Jaun you really are an idiot! Paper can be made without burning the BL, although it would not be very profitable! Here’s how it works; you use White liquor to cook the chips, the bi-product of that is Black liquor which is burned and turned into Green liquor thus the name “Recovery” now when they burn BL in a “Recovery Boiler” it produces steam which turns the turbine generator producing electricity that powers the mill. Also the steam is used to dry the sheet in the ”Dryers” Now if they didn’t have the “BTU’s” from the “Black Liquor” burning they would have to use “fossil fuels” to deliver the same “BTU’s needed to run the mill! See, it’s simple!
I guess IP should be commended for trying to keep some of the US mills on line. There is no way IP can compete with the Chinese, the Russians or the Brazilians! One of the main things being they don’t have the environmental concerns that IP has to contend with. I didn’t say it was right or wrong just stating a fact.