Posted on 05/03/2008 4:21:36 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
REDWOOD, Miss. (AP) - A county sheriff says an explosion at a paper mill has killed two people and left nearly a dozen missing.
Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace confirmed the deaths Saturday at the International Paper mill in Redwood.
He told WJTV in Jackson that nearly a dozen people are missing and nearly 20 others are injured. The mill employs about 300 people in and around Warren County.
The county is west of Jackson.
http://www.wjtv.com/gulfcoastwest/jtv/news.apx.-content-articles-JTV-2008-05-03-0009.html
...International Paper is located on Highway 3 in Redwood, Mississippi. Officers from the Warren County Sheriff’s Dept., Vicksburg Fire Dept., and IP security are responding to the explosion. The IP mill in Warren County employs about 300 people in and around the Warren County area.
IP employees tell us nearly a dozen people are missing... and nearly 20 others are injured. There are also reports that at least two people were killed in the blast.
I work in a paper mill and compete for business with IP.
This is an absolute disaster for any mill.
Wow.
It is.
I print a LOT of IP paper (RR Donnelley)
I am at a loss for trying to understand what would be so volatile at a paper mill. Steam Boiler maybe?
Update;
One person killed.
All employees accounted for.
Some contract persons unaccounted for.
Per FNC.
The main hazardous substance at paper mills would have been chlorine; but that has been almost phased out, I think.
Maybe something connected with the drying of the web?
My mom works for IP in Washington state. Sadly people get hurt on the job in these mills all the time, but explosions aren’t really common place.
I’m betting the recovery boiler, but I haven’t seen any reports say yet.
I have a brother that works at the Cedar Springs mill in Ga.
I’m not sure that chlorine would be so much of an explosion hazard as an inhalation hazard in case of a leak.
Most mills have their own power generating boilers; the recovery boiler burns concentrated liquid (”liquor”) left over from cooking the wood chips and creates steam for cooking and drying paper, as well as recovering cooking chemicals for reuse.
Simplified explanation: the boilers burn the liquor, and have tubes running through them filled with water which turns to steam. If a steam tube springs a leak, especially in certain parts of the boiler, the expansion of the water as it turns into steam can cause an explosion hazard.
In addition, the chips are cooked in high pressure digesters (basically huge pressure cookers), and the paper is dried on rollers filled with steam - either of those could explode, but I’d think it less likely.
And steam is used to heat the dryer cans in the paper machines. These ‘cans’ dry the paper as it is finished.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080503/NEWS/80503010
1 killed, 17 hurt in paper mill blast
.Which one?
I was due to go the Lancaster plant last week but didn't.
And I've been to Donnelley in Crawfordsville, IN.
Boiler house, pulp mill, the paper machines themselves, etc.
The paper mill in my home town. I worked there at one time and all my in-laws work there now. My father-in-law retired from there as did his father. I know paper.
http://www.smurfit.com:8080/asp/locateus.asp?s=loc&id=1056
Thought to myself...this guy knows about papermaking.
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