Posted on 05/02/2020 3:04:37 PM PDT by crz
I did a little research on this pulp mill.
It’s hard to know conclusively, but the age and desciption of the place makes me think there are rows of many digesters, not a few modern continous ones. They usually cook for a few hours, blow and then are refilled to do it again. They are sequenced so when one empties, another is ready to do the same.
The mill has 5 paper machines so I’m guessing there are lots of side by side digesters.
I once worked at a pulp reserarch lab at an old mill site. They took the smokestack down - or tried. It fell down on it’s own when the crew was at lunch. I heard a rumble and, like the truck drivers, saw a black cloud coming for our building. It looked very familiar!
I’ve heard paper processing is what makes Jacksonville, FL, air smell bad nearly all the time. (And I lived in Orange Park—miles from Jacksonville—even there, the smell could be cut with a knife). Heading north, you could escape it after crossing the Georgia line.
I believe I saw a documentary about this particular mill. It was in danger of closing so management and the union did an intense line-by-line review of their healthcare plan to try and cut costs. Something crazy like 40% of the money was being spent on seven prescription meds that were being heavily advertised on television.
I spent most of the last 20 years as a boiler operator. The last ten or so I was the lead operator for lack of a better term.
Here is a link to an incident report for a boiler explosion in Paris, TN. I made all new operators read this report to understand the WHY of a lot of the procedures we used.
I also referred new managers in our dept to this report as well.
The folks in the report were very lucky that there were no fatalities and only the one serious injury.
FWIW the most prevalent cause of boiler failures are low water incident such as the one in Paris.
I have not had a chance to do an in depth reading of the Salem incident but from a very quick scan it shows, I think, the perils of taking short cuts.
https://www.dli.mn.gov/workers/boiler-engineer/fire-tube-steam-boiler-explosions
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
I work with explosives once in awhile. Was mentored by an old-timer.
“You sure we’re far enough away?”
“Oh - you’re fine.”
This coming from a guy on the fourth windshield on his truck, as I’m trying to find a bigger tree to duck behind.
In the training class they said something like “Once you say clear, the blaster shall count down from three and then detonate the charge.”
I still had my head out the first time from around a tree.
“You clear?”
“Clear!!”
BOOM!!
This was perhaps 20 feet away from 1 pound in the ground. Probably wouldn’t have damaged me any, but it sure got my attention.
Such a waste. They hand out tax credits for the most inane things, but for something that makes sense...
That is an amazing finding. It was so wrong when the powers that be allowed tv ads for prescription meds. Some things should not be bought and sold, like fetal parts, children, servants, or life-care ethics.
As noted, this happened weeks ago, the mill is back in operation. The mill make coated paper for magazines, etc. I don’t think there are any toilet paper mills in in Maine.
The publishing paper business is just about a loser these days. Foreign competition is ruthless and killing the publishing paper industry along with the instant media.
News and information is at our finger tips these days and not on a stand so much.
These mills need to change to alternative productions. Like tissue, packaging, etc.
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Yeah it’s part of the bleaching process. I’ve worked an couple pulp mills. The first couple of days will turn your stomach and then you get used to it.
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