Messer GmbH, the figurative German industrial gas firm has developed a concept for the ‘Green Paper Mill’ and in doing so has won an entrepreneurial award.
Messer recently received the ‘TRIGOS 2011’ after self-nomination. The national award is distributed to programs with best practice Corporate Social Responsibility and outstanding entrepreneurial commitment. Helmut Gutenberger from Messer in Austria and Robert Schlatter from Messer in Switzerland pioneered the ‘Green Paper Mill’: a modular system that permits less use of energy and fresh water during paper production while at the same time reducing emissions – in particular substances which require a certificate, such as carbon dioxide. Indeed, the duo believes that it could be possible to recycle all the CO2 created in paper production.
Industrial gases and the fight against emissions
Operation of a paper mill entails large amounts of different raw materials and significant impacts on the environment. The ‘Green Paper Mill’ concept offers a solution: The combination of an air separation plant for producing air gases such as oxygen and nitrogen and a paper mill enables large-scale synergies between paper production, power generation and air separation to be utilised, thus reducing the consumption of energy and fresh water and decreasing CO2 emissions and the use of various chemicals.
Depending on the parameters required for paper production, it is even conceivable that the air gases produced and the carbon dioxide generated could be completely recycled in the paper production process.
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