Columbia Pulp Has Steam

STARBUCK—The startup process for Columbia Pulp continues, with the business announcing on Friday, September 13th that contractor Allnorth Engineers signed off on mechanical completion of the pulp mill, and that general contractor PCI has completed their work and exited the site.

Work on the boiler continues, with steam blow outs taking place this week. Once the steam blows have been completed, the steam turbine will be commissioned and the mill will commence making pulp. “This feels very much like startup now,” said mill spokesperson Eleanor Specht.

According to John Begley, Columbia Pulp CEO, “Steam blow out is an ongoing process which means cleaning out everything inside the boiler. It takes a couple of days to get rid of the dust and debris inside the boiler, and once we are done with that, we will begin tuning the turbine, which is what generates the power - to run the rest of the operation. We expect to be doing partial tuning of the turbine in a day or two.” Said Begley.

The next phase after that? “Start making pulp.” Begley continued.

Begley is assembling his customer base for the two products the mill produces, the straw pulp and the biopolymer film. “We have a number of trials lined up with customers and developing that product fit will be an ongoing process over the next few months.” Begley said.

When asked how he felt at this stage of the process, Begley said, “It’s pretty exciting - it’s been a long time coming to get to this phase. We’re in the last phases of the construction – the next phase is ongoing operation.”