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Paperweek International 2004: PAPTAC Honours 47 Individuals

Awards for research and technical papers, and for service to the Canadian pulp and paper industry, were conferred upon 47 individuals during PAPTAC’s 90th annual meeting. The award winners received certificates, gold lapel pins, and prizes at the PAPTAC Awards Ceremony and at the annual Business Luncheon.

The John S. Bates Memorial Gold Medal, in recognition of long-term contributions to the science and technology of the industry, was presented to Dr. Charles A. Sankey. Dr. Sankey was not present to receive the award in person but sent a member of his family to accept the award on his behalf.

Dr. Sankey was a leader in research and development in the Canadian pulp and paper industry. During his career, spanning four decades from 1930 to his retirement in 1970, he did much to advance the technology of the industry. Much of his work has been devoted to the development of processes for extracting vanillin and other valuable chemicals from sulphite liquor.

He has been the author of many scientific papers and the recipient of numerous patents related to the production and treatment of pulping by-products, lignin, lignosulphonic acids, alcohol and the development of ion-exchange recovery processes. He has also been involved with studies of the optical properties of newsprint, the use of high-speed strobe photography and paper machine design.

Dr. Sankey was a leader in the activities of the Technical Section, now PAPTAC. He has participated as an active member in a number of technical committees over the years, and was chairman of the Physical and Chemical Standards (now the Testing Methods) Committee, from 1932 to 1939, and the Research Committee in 1966 and 1967. He was a member of the Executive Council for three years from 1940 to 1942. He was awarded the I.H. Weldon Medal in 1944 for the best paper, and the F.G. Robinson Committee Service Award in 1967. The Technical Section awarded him honorary life membership in 1973.

An Honorary Life Membership was bestowed upon Barbara van Lierop. With a B.Sc. from Dalhousie University and an M.Sc. from McGill University, van Lierop has been working at Paprican since 1973 in the areas of chemical and mechanical pulp bleaching. She has been involved in writing and presenting a number of technical papers on the application of oxidative extraction in pulp bleaching and on oxygen, peroxide and ozone use in both TCF and ECF bleaching. She is part of the research team at Paprican that is developing technologies to improve chlorine dioxide bleaching efficiency.

Over the course of her professional career, she has been a member of the PAPTAC bleaching committee, and was its chairman in 1981 and 1982. She won the F.G. Robinson Committee Service Award in 1982 and the Douglas Jones Environmental Award in 1990 and 1993. She has participated in a number of International Pulp Bleaching conferences over the years, both as a presenter and as session chairman. TAPPI awarded her the 1999 Pulp Manufacturing Division Technical Award and the Johan C.F.C Richter Prize.

Barbara van Lierop was a member of the Technical Section, CPPA (now PAPTAC) Executive Council, and was chairman in 1996 and 1997.

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 Bernard Bgin (Bowater, Gatineau, QC), Said Mozaffari (Abitibi-Consolidated, Thorold, ON), Reza Amiri (Paprican, Pointe-Claire,QC) and Stphane Deshaies (Abitibi-Consolidated, Fonthill, ON) for their paper “Effects of Wood and Pulp Quality on Linting Propensity”, presented at the 2003 International Mechanical Pulping Conference.

The Branch Service Award is conferred annually upon the branch chairman who has contributed most to the furtherance of the aims and objectives of PAPTAC, and who has shown outstanding leadership and service to the branch. The Award was conferred upon Susan Kingston, Alberta-Pacific, Boyle, AB, who served as chairman of the Western Branch in 2002 and 2003.

The John S. Bates Award is conferred for the best paper presented at a Branch meeting by a member of the Branch. The Award consists of a medal, a cash prize of $500 and a valuable book prize, which was endowed by the late Dr. John S. Bates, founder of the Technical Section, CPPA. The winner was Steve Carpentier, Kruger, Trois-Rivires, QC, for his paper “Audit de performance pour valuer les contrles et les quipements d’une machine papier”, presented at a meeting of the Mauricienne Branch.

The Douglas Jones Environmental Award is conferred for the best paper in the field of environment improvement presented at a PAPTAC meeting. The award went to George Velema, Domtar, Cornwall, ON, for his paper “Management and Benefits of Pulp and Paper Mill Residuals”, presented at the 2003 International Environmental Conference.

The Douglas Atack Award is given for the best paper presented at the Mechanical Pulping sessions at the previous Annual Meeting. The winners were Yonghao Ni and Zhibin He, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB and Eric Zhang, Holmen Paper AB, Hallstavik, Sweden, for their paper “Mechanism of Sodium Borohydride-Assisted Peroxide Bleaching of Mechanical Pulp (The PR Process)”, presented at the PAPTAC 89th Annual Meeting.

The Howard Rapson Memorial Award is given for the best chemical pulp bleaching paper presented at a PAPTAC Annual Meeting session sponsored by the Bleaching Committee or at any major conference across Canada, including the Congrs Francophone du Papier, the Midwest Branch meeting and PacWest. The winners were Jeffrey Tolan, Iogen Corporation, Ottawa, ON, and Jim Collins, Marathon Pulp, Marathon, ON, for their paper “Use of Xylanase in the Production of Bleached, Unrefined Pulp at Marathon Pulp Inc.”, presented at the PAPTAC 89th Annual Meeting.

A Certificate of Appreciation was awarded to Gary Baum, Roswell, GA, for chairing and leading the joint management committee of the Journal of Pulp and Paper Science for the past ten years.

PAPTAC recognized these individuals who have been members for 50 years: R. Vit, D. Atack, B. Donner, J.A. Forbes, K. Grotterod, W.W. Hall, M.R. Hardy, D.E. Read, J.L. Welch, R.E. Arbogast, D.L. Jones, R.V. Smith, H. Paavila, C. Logan, L.T. Welch, O. Kiar, R. Jaakkimainen, J. Halter, N. Gavelin, B. Baril and H. Lloyd.