Paper mill wastes good for cement-bonded board

Sludge or paper mill solid wastes used to be an environmental problem, particularly its disposal.

Now, the problem has been turned into an opportunity, thanks to a research breakthrough which showed that sludge can be manufactured into cement-bonded board (CBB) for construction purposes.

Sludge, or fiber clay, is the final solid waste or residue recovered after the treatment of paper mill effluent or wastewater.

The headway was chalked up by a research project undertaken at the Trust International Paper Corp. (TIPCO) in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

The study was a joint undertaking of TIPCO, the University of the Philippines Los Baños-College of Forestry and Natural Resources (UPLB-CFNR), Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (DOST-PCIERD), and UPLB Foundation, Inc.

Last March 17, on the occasion of PCIERD’s 21st anniversary, DOST conferred in its R&D activities "for the construction/housing sector, particularly in the development of cement-bonded board using sludge from a recycled paper mill."

TIPCO vice president William Chua told The STAR that to showcase the technology, the project collaborators have built a model house within the TIPCO complex in Mabalacat made of paper mill solid wastes.

That the CBBs made from these residues are good materials for interior and exterior walls, partitions and ceiling had been attested to by the UPLB-CFNR team that did the study with TIPCO. The team was composed of Dr. Elvira Fernandez, Clevan Reyve Lamason, Dr. Margaret Calderon, and Teodulfo Delgado.

Dr. Fernandez had earlier told this writer that the pilot house costs only P185,000. If the construction materials (CBBS) are produced in mass, the cost could be less. – Rudy A. Fernandez