Fort Frances Pulp & Paper Mill
Location: Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada
Owner/Operator: Resolute Forest Products (formerly AbitibiBowater)
HGC Engineering was retained by AbitibiBowater to undertake an Acoustic Assessment of their Paper Mill in Fort Frances, Ontario. The study was required in order to fulfill a condition of a Basic Comprehensive Certificate of Approval (Air & Noise), issued for the facility in 2009 by the Ministry of Environment (“MOE”). The Assessment considers the combined sound emissions of all existing operable sound sources at the facility.
Audit type measurements at the nearest neighbouring points of reception were conducted during nighttime hours. Source sound levels were measured at the facility and were used as input to a predictive acoustical model to quantify the contribution of each source to the overall offsite sound levels of the facility. Acoustic assessment criteria were established in accordance with the sound level limits in MOE publication NPC-205 and were used to assess the sound emissions of the facility.
Acoustical Engineering Services Included:
- Conducted detailed acoustical assessments in accordance with Ontario Ministry of the Environment procedures, both on a site-wide basis, and for specific upgrades including a bio-mass boiler for power co-generation, and a lime-slurry scrubber system
- Developed ranked inventory of the more than 200 sound sources at the facility, in order of contribution the overall off-site sound levels
- Identified candidate sources for noise control measures, toward a long term strategic noise management plan
