Introduction

The Louisiana-Pacific Canada Ltd. (LP) facility in Golden, BC is an engineered wood product manufacturing facility that produces laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and plywood for the residential construction industry in Canada and the US. Approximately 350 employees work at the mill, making it the largest employer in the Golden area. Energy for the mill is generated at the facility’s powerhouse boiler which generates steam energy for the manufacturing plant and generates electricity using a steam turbine and generator to supply electricity to the mill and for export to BC Hydro, which displaces non-renewable conventional power: Including Coal-fired power imported from Alberta and the U.S.

Engineered wood products from sustainable forests are the only naturally renewable building material, the manufacturing process is highly efficient one of the most energy efficient building materials. See Engineered wood products and the environment .

Wood residue biomass generated by the mill is the fuel for the powerhouse boiler, originially designed to run on fuel oil (a fossil-fuel). The mill also receives wood residue biomass from other wood product plants in the region. A very small portion (less than 1%) of fuel for the boiler is used-oil-based burner fuel that is used only when necessary during grate clean and boiler start-up (The emissions from startup are deducted from the offsets produced at the plant.

The mill also generates other by-products including wood chips for the pulp and paper industry, wood cores for fencing and other similar products. Essentially all wood processed by the mill is used for either a product, by-product or for energy production. Wood used at the mill is harvested in British Columbia under a Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification and comes from sustainable forestry operations primarily located in the Columbia Valley.

Environmental protection is a top priority at the LP Golden manufacturing facility. Modern pollution control equipment is installed on the two major pieces of process equipment that produce pollution at the facility. First, the powerhouse wood residue fired boiler, which is used to generate steam for energy and electricity production, uses a dry electrostatic precipitator (ESP) manufactured by PPC Industries out of Texas. The unit has two cells that remove fine particulate down to and including PM2.5. The ESP was installed in 1998 to reduce particulate emissions from the powerhouse boiler as an add-on pollution control. The pre-existing multiclones and wet scrubber continue to be used to help further reduce emissions from the boiler. The efficiency of the pollution control system operates at 70% below its permit limit of 100 mg/m3 of total particulate. In addition to using pollution control equipment, the powerhouse has improved the firing of the boiler furnace continuously since 1998 with the addition of over-fire air and a computerized combustion control systems. Additional upgrades have occurred in recent years allowing the operators to gain additional control over combustion in the furnace and reduce particulate emissions at the source.

The veneer dryers are the other key pieces of production equipment that produce pollution. The veneer dryers are used to dry thin sheets of veneer that is used to manufacture plywood and engineered wood products that are produced at the mill. In late 2006, LP installed new pollution control equipment on the veneer dryers to control the smoke or ‘blue haze’ that is the characteristic emission from these types of production equipment. The unit installed is a wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP) designed by GeoEnergy out of Seattle. The WESP has proven to be very effective in removing fine particulate from the veneer dryer emissions, with test results indicating the system is 97% efficient in controlling particulate from the dryers, or approximately 75% less than the unit’s permit limit for particulate.

The mill also has an active environmental management system (or EMS) in place to help ensure environmental impacts from the mill are minimized. To ensure the pollution control equipment remains in good operating order, the equipment is maintained on the regular basis using a preventative maintenance program following manufacturer’s guidance. This program is part of the mill’s EMS and includes daily, weekly, monthly and annual checks and repairs of the systems when needed. The EMS also defines and provides training on procedures for employees to ensure all understand their environmental responsibilities. The system also includes monthly inspections, recycling and waste reduction program, and monitoring to ensure compliance with permits and environmental regulations.

In August 2006 the mill was certified by Terrachoise, a contractor for Environmental Canada, as an Ecologo-certified plant for generating green electricity. Terrachoise performed an audit of the mill’s EMS, permits, and emissions from the powerhouse boiler to ensure all standards were met for certification. The mill passed first-try and continues to operate under the certification, generating between 3 and 4 green mega-watts of green electricity every hour.