled out, then nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus are added to feed the bugs (what the cool operators call tiny microbes) in the oxygen reactor, a tank comparable in size to my elementary school. In the reactor, the bugs feast on organic matter in the oxygen- and nutrient- rich environment. The microbes are spoiled; nutrient concentrations, pH, temperature, and the amount space available in the reactor must be closely monitored, but this process takes months in nature, so the operators take on the complex task of keeping the bugs comfortable.
After the bug–water mixture leaves the reactor, the bugs are settled out to become what is now called sludge in yet another group of clarifiers. Some sludge is returned to the process, and the clarified water is safely returned to the Kaministiquia.
As I mentioned in the podcast, water is the blood of the mill. It’s essential, and that makes water quality the heart — what pumps the water to all the processes. While we shouldn’t deny the physical pumps the heart title, in which case water quality would assume the role of the lungs, taking the bad stuff out and adding the good stuff in, the heart is a more beautiful metaphor, so let’s stick to that.
As you read, water flows through the mill, sustainably fueling virtually every process. Hopefully, you have a better picture of how this awe-inspiring system works. Thank you for soaking it all in.
Now, here’s Alex Hiiback on his career path, the water quality and environmental divisions at the mill, and the future of the pulp and paper industry.
Amanda
Alex, thank you for agreeing to talk to me today. You currently work as Superintendent of the Environmental Division at Resolute. You started at Resolute right out of university. So why did you choose to work in pulp and paper, and how has your career progressed since then?
Alex
So leaving university, it's funny - I didn't necessarily have a true set plan on which industry I really wanted to join. In university, at Lakehead, I had taken two pulp and paper courses, so I had some fundamental knowledge. But the primary reason why I ended up in this industry was that I had the opportunity to stay at home in northwestern Ontario, so being able to stay regionally was a big plus for me. So how has my career has progressed since then? Out of university, I originally started at the mill in 2013 in the Utilities Department as a process engineer, focusing mainly kind of on energy saving initiatives and then have been kind of progressed through a number of different roles on the site. I was the environmental coordinator for a number of years, then spend approximately five years in the Water Quality Department working my way up to effectively the superintendent level there. Then I was the Fire Systems and Plant Services Superintendent, responsible for all the fire systems response and yard crews and large dozer maintenance on site and now I'm back in the environment world, as you mentioned, as the Environmental Superintendent.
Amanda
That’s quite the path - a lot of different departments! So, which one would you say was your favorite out of all of those?
Alex
There’s pros and cons, I guess. On a purely technical basis, I probably enjoyed water quality the most, just based on the variety in it: that it's not, let's say, pure theoretical engineering, but fundamentals of engineering in terms of pipe flows, heads, process, process control, all those aspects. Yard and fire was fun too, just in the fact that it was a little more, I want to say just for my own personal taste, I guess, physical, in that I got out into the field more. There was a lot more activity. And then my current position: I took it for a reason. I came back. So they all have their own individual pros and cons.
Amanda
Yeah, I guess Resolute is probably one of the biggest employers of chemical engineers in Thunder Bay, but you do get quite a variety of jobs that you could take here. So that's exciting. But let's go back to water quality. Everyone I've talked to in water quality, which is like three people, seem to love their job. So first of all, do you think that this is accurate, or am I just talking to the keeners? And if it is accurate, why?
Alex
I think, like I touched on it a little bit earlier too, the environment and water quality roles offer a good mix of the technical office type work and field work, so you get to practically see the stuff that you're working on. It keeps your days interesting. You get to see the tangible benefits of the work that you're thinking about and working on and doing versus other departments where it's all theoretical or all this or all that. It offers you both. Then water quality and those types of departments are always nice too in that you’re able to go out into the field and go outside. Particularly in the summertime, you get to enjoy some sunshine during your day.
Amanda
That's a big plus. And I think that water quality is integral to every part of the mill. It's like the blood of the mill; there's no unit or process that doesn't rely in some way on water. At least, that’s my impression so far.
Alex
Yeah, it is. Other departments, they can shut down and they can do this or that kind of whenever they please. But water quality incoming and effluent treatment, we're not allowed to shut down. We have to be able to provide for the mill.
Amanda
Definitely makes it an exciting job, I'm sure.
Alex
You end up getting a whole mill perspective on either problems, solutions, and just in general what the entire process is, where if you were I don't want to say pigeonholed into one particular area, it’s your sole focus and you become an expert that one aspect. But working in these areas allows you to kind of get the bigger picture of the entire site.
Amanda
Having that holistic view is pretty cool.
Alex
And it keeps it interesting, right? That you get to look at the mechanical pulping side, the chemical pulping side, then all of a sudden, you're besides the power generating turbine.
Amanda
Yeah. On the electricity generation, the mill burns bark to create steam which runs these turbines and creates electricity, so do you want to touch more on that?
Alex
That yeah, that so part of our operation began in 2013, when we added a nominal 70 megawatt - or the capacity is up to 70 megawatts of power - condensing turbine on the site with the primary energy source for the steam that drives the turbine coming from renewable sources. So wastes that come from our effluent treatment system, those are incinerated for energy as well as bark and other kind of undesirable wood and woody type materials that are unsuitable for lumber, pulp, et cetera. So, we can maintain and ensure that we have a whole tree utilization through our process. We utilize what was formally waste and are able to turn it into a value-added product for our business. It also allows us to at times, if we need to be, to be self-sufficient for power with the addition of this electrical generation on site.
Amanda
OK, that's super cool. And touching more on the environment, what are the strengths of Resolute’s environmental policies, or of the mill in general?
Alex
Yeah, focusing on what we do well on site: we're located basically in the town, just right on the edge, so we have quite a few very close neighbors, both industrial as well as residential. Being so integrated and visible in the community for a number of years made us of ahead of even legislation in ensuring that we were good stewards to the community and the environment to make sure that our operations weren't impacting anybody else. So, because of that, we have a very mature environmental management system, which allows us to communicate and prevent any type of environmental incidents on site. And if they do, we know how to communicate, mitigate, and then issue corrective action so they don't happen again. Like I said, it's a mature system. It serves us well in the community. We maintain a very transparent relationship with all the regulating bodies in that we are an open book for government, so if they have any questions, we answer them openly and willingly and we allow a lot of transparency environmentally just to ensure that we have the trust of those around us.
Amanda
I know in 1977 the mill received the US National Environmental Industry Award for outstanding achievement in Water Pollution Control, which is kind of notable and a cool accomplishment.
Alex
Yeah, and since the 70s, we've gone a long way.
Amanda
So where do you see the future of the pulp and paper industry going, even just environmentally? What's the next big move?
Alex
I think that the infrastructure that we already have in place naturally positions us to be on the forefront of renewable materials or biomaterials or new innovative materials that could potentially displace fossil fuel or other types of materials. They’re no limit to what you can ultimately make from pulp and paper; realistically, all the fibers are your cellulose and glucose molecules and if you're able to break them down and then convert them to what you need, then you can create a whole host of products and other types of fuels or feedstocks for various other industries. And there's lots of trials, not only here. I read an article about our facility or FP Innovations locally using different types of by-products from the pulp and paper industry as an additive into concretes or asphalts, so getting into civil works or stuff like that. There's a whole host of possibilities out there. There's always the core business: paper and pulp for various other products, but I think we're going to be kind of increasing how much we utilize the natural forest, and then with obviously sustainable harvesting practices and replanting and all that kind of stuff to basically drive and divert away from a lot of fossil fuel and non-renewable sources.
Amanda
It's exciting to recognize that a tree is more than just it’s wood. It's got turpentine and tall oil and so much more.
Alex
Yeah, and in the past, those were all waste that nobody wanted and so they all just got burned for energy, but now they're actually quite a good proportion or a significant revenue source for facilities like ours.
Amanda
Yes, hopefully we can be on the forefront of this big move, but only the future will tell. Well, thank you so much again for talking to me today. Is there anything else you wanted to note about your job or any advice to give for youth who want to move into the forest sector?
Alex
When I came out of school about 10 years ago, paper seemed kind of like an old industry because it was always tied to newspapers and stuff and in the digital age, that always seemed like it was a dying thing. But as we just discussed, there's quite a few opportunities and as we shift into new markets, there's lots of exciting avenues for young people to take. It is a viable path and a good path for a number of young individuals ̶ engineers, trades, etc. ̶ to get into and be able to have a long and stable career. So, there's lots of growth and it's exciting for the future.
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