The Province of Ontario monitors compliance with environmental regulations, including that of
air quality. It is Resolute’s responsibility to use a combination of methods to accurately measure and model air emissions
The provincial government determines if a facility is in
compliance by assessing the whole facility’s emissions and the impact in the surrounding area. In order to determine that a facility is in compliance, either a field measurement is taken at an established monitoring station or a mathematical calculation is done to determine the concentration of a chemical at a certain distance from the mill. Air quality is often directly related to weather conditions, specifically wind speed and temperature. Just like smoke from a wood stove or campfire, the weather conditions determine where the smoke goes.
The Thunder Bay Operations uses a number of methods for monitoring air emissions.
Ambient monitoring stations are usually set up around larger industrial facilities or in centralized locations in a community. These stations might be measuring specific compounds from an industry. Or, in the case of the Ministry of the Environment’s (MOE)
Air Quality Index Stations, they measure a number of compounds to determine the overall air quality for a community.
For pulp and paper mills, the compounds measured are usually
Total Reduced Sulphur (TRS) and Total Suspended Particulate. (TSP) Due to the low concentrations measured (parts per billion range), specialized instruments have to be installed. With these instruments TRS can be measured in real-time. This information is transmitted directly back to the mill and is used to assist operators in controlling the process. To measure particulate, a vacuum draws air through a filter, which is weighed after a period of exposure.
Resolute Forest Products started up two new ambient air monitoring station in 2003. Please see Real-Time Air Monitoring link.
Air monitoring stations only measure air emissions when the wind is blowing towards them. Obviously, it’s impossible to place monitoring stations at every point on the compass the wind blows. So, locations are determined using a number of criteria including prevailing wind patterns, locations of residential areas, and computer modeling.
In order to address the shortcoming of monitoring stations, Resolute Forest Products, Thunder Bay is developing a state-of-the-art predictive computer model called AbitibiBowaterView, which will calculate air emissions and dispersion on a real-time basis. The model is based on an accepted United States Environmental Protection Agency model called AERMOD/PRIME. The model takes into account all the emissions from the major stacks in the mill that generate TRS, will look at weather conditions and a number of other factors, and will then calculate the concentration of the emissions in the surrounding area.
This is the first application of its type in the world, and when the model is finally field-tested, it will provide an accurate portrait of emissions from the mill at any given time, in any given location. Operators will be able to fine-tune the equipment that may be the source of odour.
Other methods for measuring air emissions include
stack sampling,
continuous emission monitors (CEM), and predictive emission calculations (PEC). In order to ensure the mill’s air emission inventory is up to date for government reporting or for tracking improvements, emission points are directly measured by a third party contractor. Testing is always done to government-approved methods and often the testing can’t occur until the
MOE approves the testing procedures.
All of this information is used to help the mill determine its compliance status (relative to government regulations), and its priorities for continually improving its environmental performance.