CMPC submits biomass EIS to Conama

Chilean forestry and paper products manufacturer CMPC has submitted to local environmental authority Conama an environmental impact study (EIS) for a biomass steam boiler at its Pacifico pulp plant in Region IX. The project would require US$25mn investment, the EIS said. The idea is to burn the wood bark left over from the pulp manufacturing process to boil water and create steam to generate electricity. Operations should start in mid-2006. The boiler would use "bubbling fluidized bed combustion technology" to burn 180,000 dry tonnes a year of bark and other wood waste from the Pacifico plant to produce 100 tonnes an hour of steam for power generation, the EIS said. The project would increase the Pacifico plant's power capacity from its current level of 41MW, which is provided by self-generation and through purchases from the central grid (SIC). The project would also reduce the plant's consumption of fossil fuels and the emission of greenhouse gases, the EIS said.