Recovery Resources

Overview
Innovative Solutions to Treated Wood Disposal. Koppers has found a way to help businesses solve their economic and ecological problem in responsibly disposing of used treated wood.

Because treated wood cannot be burned in ordinary incinerators, most used treated wood was destined for landfills. With many public policy initiatives seeking to reduce or eliminate the unnecessary use of landfills, the industry was left with a challenge.

Koppers Recovery Resources group offers your company a permanent, environmentally sound solution to this problem… beneficial reuse. Koppers accepts used treated wood to be recycled as energy at our fully permitted facility in Pennsylvania. Koppers Muncy plant is the only co-generation facility in the world totally dedicated to proper disposal of used treated wood as an energy feedstock.

Features
Each year the Koppers Co-generation plant converts approximately 110,000 tons of used creosote wood products into enough electricity to power more than 700 households. It also reduces the waste that goes into landfills. The $9 million cogeneration plant was built in 1988 when Koppers joined in a strategic alliance with Conrail and Pennsylvania Power and Light to convert crossties to electricity in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner.

By burning used utility poles and railroad ties that have been removed from service, the plant produces steam, which is converted into electricity by an eight-megawatt turbine generator. The electricity is sold to Pennsylvania Power and Light Company.

Benefits

• An attractive alternative from the environmental, political and economic viewpoints.
• 1,392,000 tons of used creosote treated wood are converted into energy, creating electrical power.
• Saves the nation's railroad industry millions of dollars a year in landfill costs and 56 million cubic feet of landfill space.
• Our permanent recycling process is cheaper than landfilling and is often only a fraction of the cost of other, less-tested systems.

1958 Cooperative Creosote Project
In addition, we are constantly monitoring the long term effects of creosote treated wood through our involvement with the Cooperative Creosote Project.

Originally initiated to compare service life performance of several different types of creosotes and creosote preservative solutions, this study remains an active field test. The continuous testing of creosote has been conducted for longer than any of the other major wood preservatives. (View the current paper)

The following are some key points of this project:

• 43-year field study and still going strong
• Area classified as a “severe deterioration zone”
• Southern yellow pine posts 7’ X 3’, buried 1-1/2 to 2 feet in the ground
• 4 creosote preservative groups:
  1. Straight run distillate (with varying percentages of light and heavy distillates).
  2. 2% penta added to some creosotes in #1 above
  3. 30% crude coke oven tar added to some creosotes in #1 above
  4. 50% petroleum added to some creosotes in #1 above.
• Today’s coal tar creosote (P1/P13) approximately matches creosote “G” which ranked #1 in performance in this study
• Today’s creosote solution (P2) matches creosote “F” ranked #2 in performance in this study

Benefits

• One affordable solution to the problem of retired material removal.
• Our permanent recycling process is cheaper than landfilling and is often only a fraction of the cost of other, less-tested systems.
• Business and environmental interests are fully satisfied.

For more information on how Koppers can help your organization, please contact:

Gary Ambrose (email)
Phone: 412-227-2739.

Choose the location nearest to you from one of our 29 worldwide wood treating facilities.