BIOPAQ®IC for sustainable wastewater treatment in packaging paper production

Water is vital at multiple stages of Penha’s packaging paper production, pulping recycled corrugated cardboard, washing and refining fibers, sheet forming, pressing, and drying. As one of Brazil’s largest producers of recycled paper, Penha already operates in a circular economy model, collecting and reusing discarded corrugated packaging to manufacture new cardboard, reducing demand for virgin materials.

This orientation toward reuse reflects a broader sustainability strategy rather than just compliance. Concurrently, Penha has implemented reverse logistics programs, like the “Logística Reversa de Paletes e Papelões” with its partner Farmax, that optimize reuse of pallets and cardboard, leading to recognition for sustainability efforts.

Meanwhile, Brazil has been tightening regulations around freshwater use, effluent discharge, and licensing for industrial operations. These evolving norms make proactive water efficiency and wastewater treatment not only environmentally beneficial but also integral to long-term competitiveness and corporate responsibility for forward-looking companies like Penha.

Paques implemented a BIOPAQ® Internal Circulation (IC) reactor followed by aerobic treatment for polishing. The system is designed to treat soluble organic matter after primary treatment, delivering stable and cost-efficient performance.

Key features:

• Treats 70–90% of organic load in a compact footprint.
• Low power consumption, lowering operational costs.
• Generates biogas, reused as renewable energy in Penha’s boilers.
• Produces minimal sludge, reducing handling requirements.

Since installing the BIOPAQ^®IC high-rate anaerobic system, Penha has achieved several measurable benefits that go beyond regulatory compliance to support its sustainability objectives. The efficient organic load treatment, enables Penha to reduce COD and BOD loads upstream more effectively. It does so in a compact reactor footprint, minimizing land use and supporting tighter layout integration within existing plant facilities.

Energy recovery is a key outcome: the generated biogas is fed back into Penha’s boiler operations. This reduces cost and dependence on external fossil-fuel energy sources and contributes to the company’s lower overall carbon footprint. Penha’s sustainability reporting also highlights that their effluents are treated in their own wastewater facilities (treated to required discharge standards), with small volumes of sludge produced, thus reducing handling, disposal costs, and environmental risk.

Additionally, the alignment with Penha’s circular economy practices, such as reusing recycled OCC for feedstock, recovering and reusing internal process water, and recycling production scraps via cooperatives, means that the water treatment system complements broader resource efficiency initiatives. Penha has reported that its processes prevent thousands of tons of waste from entering the environment each year, save thousands of trees, and indirectly employ many people via recycling channels.