Business Divisions

Pulp & Paper

NORAM provides innovative process technology, engineering services and custom designed equipment to kraft and sulfite pulp mills. NORAM’s equipment and systems reduce environmental emissions, reduce chemical consumption, increase energy efficiency and increase capacity of plants of all scales around the world.

NORAM has a broad range of experience in meeting our clients’ local requirements. We continue to innovate and provide solutions for new challenges, which has resulted in a comprehensive suite of patents. NORAM’s proprietary LignoForce™ process for recovering high-purity lignin from kraft black liquor, and innovative process technologies for producing crystalline nano-cellulose (CNC) are industry-leading technologies pioneered for the value-added sector.

Our Capabilities

Offices

NORAM has Pulp & Paper specialists in our offices in Vancouver, Canada and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Industrial References

Key references include:

10 PDP™ systems for chloride & potassium removal from recovery boiler ash worldwide.
Canada’s first kraft lignin production plant, LignoForce™ at Hinton Pulp in Alberta.
3 Cleanflow™ systems installed worldwide with the first system in operation since 2013.
NORAM personnel have been engaged in white and black liquor oxidation continuously for over 40 years.
Our Cellchem™ sulfur burners have over 150 installations

Alliances

Synergies within the NORAM group of companies:

In-house fabrication of Pulp and Paper industry equipment including bleach plant equipment. NORAM specializes in high performance alloy fabrication using Titanium, Zirconium, Nickel Alloys and Stainless Steels at our Axton-Ellett fabrication Shop, Vancouver, Canada.
Technology development in our BC Research Inc. pilot facilities, Vancouver, Canada.
Service for clients in Europe through NORAM International AB

External alliances:

Alliance with FPInnovations to commercialize new processes in the pulp and paper industry.
Alliance with Turboscrubber™ (Osprey/FTL) for fluidized-bed scrubbers. Over 400 references

Our Processes

LignoForce™

NORAM and FPInnovations have jointly developed a process to recover lignin from black liquor, creating a new high value revenue stream while providing incremental pulp production. The LignoForce™ process utilizes existing mill infrastructure resulting in low impact integration. The heart of the process is the patented black liquor oxidation step which reduces CO₂ usage, produces low odor product, improves filtration rates, and practically eliminates H₂S hazards. The first industrial scale LignoForce™ system was successfully started up at Hinton Pulp in Alberta in 2016.

Precipitator Dust Purification™ (PDP^TM)

High chloride concentrations cause recovery boiler plugging leading to reduced steam generation and expensive shutdowns. High potassium concentrations can contribute to corrosion in high pressure boilers. The PDP™ system provides a chloride removal efficiency of >95% along with a sulfate and carbonate recovery of >95%, while the potassium removal efficiency is capable of meeting the requirements of new high-pressure boilers. Chloride and potassium removal happen in separate ion exchange beds and hence their removal and recovery of valuable chemicals can be tailored to mill’s requirement. PDP^TM is the most cost-effective system available for chloride and potassium purging. The compact, skid-mounted technology is easy to install and operate and provides unmatched chemical savings. To date, there are 10 PDP^TM systems installed in pulp mills worldwide.

CleanFlow™ Technology for Green & White Liquor Filtration

The CleanFlow™ System is a technology proven to increase the production of a kraft mill recausticizing plant, reduce purchased lime costs and eliminate polymer costs. Crossflow ceramic membranes are used to filter a portion of the green liquor to less than 5 ppm TSS, debottlenecking the existing green liquor clarifiers / filters. CleanFlow™ can also be implemented to filter white liquor for improved pulp quality, for preparing oxidized white liquor or for scrubbing of the bleach plant system vents. The equipment is used in numerous applications worldwide such as wastewater treatment, chemical industries, biotechnology and food & beverage industry. There are 3 full scale CleanFlow™ systems installed and operating in the pulp and paper industry, with the first system in operation since 2013 at Aspa Bruk Munksjö mill in Sweden.

OptimumAcid™

Installing an OptimumAcid™ plant to convert the sulfur containing NCGs into commercial grade sulfuric acid will eliminate the NCG as a sulfur input to the recovery cycle, eliminate purchases of sulfuric acid, reduce make-up caustic and produce additional steam that will positively impact the mill’s heat balance. NORAM’s successful track record and the technological features of its equipment provide an advantage for sulphuric acid production from Non-Condensable Gases (NCG) at Kraft Pulp Mills. NORAM’s sulfuric acid group specializes in the design, retrofit and upgrade of sulfuric acid plants and has over 20 years of industry-leading experience in design and fabrication of equipment for the sulfuric acid industry. NORAM’s pulp and paper group has extensive experience with NCG collection, handling, treatment and its affect on overall kraft mill sodium / sulfur balances.

IsoFlo™ Oxidation

NORAM’s IsoFlo™ has integrated heat recovery and controls the oxidized white liquor temperature below stress corrosion cracking and high temperature scaling limits. IsoFlo™ reduces oxygen consumption by running at a controlled temperature and thereby improving the oxygen solubility in white liquor. IsoFlo™ Oxidizer is constructed from a standard vertically oriented U-tube exchanger, with tube passes interconnected and sealed via a proprietary channel head. Oxygen is injected at high pressure in multiple stages, where pressure is converted to shear via removable static mixing elements, enabling fine dispersion and rapid mass transfer. Cooling water on the shell eliminates external cooler requirement and provides temperature control during the exothermic oxidation reaction. NORAM’s IsoFlo™ oxidation technology can also be used to oxidize black or green liquor.

Cellchem™ Sulphur Burner

NORAM has over 20 years of experience in the sulphuric acid/sulphur dioxide industry which includes over 200 debottlenecking studies and many sulphur furnace designs ranging from large scale (3000 MTPD of sulphur) to small air atomized sulphur furnaces (1 MTPD of sulphur). NORAM’s line of Cellchem™ burners produce high SO₂ gas concentration with standard capacities ranging from 0.5-100 tonne per day sulphur burned but have been customized up to 600 TPD. Cellchem™ technology can be used for ClO₂ generation, sulphuric acid production and SO₂ production in pulp mills. The technology has an unmatched reference list of over 150 installations worldwide.

Turboscrubber®: Bleach Plant Scrubber

NORAM’s Turboscrubber®, a new scrubbing application in the bleach plant area of pulp and paper mills has been made possible by the introduction of fluidized-bed mass-transfer towers employing asymmetrical fluidization elements. Turboscrubber® allows use of freely available extraction stage effluent in bleach plant scrubber instead of the costly white liquor, weak wash or SO₂ by providing blockage free application. Turboscrubber® can also be retrofitted in existing packed bed or spray scrubbers and improve their performance considerably. Turboscrubber® has over 400 references worldwide in various industries.

Audits

NORAM has over 20 years of experience in the pulp and paper industry conducting sodium, sulphur and non process element (NPE) balances. NORAM also provides consulting services such as audits to optimize recausticizing process along with operator training.