Economic Benefits Achieved from an Odour Reduction Project, 2001 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Kent Ramsay, Don Manolescu, Paul Wentzell, Carolyn Winik--Environmental regulations are requiring industrial facilities to commit scarce capital reserves for abatement systems in order to stay in business. Projects to achieve environmental guidelines are seldom evaluated economically; instead they are typically considered as "the cost of doing business". However, these projects can present an opportunity for achieving an economic benefit. Significant returns are often available, especially if the return is based on incremental capital only for doing the job right.

This paper presents the results achieved from a $9 million environmentally justified project to reduce ambient TRS levels in the vicinity of Abitibi Consolidated’s Kraft mill in Fort Frances, Ontario. The project, which was to have a net increase in operating costs, has in fact shown a significant savings on top of the anticipated reduction in ambient odour levels. The project, start-up and benefits obtained are presented.