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GOLD MEDAL GOES TO DOUGLAS W. REEVE

This year, the John S. Bates Memorial Gold Medal was presented to Douglas W. Reeve, awarded to a member of the Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada for long-term contributions to the industry. The Gold Medal is named after Dr. John S. Bates, founder of the Technical Section, CPPA (now PAPTAC).

Dr. Reeve is a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto, and is currently its Chair. He was the inaugural Frank Dottori Professor in Pulp and Paper Engineering. Dr. Reeve was the founding Director of the University of Toronto Pulp & Paper Centre, and served to 2001. He has published extensively, has been awarded numerous patents and is co-editor of “Pulp Bleaching – Principles and Practice.”

He was a key figure in the development of the Rapson-Reeve closed-cycle mill, path-breaking technology installed in Thunder Bay in 1976.

Dr. Reeve was instrumental in founding the International Chemical Recovery Conference and he has served several times as chair of the International Pulp Bleaching Conference. He is recognized as a leader of pulp and paper industry courses and conferences and is a veteran instructor.

ANDR LAFLEUR AWARDED AN HONORARY LIFE MEMBERSHIP

This year’s Honorary Life Membership was bestowed upon Andr Lafleur, Rockland, ON. Honorary Life Members are elected in recognition of outstanding contributions to the Association and to the pulp and paper industry.

Lafleur graduated as a chemist from the University of Ottawa in 1959, and he worked in the industry until 2004. He has worked for Thurso Pulp, Consolidated-Bathurst in Grand-Mre and Pontiac, for Domtar, Windsor, and for James Maclaren, again in Thurso. Most of his career was at Pontiac, where he was involved in mill and technical operations, product development and customer service.

He joined PAPTAC, formerly the Technical Section, CPPA, in 1963 and served on the Testing Methods Committee, including two years as chairman. He was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation in 1974 for outstanding service as chairman of the Committee. He was a member of the Physical and Chemical Standards Committee and then the Pulp Bleaching Committee, serving two years as secretary. For three years starting in 1989, Andr was a member of the Executive Council, and was elected Chairman of the Technical Section in 1994 and 1995.

PAPTAC HONOURS 47 AT AWARDS CEREMONY

The I.H. WELDON AWARD recognizes the best paper presented by a member or members at any meeting taking place from six months before to six months after the previous Annual Meeting. The winners are Pierre Frigon, Trois-Rivires, QC and Michel Gratton, Compagnie Abitibi-Consolidated du Canada, Montral, QC for their paper “Predicting Lint Propensity of Paper at the Mill: A Test that Works,” presented at the 92nd Annual Meeting of PAPTAC.

PAPTAC recognizes these individuals who have been MEMBERS FOR 50 YEARS: George L. Avon, Dean W. Balkema, Philip J. Boivin, John G. Buchanan, Gerald A. Castonguay, Jean L. Chollet, Doug Christie, Ian S. Davies, Ralph W. Gordon, Glen A. Harrison, John D. Hood, Russell N. King, Norman Liebergott, Brian Malone, Nils V. Mannbro, W. Donald May, Patrick J. McCafferty, J. Douglas T. McMullan, Gustav A. Nager, Ludwig G. Scheuring, Robert R. Schieck, Borje Wahlstrom and David R. Webster.

The NATIONAL STUDENT PROBLEM-SOLVING COMPETITION prize was won by Mirza Haque, University of Toronto for the project “Minimizing Fouling in Spiral Heat Exchangers at a BCTMP Mill.”

The JPPS BEST PAPER AWARD went to Douglas W. Donigian of Specialty Minerals in Bethlehem, PA, for the paper “A New Mechanism for Setting and Gloss Development of Offset Ink,” that was published in the July/August/ September 2006 issue of JPPS.

The F.G. ROBINSON AWARD was conferred upon Garth Knowles, Hercules Incorporated, who served as chairman of the Steam and Steam Power Committee in 2005 and 2006.

The C. HOWARD SMITH AWARD for best paper by a young member was conferred upon Shahram Navaee-Ardeh, cole Polytechnique de Montral, for the paper “A New Model for Maximizing the Bending Stiffness of a Symmetric Three-Ply Paper or Board.”

The JOHN S. BATES AWARD went to Kevin Taylor, Taylor Industrial Research Inc., Victoria, BC and Ben McGuffie, Catalyst Paper, Elk Falls Division, for their paper “Non-Process Element Mass Balance Improves Recaust and Lime Kiln Efficiency at Elk Falls Mill,” presented at a meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch.

The DOUGLAS JONES ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD was presented to Jim T. Wearing, Noram Engineering and Constructors, and Kimon Pierson, Alberta Newsprint Company, for their paper “White-Water Strategies for Integrated TMP Newsprint Mills – Implementation of a Comprehensive System for Energy and Water,” presented at the 92nd Annual Meeting in February 2006.

ENERGY CONSERVATION AWARDS were presented to individuals working in the industry who submitted the best examples of energy conservation opportunities applied in Canada.

First Prize was presented to Edward A. Dylke, Canadian Forest Products for his “Replace Pressure Screen Rotors” project.

Second Prize was awarded to Rick Merling, St. Marys Paper for his “Recover Heat Energy Going to Sewer” project.

Third Prize was conferred upon Mike Sanford, Minas Basin Pulp and Power Company for his “Paper Machine Exhaust Heat Recovery” project.

The BRANCH SERVICE AWARD was conferred upon Marie-Claude Savard, SFK Pte S.E.N.C., who served as chairman of the Saguenay-Lac St-Jean Branch in 2005-2006.

CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION were awarded to P-Yves Dionne, Bowater Produits Forestiers du Canada for his outstanding service to the Recycling Committee, and to David R. Jones, Buckman Laboratories of Canada, for his outstanding service to the Fine and Coated Papers Committee and the Recycling Committee. J. Paul Lannen of Fraser Papers East Operations also received a certificate of appreciation for his long-time service to the Atlantic Branch. Gaston Michaud of UQTR/CSPP was awarded with a certificate for his outstanding service to the Mauricienne Branch and support of the Centre intgr en ptes et papiers (CIPP). Paul R. Stuart, cole Polytechnique de Montral received a certificate for his outstanding service to the Environment Committee and creation of the Forest Biorefinery Session.

PAPTAC AWARDS PRESENTED

The DOUGLAS ATACK AWARD is given for the best paper presented at the Mechanical Pulping sessions at the previous Annual Meeting. This years’ winners of the Douglas Atack Award were Yonghao Ni and Li Yu, University of New Brunswick, for their paper “Partition of Soluble and Precipitated Oxalate and its Implication on Decreasing Oxalate-Related Scaling during Peroxide Bleaching of Mechanical Pulps,” presented at the PAPTAC 92nd Annual Meeting.

The HOWARD RAPSON MEMORIAL AWARD went to Hans Sss, Degussa AG, Hanau, and Dan Davies, Degussa Canada for their paper “ECF Bleaching of Softwood Kraft Pulp: Understanding the Potential of Extraction,” presented at the PAPTAC 92nd Annual Meeting.