PaperAge Magazine

Columbia Pulp Nearing Start-Up of Straw-Based Pulp Production in Washington

By Vicki Hillhouse

Columbia Pulp Columbia Pulp's 140,000 square foot Starbuck facility in Lyons Ferry, Washington, will process 250,000 tons of waste straw, and from that raw material produce 140,000 tons per year of wet lap pulp.

Sept. 30, 2019 (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin) - Columbia Pulp is in the final stages of launching the first straw pulp mill of its kind in North America.

The operation reached a major milestone last week with the mechanical completion signoff for general contractor Pacific Civil & Infrastructure. Federal Way, Washington-based PCI was expected to be off the clock over the weekend and exited the site in the next week.

Meanwhile the company expects to start steam blows through its boiler system as soon as Wednesday. Once completed, the steam turbine will be commissioned. That will be followed by pulp production.

Columbia Pulp CEO John Begley said the company's Pomeroy pilot plant has been temporarily delayed and employees have been at the Lyons Ferry (Washington) facility to focus all attention on its startup.

“All the major pieces are certainly in place and ready to go,” Begley said.

He said once processing begins full production will likely build up over four to six months.

Wheat and seed alfalfa straw from a 75-mile radius will be converted into pulp at the plant for eventual use as consumer and molded-fiber products. The process will also create bio-polymers for an array of industrial uses.

The conversion process was designed by scientists William McKean and Mark Lewis, who have worked on it more than 20 years, Begley said.

The experience of the pilot plant over nine months has provided expertise and understanding so that when the 140,000-square-foot main mill launches the product will be market-ready virtually immediately.

“We may need a little fine-tuning of equipment,” Begley said. “But this goes back to why we did the pilot plant in the first place: so we weren't training on a large scale facility. We were learning in a facility that you could get your arms around.”

The complete story is available on the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin's website: Columbia Pulp closes in on launch date

SOURCE: Walla Walla Union-Bulletin