Technical Bulletin No. 0053: The Investigation of BOD Reduction of Waste Sulfite Liquor by Heat Hydrolysis

Continuation of the research on heat hydrolysis of sulfite waste liquor at Oregon State College, reported previously in National Council Technical Bulletin Number 29, is reviewed in the attached report. These studies included the operation of a laboratory scale pilot plant which was capable of operating on a continuous flow basis. While it was found possible to effect substantial BOD reduction in the liquor by the hydrolysis procedure in a reasonable reaction time, a number of operating problems arose in the attempt to put the process on a continuous basis. It is believed that some of these problems would be of lesser importance in large scale apparatus. However, in order to obtain a practical degree of heat recovery, special techniques would have to be developed. Only in mill scale application could it be determined if either or both the operational and heat recovery problems were solvable. It appears that if the problems could be resolved the advantages of the process over recovery processes, currently under development by the industry, would justify large scale investigation of the heat hydrolysis process. A patent application covering a number of features of the process has been made by the Council in order that further development or possibly application of this process or variations of it can be pursued by the industry without contention