MACKENZIE, B.C. – Production was for about a week at the Mackenzie Pulp Corp. kraft mill in Mackenzie, B.C., after a 22-m tall tank in the bleach plant split open, spilling tonnes of pulp slurry into the building. According to media reports,…
MACKENZIE, B.C. – Production was for about a week at the Mackenzie Pulp Corp. kraft mill in Mackenzie, B.C., after a 22-m tall tank in the bleach plant split open, spilling tonnes of pulp slurry into the building. According to media reports, one of the mill’s five towers split almost top to bottom.
The incident occurred Feb. 16, and production was halted until Feb. 23. General manager Doug Van Buskirk explains that they restarted production by using an old brown stock bypass line to avoid the damaged tank.
This allows the mill to perform three-stage bleaching and produce semi-bleached pulp.
Work on removing the tower was still ongoing in early March. Once it is removed, Van Buskirk says the mill will begin four-stage bleaching and should be able to resume target production rates.
An investigation into the cause is ongoing. The tank which split was a carbon steel tank, with mortar and tile lining.
No one was injured in the incident, and the spill was contained in the bleach plant.
The Mackenzie mill resumed operations last August after a two-and-a-half year shutdown.
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