Formica’s Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu plant set to surpass its GHG reduction targets
Formica Canada has taken on three projects to increase the energy efficiency of its Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu plant in the pursuit of its goal to reduce its CO2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2026 and become carbon neutral by 2030.
Implementing these changes should, according to Formica Canada, result in a 20 per cent reduction in natural gas consumption and an equivalent reduction in GHG emissions.
Formica’s Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu plant consumes natural gas to produce steam as well as maintain the desired temperatures in the manufacturing systems. Three projects are in place to cut down on natural gas use. They include press energy optimization, heat exchanger installation to recover energy from an impregnator, and hot water production at the accumulator through impregnator heat recovery.
“As the world’s largest manufacturer of high-pressure laminate (HPL), Formica Group wants to explore every opportunity to optimize its processes to reduce its environmental impact. That’s why our plant is heavily invested in energy efficiency projects to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” said Christelle Locat-Rainville, marketing director at Formica Canada.
The press energy optimization project was undertaken in November 2022 and aims to reduce steam demand and inefficiencies in the operation of the plant’s thermal power station by reducing heating requirements and optimizing controls.
Water storage tanks have been added to the press heating process to store the hot water used for reuse in the next firing cycle. As a result of these tanks, additional energy is conserved in the system, the demand for steam at the boilers is reduced and the water returning to the boilers for the next cycle is warmer, reducing the need for energy to produce steam.
Following a 10-month construction phase and a multi-million investment, press optimization has been ongoing at the plant since November 2023. The results have been excellent, with an estimated 12 per cent annual reduction in natural gas use.
The impregnation line where melamine resin is applied to the paper requires the use of natural gas to maintain the desired temperatures using the burners. The aim of this project is to preheat the supply air for the existing ventilation units and the impregnator by recovering part of the heat contained in the exhaust air to preheat the incoming air.
Once completed, the project is planned to reduce natural gas consumption by 10 % and GHG emissions by 5 per cent.
When paper is impregnated with a resin that has phenols during treatment, volatile organic compounds are emitted and must be treated in an RTO (regenerative thermal oxidizer) to comply with the emission standards of the Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs. The very high temperature (200°C to 220°C) that exhaust from the RTO preheats the impregnator’s supply air in an air-to-air exchanger.
To reduce natural gas consumption by the plant’s thermal power station, a new air/water exchanger will be installed at the RTO outlet, which will enable energy to be recovered and used to heat the water in the accumulator upstream of the current air/air exchanger.
The project is currently underway and should be completed by June 2025. It is expected to reduce
natural gas consumption by 5 per cent and GHG emissions by 5 per cent.