Cleaner production opportunity assessment study in SEKA Balikesir pulp and paper mill E. Avs xar, G.N. Demirer * Middle East Technical University, Department of Environmental Engineering, Inonu Bulvari, 06531 Ankara, Turkey Received 15 July 2005; accepted 14 July 2006 Available online 9 October 2006 Abstract This study was designed to apply cleaner production concepts in a Turkish pulp and paper mill, for the first time in Turkey, to introduce the concept as well as to provide a framework for future initiatives. To achieve this objective a comprehensive waste reduction audit was conducted at SEKA Balikesir pulp and paper mill. First, audit schemes from different sources were examined and compiled that resulted in the method- ology employed in this work. The audit covered water emissions and water usage. Then, the collected data were compared with international environmental performance indicators from other companies in the USA, Canada, Australia, and Europe. This comparison provided specific opportunities for improvement at different processes in the mill. For each viable opportunity, different waste reduction measures were analyzed and determined. Furthermore, the benefits of the identified waste reduction options were analyzed for increasing production efficiency and achieving target raw effluent pollution loads from the mill. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Cleaner production; Waste reduction; Pulp and paper 1. Introduction Industrial production without adequate regard for environ- mental impacts has led to an increase in water and air pollu- tion, soil degradation, and large-scale global impacts such as acid rain, global warming and ozone depletion. To create more sustainable means of production, there must be a shift in attitudes towards proactive waste management practices moving away from control towards prevention. A preventive approach must be applied in all industrial sectors. Used in complement with other elements of sound environmental man- agement, cleaner production is a practical method for protect- ing human and environmental health and supporting the goal of sustainability [7]. The pulp and paper industry, which produces commodity grades of wood pulp, primary paper and paperboard products, is divided into pulping process lines: chemical pulping, me- chanical pulping, and semi-chemical pulping. The products of the pulp and paper industry can also be categorized by the pulping process used in paper and paperboard production [28]. Processes in the manufacture of paper and paperboard can, in general terms, be split into three steps: pulp making, pulp processing, and paper production. First, a stock pulp mix- ture is produced by digesting a material into its fibrous constit- uents via chemical, mechanical, or a combination of chemical and mechanical means. In the case of wood, the most common pulping method, chemical pulping, releases cellulose fibers by selectively destroying the chemical bonds in the glue-like sub- stance (lignin) that binds the fibers together. After the fibers are separated and impurities have been removed, the pulp may be bleached to improve brightness and processed to a form suitable for papermaking equipment. At the papermak- ing stage, the pulp can be combined with dyes, strength build- ing resins, or texture adding filler materials, depending on its Abbreviations: ADP, Air Dried Pulp; BOD, Biochemical Oxygen Demand; COD, Chemical Oxygen Demand; CTMP, Chemi Thermo-mechanical Pulp; EPIs, Environmental Performance Indicators; TSSs, Total Suspended Solids. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ90 312 210 58 61; fax: þ90 312 210 12 60. E-mail address: goksel@metu.edu.tr (G.N. Demirer). 0959-6526/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.07.042 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 422e431 www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro