Tembec announced in late January that it is delaying the completion of its $190-million upgrade at the specialty cellulose mill in Temiscaming, Que. President and CEO James Lopez says high demand for construction resources in Quebec were…
Tembec announced in late January that it is delaying the completion of its $190-million upgrade at the specialty cellulose mill in Temiscaming, Que. President and CEO James Lopez says high demand for construction resources in Quebec were putting cost pressure on the project. The project has been re-opened for bidding, and Lopez expects to have a new schedule in place by the end of the first quarter of 2013.
Phase one of investment in the Temiscaming specialty pulp mill, announced in March 2012, is related to green energy. Lopez explains that the opportunity to sell green energy to Hydro-Québec now makes it feasible to replace the three aging recovery boilers at the mill. The new boilers will make high pressure steam, and allow an incremental 10,000-tonne increase in pulp output due to operating efficiency improvements.
Phase two, an investment of $120 million originally planned for 2014-2015, will replace the mill’s nine batch digesters. This will increase capacity for specialty pulp production by 30,000 t/yr.
The expansion projects were on schedule until late November, says Lopez. The original announcement predicted the new boiler would be installed by Dec. 2013, and the turbine for electricity generation by May 2014.
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