Business
MeadWestvaco reps speak at DINA meeting
By Elizabeth Bush
May 28, 2008 - 1:41:29 PM

provided The Kraft paper mill in North Charleston, produces approximately 2,300 tons per day of unbleached kraft paperboard for three product lines.

Many youngsters in the Lowcountry refer to it as "the stinky plant," the place just over the Cooper River from Daniel Island that you can often smell well before you see the steam rising from its smokestacks and towers. Its official name is MeadWestvaco, and, as company officials explained at a recent meeting of the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association, they are working diligently to reduce odors at the global packaging plant while setting new quality and efficiency standards.

"Compliance is non-negotiable and excellence is expected," said Duane Mummert, the company’s mill environmental manager, one of several MeadWestvaco representatives to address the small DINA crowd at The Church of the Holy Cross last Tuesday. "We are in 100 percent compliance with all laws and regulations…We make every effort to go beyond what is required."

MeadWestvaco has been a part of the Lowcountry landscape since 1937, when the company first began operating its paper mill along the Cooper River in North Charleston. The three components of the company are its Specialty Chemicals Division, which produces activated carbon, used in the emission control systems of automobiles and trucks, and emulsifiers used in asphalt paving; the Kraft Paper Mill, which generates 2300 tons per day of unbleached kraft paperboard for multiple product lines; and its Community Development and Land Management Group, which creates a sustainable source of fiber. More than 1,000 employees keep all three operations running smoothly.

According to Mummert, the company has spent about $100 million upgrading its systems over the years, including a $21 million enhancement of the site’s waste water treatment facility.

"We have one of the largest waste water treatment plants in the state," he added. "We process about 24 million gallons of water a day. That’s a lot of water. We also installed a new condensate stripper, one of our largest odor reducing devices we have at the mill."

In 2006, they added a new pump washer that is totally enclosed, eliminating odorous air emissions completely from that station, said Mummert. He also noted that there still are two pumps that are not enclosed.

"We also have added wet scrubbers that spray water and a weak caustic solution into the gas stream to get out particulates and odor compounds."

Special "bag houses" also collect particulate from steam before it is released into the environment.

The distinctive "rotten egg" odor emitted from paper mills is caused mainly by a mixture of sulfur compounds released into the air through the pulping process, said Mummert. The two main culprits are hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan. Although the chemicals are not part of the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory list, they are still regulated and monitored by the State of South Carolina.

"They have very low thresholds," said Mummert. "You can smell hydrogen sulfide at point four parts per billion and the methyl mercaptan at one point one part per billion. There is not very much of this material before the human nose can detect it…We use air dispersion models to show if we’re in compliance."

"Will there ever be a time when we cross the Don Holt Bridge and don’t smell any odor?" asked Daniel Island resident Sue Orick, who was in attendance at the meeting.

"I’d love to say ‘yes’!" answered Mummert. "But I can’t say that. (Our emissions do) keep going down…One of our largest odor sources is our cooling tower right there at the waste water treatment plant. We’re not allowed to discharge hot water into the river, so it has to go into that cooling tower …Fortunately it also works as a good stripper, so it strips off some of those odorous chemicals that you smell….It has gotten a little bit better."

"We’ve gone from 120,000 to 140,000 pounds a year down to about 30,000 pounds per year," added Joel Anderson, environmental manager for the Specialty Chemicals plant. "We’ve well more than cut the emissions from the chemical plant by way more than half, while at the same time increasing the sales of the product to our customers, so it’s just finding the technology and putting it in, and striving to improve as we go forward."

Speaking of moving forward, the company is also busy preparing for its upcoming ownership change, which will officially take place in July. In a deal inked earlier this year, MeadWestvaco’s Kraft Paper Mill was sold to Kapstone Paper and Packaging Corporation for a reported $485 million in cash. MeadWestvaco’s two other divisions will remain headquartered in the Charleston area. Current employees expect a seamless transition.

"The best description I’ve heard…is that it’s more like a marriage than a divorce," said Anderson. "…We’re very much looking forward to a good relationship with Kapstone and we don’t see any early indicators that it will be anything other than that."