The Conversion of Paper Mill Sludge into Absorbent for Oil Spill Sanitation - The Life Cycle Assessment

• Published in: Macromolecular symposia. Vol. 320; no. 1; pp. 50 - 56
• Main Authors: Likon, Marko, Saarela, Juko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim WILEY-VCH Verlag 01.10.2012; WILEY‐VCH Verlag
• Subjects: absorbent; LCA; papermill sludge; recycling; waste
• ISSN: 1022-1360; 1521-3900
• DOI: 10.1002/masy.201251006

A production of a sorbent material from papermill sludge positively effects the environment instead of landfilling it and replacing an expanded polypropylene absorbent with papermill sludge sorbent for oil spill sanitations. The life cycle's assessment study shows a reduction of carbon footprint for more than 14 times and reduction of water consumption for 372 kg, based on the production of sorbent material for cleaning 1,000 kg of oil spill.A conversion of the papermill sludge into sorbent material prolongs paper products' life cycle for additional two cycles. A controlled incineration converts the used sorbent into inert meta‐kaolin product which can be further used as hydrophilic sorbent material. In this way the papermill sludge's life cycle is efficiently closed.