A number of reports about chlorine dioxide and its role in Elemental Chlorine-Free (ECF) bleaching have been written in recent years. Below you will find technical, scientific, and market reports pertaining to ECF's market performance, ecological risk assessments, eco-system recovery, and chlorine dioxide's role in the pulp and paper industry's virtual elimination of dioxin. As new reports become available they will be added to this page.

  • For the 10th year in a row Elemental Chlorine-Free (ECF) Pulp will once again increase its share of the world bleached chemical pulp market to 66% in 2000. ECF is proving to be the best technology available.

    Download the entire report as a PDF file. If you don't have the Acrobat Reader click here to download and install on your computer.

    For the 9th year in a row Elemental Chlorine-Free (ECF) Pulp will once again increase its share of the world bleached chemical pulp market to 62% in 1999. ECF is proving to be the best technology available.

    Download the entire report as a PDF file. If you don't have the Acrobat Reader click here to download and install on your computer.

AET's third annual analysis of U.S. EPA and individual state environmental and health authority data. The 1998 report confirms that while total fish consumption advisories for all pollutants are rising, dioxin advisories downstream of U.S. pulp mills are falling. The increased substitution of chlorine dioxide has been a key factor in the recovery of aquatic eco-systems.

Download the entire report as a PDF file. If you don't have the Acrobat Reader click here to download and install on your computer.

  • For the 8th year in a row Elemental Chlorine-Free (ECF) Pulp will increase its share of the world bleached chemical pulp market. The 54% market share ECF pulp will capture in 1998 is further evidence of a growing global consensus that ECF is the best available technology. You may also want to read the press release.

    Download the entire report as a PDF file. If you don't have the Acrobat Reader click here to download and install on your computer.

  • The peer-reviewed, scientific panel report reconfirms that bleaching with chlorine dioxide (ECF Bleaching) presents an insignificant risk to aquatic eco-systems from chlorinated substances. In addition, the AET report reviews relevant science published since 1993 and provides a scientific progress report updating an earlier study, "A Review and Assessment of the Ecological Effects Associated with the Use of Chlorine Dioxide in the Bleaching of Pulp," published in 1993.

    Download the entire report as a PDF file. If you don't have the Acrobat Reader click here to download and install on your computer.

  • Pollution Prevention for the Pulp and Paper Industry
    Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources, 118th Maine Legislature
    (April 1997)

    As part of its continuing mission as a clearinghouse of educational and technical resources relating to chlorine dioxide and its use in papermaking, AET submitted this report to the Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources of the 118th Maine Legislature. The Committee is currently deliberating two competing dioxin elimination bills affecting the state's pulp and paper industry. AET's submission documents the ECF pollution prevention success story.

  • ECF: Pollution Prevention for the Pulp and Paper Industry
    Presentation to the American Chemical Society
    (April 1997)

    In December of 1995, AET nominated chlorine dioxide for the President's Green Chemistry Challenge Award, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). AET, while not an Award winner, did receive an honorable mention from EPA, as well as an invitation to resubmit the nomination in 1997. Futhermore, in recognition of chlorine dioxide's pollution prevention success, AET was invited to present, "ECF: Pollution Prevention for the Pulp and Paper Industry" at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, in April 1997.

  • A result of an AET scientific workshop held in the fall of 1996, the report addresses the issues surrounding future mill processes and the environmental impacts of those changes.

    Download the entire report as a PDF file. If you don't have the Acrobat Reader click here to download and install on your computer.

  • An Assessment of the Formation of 2378-TCDD and 2378-TCDF when Chlorine Dioxide is the Oxidizing Agent in the First Stage of Bleaching of Chemical Pulp
    (January 1996)

    This review was conducted at the request of the Alliance for Environmental Technology by a Science Advisory Panal specifically convened for this purpose. The task put to the Panal was to prepare an independent expert opinion and assessment of the formation of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2378-TCDD) and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran (2378-TCDF) when chlorine dioxide (ClO2) completely replaces chlorine (CI2) in the first stage of chemical pulp bleaching.

    Download the executive summary as a PDF file. If you don't have the Acrobat Reader click here to download and install on your computer. Or if you would like a full copy of the report, contact AET.

  • The pulp and paper industry has met the challenge of pollution prevention. In an unprecedented, voluntary effort, the industry has virtually eliminated discharges of persistent, bio-accumulative, toxic substances to the Great Lakes eco-system. This paper details this effort and its successes. (Presented to the International Joint Commission at its 8th Biennial Meeting on Great Lakes Water Quality).

  • An AET report in which a five-member independent science panel -- including Dr. Robert Huggett, EPA's Assistant Administrator of Research and Development -- reached a unanimous conclusion: "For pulp and paper mills using chlorine dioxide as the principal bleaching agent, chlorinated organics in mill effluent pose an insignificant risk to the environment." You may also want to read AET's Comments on the US EPA's Proposed Cluster Rule Making for the Pulp and Paper Industry, submitted April 18, 1994 and based on the conclusions of this report. The executive summary is also available.