Canfor operates a Bleached Chemical Thermal-Mechanical Pulp (BCTMP) mill in Taylor, British Columbia.  The mill is a significant user of electrical power, consuming up to 65MW of electrical energy demand.  In 2007, the mill embarked on a Sustainable Energy Management Program jointly funded by Canfor and BC Hydro under the Industrial Powersmart Program.

As part of the program, the team conducted a preliminary mill wide industrial energy audit and developed an ISO based energy management system manual and related procedures.  The opportunities for improvement identified in the initial audit became the projects to be implemented in the first year of the program.

After implementing an energy use reporting system (EMIS), it became possible to target and report on specific areas within the process to identify best practices and project impacts.  Throughout 2008, several projects were implemented and the overall impacts tracked using the Monitoring Targeting and Reporting tools developed by Fransen Engineering.

One of the first projects to be implemented was the result of an employee-generated idea to replace the pulp cleaning system rejects tips with a new wear resistant material to help reduce the cost of reject refining.  The original cleaner tips were subject to excessive wear, resulting in excess pulp being rejected and thus extra refining power input . Immediately after changing the trips, the power usage in the secondary and rejects refiner system improved by almost 30GWh/year.  Project costs were negligible (the new cost of tips was roughly $30/each, $10 less than the original tips).

At the end of the first year of the program, an independent Measurement and Verification Professional estimate the total savings for the entire program to be worth over $3,000,000 per year to the Canfor Corporation.

The program was co-managed by Craig Thomson of Canfor Taylor, Randy Wunderlich, P.Eng. of Fransen Engineering Ltd, with the support of Kevin Wallace, P.Eng. and Matt Steele of BC Hydro PowerSmart.