Persistent Organochlorines in the Effluents from a Chlorine-Bleached Kraft Integrated Pulp and Paper Mill in Southeast Asia

A bleached sulfate integrated pulp and paper mill producing printing and writing paper from mixed tropical hardwood and bamboo was studied. The mill uses a “conventional bleaching sequence,” C-E-H1-H2, with an average molecular chlorine consumption of 50 kg per ton of air-dried pulp (ADP). The content of polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) in the bleaching filtrate in terms of the nordic toxicity equivalent (N-TEQ) was 33.5, 1.15, 0.56, and 0.014 pg/L for the E, C, H1, and H2 bleaching stages, respectively. The corresponding PCDFs and PCDDs loads in ng/t ADP were in the same ranking, i.e., 670, 69, 11.2, and 0.28, respectively. The congener and isomeric pattern of PCDFs and PCDDs of the bleaching filtrate and the bleached pulp was found to be typical for the chlorine bleaching plant effluent. The obtained dioxin load formed in the mill is in agreement with Western studies for the given multiple chlorine of 0.21–0.23. The load is, however, lower than reported discharges from Scandinavian mills using 1980s bleaching technologies, but substantially higher than the discharges from mills with modern bleaching technologies. Modifications in the bleaching plant to reduce molecular chlorine use are necessary to reduce dioxin formation. Received: 15 July 1998/Accepted: 17 March 1999