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IP Explosion: Tuesday’s Latest On What Happened, The Cleanup
January 24, 2017
International Paper official said Monday that their Cantonment mill experienced significant structural damage to the largest pulp digester as well as the power house during an explosion Sunday night. There were no injuries.
The incident released a mixture of wood fiber, water and pulping liquor into the surrounding community.
Response teams are working with local, state and federal agencies to provide information for those impacted. The company has entered into a “Unified Command” with Escambia County EMA, Escambia County Public Safety, Florida Department of Health, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA. The command worked Tuesday to clear roadways, assess impacted areas, provide direct outreach to more than 40 residents and implement a remediation plan.
IP has hired contractors to develop and implement plans to clean up and dispose of the discharged material as quickly as possible. The company said they are providing all necessary support and resources to the local community and residents as the cleanup continues.
A major part of the cleanup Monday focused on Highway 29 from Woodbury Circle to Muscogee Road. Both lanes of the major north-south artery were closed Sunday night following the explosion. The roadway was covered with “black liquor”, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Black liquor is a skin, eye and respiratory irritant, the FHP said in a news release.
The black liquor was very slick on the highway. Crews worked to spread sand on Highway 29 and then collected a mixture of sand and black liquor from road surface. The roadway was also pressure washed. By about 9 p.m. Monday, over 24 hours after the explosion, the northbound lane of Highway 29 were re-opened as the clean up continued in the southbound lanes. The southbound lanes were open by about 2 a.m. Tuesday.
IP advised that anyone having contact with the discharged material would should wash the affected area for 15 minutes with soap and water. If you are experiencing skin irritation or respiratory issues, see your doctor. Avoid contact with your eyes and mouth. If the materials have come into contact with your vehicle, please thoroughly wash your vehicle and avoid contact with the material.
Comments
21 Responses to “IP Explosion: Tuesday’s Latest On What Happened, The Cleanup”
I have some property off Quintet road near Frank Ard road, any fallout in that area that anybody knows of?
To those of you worried about your health and what your family has physically suffered from this brief encounter with weak black liquor…relax! You will be okay! There is a big difference between the weak black liquor from a digester and heavy black liquor from an evaporator, it all depends on the concentration of the chemical. I work around these chemicals every day and some of my co workers have been doing it for 40+ years. If the black liquor comes in contact with your skin, wash with soap and water you will be fine. If the black liquor is in your yard, in your pool or on your vehicles that is very unfortunate but I guarantee any vapor is well below the exposure limits that can be harmful. I can’t imagine what the employees of this mill are going through, it is a very sad situation.
About a week ago people were concerned about that noise that that sounded like a pop off valve i can here it late at nite they even had it on north escambia where somebody recorded it on there phone or whatever then they had it described how it sounded at the mill well i haven’t heard that noise since does that have anything to do with that explosion? ??
Ty Mary…all these people whining about their house and pool…what about the employees with no job until this is taking care of….think about that
Can we all just be thankful no one was killed in this explosion? Thankful there is a company in Cantonment that can pay 400ish people a decent wage? Your cars, pools,yards will be ok. YOU are ok. My husband worked out there over 40 years, came home covered in lime, covered in black liquor, he has no health issues attributed to his work atmosphere. We lived in the Harvesters Village, our children and I are healthy also. Please don’t overdramatize the situation…it’s LIFE, suck it up.
I have worked at a papermill here in Charleston bout 12 years now but I’m not sure what caused it but u fill a regular digester with like 10,000gal of white liquor and close to 8000 of black so more likely it was a combination so please be caredful with cleaning up
Kraft black liquor is a mixture of wood pulping products, caustic and sulfer compounds with concentrations of each depending on the stage of digestion and the mills particular pulping chemistry. Usually it washes off easily with water but, the caustic can cause chemical burns. VInegar has been used to neutralize the effects of the caustic but, only an experienced chemist could figure out the concentration. One could imagine what problems the contamination to soil and plants will cause with the surrounding wildlife and agriculture. It could raise the pH of surrounding ground water high enough to remove oil from waterfowl feathers and interfere with wetlands.
Visit Woodbury Cir. See the cleanup crew in white suits..basically a hazmat suit. The residents are being offered a hotel, but the are is deemed safe? Something isn’t adding up.
black liquor contains;
sodium carbonate
sodium hydroxide
sodium sulfate
sodium sulfide
degraded hemicellulose ,and cellulose
degraded lignin
hydrogen sulfide
methyl mercaptan
dimethyl sulfide
dimethyl disulfide
NOTE: the concentration has a direct influence on effects.
sodium hydroxide is one of the most toxic/dangerous ingredients, and effects can include mild irritation to severe tissue damage, and death.
methyl mercaptan, and dimethyl sulfide can cause similar problems, and also chemical pneumonia.
This is all available on Weyerhauser’s MSDS form for black liquor. ( Weyerhauser manufactures black liquor.)
William
Thanks for all the news Sunday night. You had it first and had the first pictures.
North Escambia is always good and so is your Facebook.
Thanks for school and church news alone with all the rest.
Keep up the good work William.
Charlie Dillard
Having worked inside that very mill on a few different occasions, I can attest to this. I have had black liquor all over me before. It doesn’t burn, it doesn’t disfigure you, it does have a sometimes sickly smell to it. Having said that, the white liquor is the hot one as it is caustic. It will dissolve a one cent piece. It depends on what exactly exploded, if was the digester then there could be some white and black liquor involved. White liquor goes in the digester and black comes out with the impurities from the chips breaking down. My thoughts are since there are wood chips scattered around as well, this is highly likely the case. The power boiler there is a combination boiler it can burn bark, fuel, and coal. Hope this clears some things up for the people that are concerned.
Surely there are some retired paper makers out there who are knowledgeable as to the chemicals in the pulping process. I seem to recall Sulfuric Acid being one of them.
In industrial chemistry, “BLACK LIQUOR” is the waste product from the process when changing pulpwood into paper pulp removing lignin, hemicelluloses and other extractives from the wood to free the cellulose fibers. A sitcky, gooey black oil
On Countri Lane here too. My pool is full of it. The smell has finally gone but the ash/black liquor still lines the entire road and is in the yards, the driveways… It’s scary enough to know it is out there but I shouldn’t be responsible for cleaning it up. To think of what my family has physically suffered from just breathing it worries me for long term. Welcome to our tiny version of Flint Michigan…
>>What caused the explosion, does anyone know?
There’s speculation, but it will take lots of investigation to figure out what happened. OSHA, EPA, DEP….I’m sure all those “letter” agencies are looking, plus IP. Final reports will take time.
>> just so much PR flack
Welcome to what we fight. Google black liquor.
William,
What caused the explosion, does anyone know? What is the composition of the pulping liquor, did they say? The article contains just so much PR flack that it’s incredible.
I wanna know what caused it ? I live right next to it. Like is this gonna happen again or what ? Scary stuff
What about those of us South of Woodbury on Countri Lane that were impacted? I have that stuff all over my house and spent most of the day yesterday washing that stuff off of my driveway. Is there any contact info for cleanup and disposal?
Northescambia.com is on the ball best coverage on anything happening in Escambia Co.
WILLIAM
…THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL THE INFO YALL HAVE PASSED ON IN THE LAST 36 HOURS ON THE MILL AND ROAD CLOSURES.. WE DID NOT GET MUCH INFO FROM ANY OTHER SOURCE THAT WAS VERY HELPFUL..THE DISPATCHER ‘S AT *FHP WERE HELPFUL ..OTHERWISE , IT WAS A LOT OF GUESSWORK…THANK THE LORD FOR WELL LINE ROAD AND HWY 97…
and the check is in the mail.