Energy Efficiency & Emissions Reduction

APRIL's integrated pulp and paper mills are benchmarked against the world's best and constantly seek to enhance performance to ensure the health of employees, the surrounding environment and communities. Optimising the environmental performance of operations is of paramount importance to the company and consistent with our corporate commitment to sustainability.

APRIL's mill in Kerinci, Riau Province, Indonesia, is a world-class production facility, which is ISO 14001 certified. APRIL has adopted a strict environmental management process based on compliance with government regulations, international benchmarks and the company's own environmental improvement standards.

The Kerinci mill operates according to best practise global standards for environmental protection. Emissions, effluents and waste levels are monitored regularly and community health assessments are done on upstream and downstream villages along the Kampar River. Sample data on environmental impact are then analysed and reviewed at regular intervals and compared with regulatory requirements and the company's own continuous improvement goals.

The efficient use of all raw materials is a guiding principle in the company's mills. Chemical residuals from the company's pulp and paper mills are recovered and reused or recycled as raw material, fuel or for other uses. The amount of water used in the production process has been steadily reduced over the past three years. This is in line with APRIL's "5R" approach - Recycle, Recover, Reuse, Reduce, and Replace.

APRIL has achieved overall reductions in air emission levels from its mills by reducing the dependence on fossil fuels and investing in new technologies. We monitor emission levels of particulates, nitrogen dioxide (NO_X), sulphur dioxide (SO_X) total reduced sulphur (TRS) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the mills and ensures that no ozone-depleting substances are emitted from the mills in the manufacturing process.

The company's concerted effort to manage its energy usage efficiently and sustainably includes conservation programmes for the use of power, steam and water, and two Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects to provide renewable energy. In Indonesia, these efforts mean that APRIL produces 75% of its energy needs from renewable sources such as biomass and black liquor, which are by-products of the production process, and feeds electricity into the public power grid for use by local communities.

In 2010, APRIL started using natural gas to fire the lime kilns at its Riau operations. The operations have now fully transitioned 100% employment of natural gas for its lime kiln, no longer using less clean-burning fuels such as marine fuel oils.