2027 Kraft Recovery Operations Course

ROBERT (BOB) D. BARTHOLOMEW (B.S., Chemical Engineering, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, U.S.A.) is a registered professional engineer who joined Sheppard T. Powell Associates LLC in 1986 as a senior engineer and is now an associate with the firm. He has provided consulting services in the areas of steam/water cycle chemistry, equipment inspections, chemical cleanings, makeup water treatment, cooling water treatment, and evaluations of deposition and damage in boilers, heat recovery steam generators, condensers, and turbines for the power, cogeneration, pulp and paper, steel, sugar, and other industries.  Bob also has provided seminars for Power and Pulp & Paper Industry Clients and has authored or coauthored over 60 technical publications. He has served as an instructor for the TAPPI Recovery Boiler Water Treatment course since 2002.        

SIERRA BOONE is a chemical engineering graduate of Ohio State University. She has worked as an Applications Engineer in Kadant Black Clawson’s Chemical Pulping Group since graduating in 2018. Sierra has experience with process design, troubleshooting, optimization, start-ups, training, and sales of Recausticizing and Pulp Washing equipment. She has been project lead on several Recausticizing area projects.  These projects include clarifiers, lime mud and dregs precoat filters, and lime mud storage agitators. Outside of work, Sierra enjoys staying active including hiking, biking, and running.  

 JIM BREWSTER has recently retired from J. D. Irving, Limited in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, where he served as a Senior Project Advisor to the Pulp & Paper Division for a major continuous digester project. After earning his Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry from Portland State University and completing Minors in both Economics and Accounting, Jim has spent over 40 years in the kraft pulp industry. Throughout his career, Jim has worked as a Shift Supervisor for both Pulping and Recovery operations, a Pulp mill Superintendent; a Project Manager for a major kraft mill rebuild; a Mill Energy Manager; a Project Manager for the construction of a new recovery boiler. He also served Assistant Plant Manager of Engineering, Process Engineering, Capital Projects and Environment. After 20 years at the Georgia-Pacific Pulp & Paper facility in Camas, WA, Jim moved to eastern Canada to join the Irving Pulp & Paper Mill. He spent his first eight years there as Production Manager, and in 2001, assumed the role of Mill Manager, the position that he held until March 2014. During his tenure as Mill Manger, Jim has managed the company’s $400 million investment in a total plant rebuild and environmental improvement projects. Irving Pulp & Paper is now the only mill in North America to meet all current wastewater discharge guidelines without primary or secondary effluent treatment. As a result of these accomplishments, the company earned the Canadian Council of Ministers for the Environment (CCME) Award for pollution prevention and was more recently awarded a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) 2005 Synergy Award for Innovation, in partnership with the University of New Brunswick (Saint John). Jim has been an instructor of the Kraft Recovery Course since 2006. Jim was named a TAPPI Fellow in 2022. He received the TAPPI Engineering Division Technical Award and Beloit Prize in 2023.

NIKOLAI DE MARTINI joined the University of Toronto (U of T) as an Assistant Professor in July 2017 where he conducts research relevant to chemical recovery and renewable energy. Prior to joining U of T, he has worked as a senior researcher at both Åbo Akademi University with Professor Mikko Hupa and at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) at Georgia Tech. He received his BSc from Oregon State University and his MSc and PhD from Åbo Akademi University (ÅAU) in chemical engineering. In all of his positions, he has enjoyed working closely with the pulp and paper industry to apply a knowledge of process chemistry to solve industrial challenges. At IPST his research was focused on scaling in black liquor evaporators, and he has worked directly with mills on controlling mill chemistry to minimize evaporator fouling. At ÅAU he worked with the chemistry of black liquor combustion among other topics. He is currently working with William J. Frederick, Jr on a new book on Black Liquor Evaporation. In addition to his work in chemical engineering he is has been active in rowing and coaching rowing for the past 20 years.

GLENN HANSON is currently semi-retired working periodically in Pyro Technical Sales Support for Metso in the USA.  As such, Glenn provides technical support for aftermarket parts & services on rotary equipment in Pyro applications.  He received a B.S. degree in Environmental Science from the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay in 1986.  Glenn has worked over 36 years with a focus on lime recovery kiln systems in kraft pulp mills & has been involved in process design, presentations, sales, installation, training, start-up and troubleshooting, retrofits & upgrades on lime kiln systems worldwide.  He is co-holder of a US Patent and continues R&D work on lime recovery kiln applications.  Glenn has developed and presented more than 80 Lime Recovery Kiln Process/Operations & Maintenance Seminars & now coordinates the annual TAPPI KilnCon Workshops & Seminars with TAPPI Local Sections across the US.  He has authored/co-authored numerous papers and presentations for TAPPI technical meetings and major conferences and was an editor & contributor to the TAPPI Lime Kiln & Recausticizing textbook.   Glenn returns for his 18th year on the TAPPI KROS faculty.  A 30+ year TAPPI Member, he has served on various Local Section Executive Committees, is Past-Chairman of Gulf Coast TAPPI, recipient of the 2017 TAPPI Paul Magnabosco Award and is in the TAPPI Fellows Class of 2021.  Glenn is a dedicated and active fan of Wisconsin sports teams including the Green Bay Packers & is an NFL Owner.

JOHN B. JOHNSON II received his B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from General Motors Institute in 1978.  He joined Goslin-Birmingham in 1981 as a Field Service Engineer and eventually became the Recausticizing Product Manager. Since then, he has also worked for Thermo Black Clawson, Kadant, Eimco, Dorr-Oliver Eimco, FLSmidth, Metso and Valmet, from where he recently retired. In all cases, his job focus was recausticizing. Over the years, John has been involved in product development, including various types of disc filters used in causticizing plants. John has designed both sedimentation and filtration based recaust systems installed in kraft mills in North and South Americas and Asia, and participated in the installation, start-up and optimization of most of them. The experience has also allowed John to work with almost every type of equipment operating in the causticizing plant, including some that are no longer actively marketed.

ANDREW K. JONES is a Senior Engineer with SHB Power Plant Engineering, Cincinnati, OH, USA working on issues such as recovery boiler operation, analytical methods and novel instrumentation. He previously worked as a Senior Engineering Fellow at International Paper from 1997-2024, where his primary responsibility was to foster the implementation of new process innovations. He was also the recovery boiler Subject Matter Expert (SME), ensuring safe/efficient operation of about 40 recovery boilers operated by IP. Prior to this time, he worked for ABB/Combustion Engineering leading their recovery boiler R&D efforts. Andy received his PhD from the Institute of Paper Chemistry in 1989 completing one of the earliest CFD models of the Kraft recovery boiler and is a co-author of the “Kraft Recovery Boiler” textbook. Andy is active in TAPPI, having led the Engineering Division, and was the conference chair for the TAPPI PEERS conference. He was the winner of the TAPPI Engineering Leadership and Service Award in 2004. He was also the conference chair for the ICRC (International Chemical Recovery Conference) and remains active on the organizing committee for this conference.  Andy was named a TAPPI Fellow in 2016 and he received the Engineering Division Technical Award and Beloit Prize in 2018. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto for more than 25 years. He was also an accomplished runner holding several ultra-marathon world records including the 100-mile record of 12:05:43. He now competes in cycling time trial races as his running legs are no longer as vibrant as they once were.

JARMO KAILA is Senior Vice President for Pulp and Power for ANDRITZ located in Alpharetta, GA.  He has a M.Sc. degree from Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. Jarmo has over 30-year career in the industry, with positions related to various functions of the pulp mill recovery area. His specialty field has been black liquor evaporation and concentration, liquor byproducts separation and processing and the overall pulp mill chemical cycle. During his professional career he has worked for Tampella/Kvaerner (Valmet) and Andritz (Ahlstrom). Jarmo is the author or co-author of several patents on black liquor evaporation technology and related fields. He has also authored numerous scientific articles and presentations on professional magazines and conventions. In addition to his professional interests Jarmo is keenly interested, rides and occasionally competes in all modes of two-wheeled transportation; whether muscle or motor powered.

ANN PLANK is the Director of Operations with is the Director of Operations with Lundberg Jansen Technologies, Inc in Kirkland, Washington.  She earned BS degrees in Pulp and Paper Engineering and in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington. In her 20+ years with Lundberg, she has managed and designed a variety of pulp mill heat recovery, chemical recovery, and environmental projects, and presently concentrates on process evaluation, design and project management. Areas of experience include blow heat and turpentine recovery, non-condensable gas collection and incineration, condensate segregation and stripping, liquor oxidation, waste gas incinerators, gas scrubbing, soap recovery, and tall oil recovery. Ann was a member of the BLRBAC Thermal Oxidation of Waste Streams advisory committee from 2009 to 2012.

IVAN SRETENOVIC is the Managing Director for the ProcessBarron Canadian Division based in Toronto, Ontario. He obtained his Master of Applied Science (MASc) in Engineering from the University of Toronto in 2011, working on a thesis project related to electrical resistivity of recovery boiler fume particles.  Upon graduation, Ivan held various product design and project management roles with the Clyde Bergemann Air Pollution Control division in Baltimore, Maryland and Safety Power Inc. in Toronto, Ontario, before joining ProcessBarron in 2019.  He has a broad knowledge of air pollution control technologies with years of equipment design experience, including electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), fabric filters, and Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems. He authored several TAPPI publications focusing on the abatement of particulate matter emissions from recovery boilers. Ivan is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario.  

DOUGLAS SINGBEIL recently retired from FPInnovations, where he was employed for nearly 40 years, and is now a principal of a consultancy called GreenTree Strategies. He led investigations into a myriad of corrosion and materials related issues in the pulp and paper industry – stress corrosion cracking and corrosion of kraft continuous digesters, corrosion of equipment in recaust and pulping operations, corrosion of wall tubes and near-drum thinning of generating bank tubes, as well as cracking of composite tubes in recovery boilers. Other topics of research included corrosion of superheaters in biomass boilers and materials selection for forest-based biorefineries. Throughout his career with FPInnovations, Doug actively engaged with pulp and paper mills around the world, attending shutdowns and advising on repair strategies. Within FPInnovations, Doug research interests broadened, and he eventually managed groups responsible for research not only in corrosion and materials engineering, but also in thermochemical processes, bioenergy, and forest-based biorefineries. He served as Research Manager for Process Engineering and as Industrial Sector Leader for Bioproducts. He contributed to the Canadian-sponsored BioPathways project from 2010-2012 and served five years as a member of the board of directors for BioFuelNet, a Canadian university-based network of excellence. Doug has authored or co-authored many technical papers and presentations over his career. Doug is a Fellow of both TAPPI and NACE International (now AMPP). He also received the TAPPI Engineering Division Technical Award and Beloit Prize in 2022.

DANNY S. TANDRA is the Sr. Vice President of Clyde Industries, Inc. based in Atlanta, GA, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto (U of T), Canada. He received his B.Eng from Universitas Surabaya in Indonesia, M.Eng. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from U of T and MBA in Management of Technology from Georgia Institute of Technology. His Ph.D. thesis focused on the use of 9 - 14 bar medium steam pressure for sootblowing. He tested the concept at the Irving Pulp & Paper and fully implemented the knowledge at four pulp mills in North America to generate additional power from recovery boilers. Danny's work focuses on cost reduction and energy-efficient processes, recovery and power boiler thermodynamics, deposit formation and removal, and Intelligent SootBlowing strategies. He is an active member of AICHE and TAPPI. He chaired the TAPPI Energy, Recovery and Recaust Committee and was 2023 Chair of the TAPPI Engineering Division. Danny is a TAPPI Fellow.

HONGHI TRAN obtained his B.Sc. and M.Eng. in Ceramic Engineering from Shizuoka University, Japan, and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of Toronto (UofT), Canada in 1982. Honghi has been with the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, UofT since 1987, where he served as Professor from 1994 to 2019, Director of the Pulp & Paper Centre from 2003 to 2022, and is presently a professor emeritus. During his nearly 4 decades of research tenure at UofT, Honghi successfully established/directed 11 large industrial research consortia focusing on issues related to energy and chemical recovery operations in kraft pulp mills. He supervised/co-supervised over 100 graduate students and PDFs; authored/co-authored 320+ refereed papers and book chapters, and had 8 patents. He served also as Technical Editor of the TAPPI “Kraft Recovery Boilers – 3^rd Edition” book. Honghi has been an instructor of the Kraft Recovery Operations Course since its establishment in 1986 and has been chairing it since 2006. He received numerous prestigious awards including the 2013 PAPTAC John S. Bates Gold Medal and the 2017 TAPPI Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal. He was inducted to the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in 2017, the UofT Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction in 2021, the Pulp & Paper Canada’s Inaugural Hall of Fame in 2022, and was on the 2021 TAPPI/PIMA Paper360^o Top 50 Power List. Honghi is a TAPPI fellow, a PAPTAC fellow, and a Canadian Academy of Engineering Fellow.

THANH TRUNG is the General Manager for FITNIR, A Voith Company. He holds a degree from the University of British Columbia, specializing in analytical chemistry and Spectroscopy.  He joined the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada in 1993 as a Senior Research Scientist and Group Leader in Sensing Development. His pioneering efforts in advanced vibrational spectroscopy, including Fourier-transform Near Infrared and Raman spectroscopy have led to numerous US and International Patents.  He has co-authored chapters in the Handbook of Applied Spectroscopy and co-editor of special additions of Journal of NIRS.  Thanh’s current focus is on the application of online measurements and control for pulp and paper operations.  He was the recipient of the Best Process control paper, co-recipient of the Best Paper in Steam and Power, and the Best Paper at the ABTCP. He is an active member of TAPPI, PAPTAC, Applied Spectroscopy Society, and Near Infrared Society.

MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2027

KRAFT RECOVERY PROCESS

Jim Brewster, Consultant, Brimfield, IL

Andrew Jones, SHB Power Plant Engineering, Cincinnati, OH

Session 2

Recausticizing / Lime Reburning

9:00

2.1

RECAUSTICING PRINCIPLES

Thanh Trung, FITNIR, A Voith Company, Vancouver, BC

9:30

2.2

RECAUSTICIZING PRACTICE

John Johnson, Valmet Partners, Trussville, AL

9:50

Morning Break

10:10

2.2

RECAUSTICIZING PRACTICE (Cont’d)

John Johnson, Valmet Partners, Trussville, AL

2.3

CAUSTICIZING PLANT CONTROL AND OPTIMIZATION

Thanh Trung, FITNIR, A Voith Company, Vancouver, BC

11:30

Team Conference

11:50

Lunch on Your Own

13:10

2.4

LIME KILN PRINCIPLES AND CHEMISTRY

Honghi Tran, University of Toronto, ON

13:40

2.5

LIME KILN: EQUIPMENT AND MAINTENANCE

Glenn Hanson, Metso Minerals Industries, Inc., York, PA

14:50

2.6

LIME KILN OPERATING ISSUES AND PREVENTION

Honghi Tran, University of Toronto, ON

8:30

3.1

BROWNSTOCK WASHING PRINCIPLES AND OPERATION

Jim Brewster, Consultant, Brimfield, IL

9:10

3.2

BLACK LIQUOR PROPERTIES

Niko DeMartini, University of Toronto, ON

9:30

3.3

EVAPORATOR PRINCIPLES & EQUIPMENT

Jarmo Kaila, Andritz Inc., Atlanta, GA 

10:10

3.4

EVAPORATOR TROUBLESHOOTING & OPTIMIZATION

Jarmo Kaila, Andritz Inc., Atlanta, GA 

10:50

3.5

EVAPORATOR FOULING & BOIL-OUTS

Niko DeMartini, University of Toronto, ON

13:10

3.6

FOUL CONDENSATE STRIPPING

Ann Plank, Lundberg Jansen Technologies, Inc., Kirkland, WA

13:50

3.7

TALL OIL/BIO-PRODUCT RECOVERY

Jarmo Kaila, Andritz Inc., Atlanta, GA 

14:50

3.8

NON CONDENSIBLE GAS HANDLING

Ann Plank, Lundberg Jansen Technologies, Inc., Kirkland, WA

15:30

Evaporator Operations Workshop

16:30 - 17:15

Homework & Networking     

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2027

8:00

Day 2 Homework Team Presentations

Session 4

Recovery Boilers

8:30

4.1

RECOVERY BOILER EQUIPMENT AND ISSUES

Jim Brewster, Consultant, Brimfield, IL 

9:10

4.2

BLACK LIQUOR BURNING

Honghi Tran, University of Toronto, ON 

10:10

4.3

BLACK LIQUOR AND AIR DELIVERY

Andrew Jones, SHB Power Plant Engineering, Cincinnati, OH

10:50

4.4

DEPOSIT FORMATION, IMPACT AND CONTROL

Danny Tandra, Clyde Bergemann, Inc., Atlanta, GA

13:10

4.5

RECOVERY BOILER OPTIMIZATION

Andrew Jones, SHB Power Plant Engineering, Cincinnati, OH

13:50

4.6

RECOVERY BOILER INSPECTION

Douglas Singbeil, GreenTree Strategies, Vancouver, BC 

14:50

4.7

RECOVERY BOILER WATER TREATMENT

Bob Bartholomew, Sheppard T. Powell Associates, Baltimore, MD 

15:30

Recovery Boiler Operations Workshop

16:30 - 17:15

Homework & Networking

8:00

Day 3 Homework Team Presentations 

8:30

5.1

RECOVERY AND UTILITY MANAGEMENT

Jim Brewster, Consultant, Brimfield, IL 

9:10

5.2

DAMAGE MECHANISMS IN CHEMICAL RECOVERY EQUIPMENT

Douglas Singbeil, GreenTree Strategies, Vancouver, BC 

9:50

Morning Break 

10:10

5.3

SAFETY HAZARDS IN THE RECOVERY CYCLE

Andrew Jones, SHB Power Plant Engineering, Cincinnati, OH 

10:50

5.4

SOOTBLOWER OPERATION, MAINTENANCE AND OPTIMIZATION

Danny Tandra, Clyde Bergemann, Inc., Atlanta, GA 

13:10

5.5

ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATORS – OPERATION AND OPTIMIZATION

Ivan Sretenovic, Process Barron, Toronto, ON 

13:50

5.6

OPTIMIZING WATER USAGE IN THE CAUSTICIZING PLANT

Sierra Boone, Kadant Black Clawson LLC, Lebanon, OH 

14:30

Afternoon Break 

14:50

5.7

NON-PROCESS ELEMENTS - ACCUMULATION, IMPACT AND CONTROL

Honghi Tran, University of Toronto, ON

15:30

Recovery Process Workshop                            

16:20

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Honghi Tran, University of Toronto, ON