AustroCel: Authority approves recommissioning
News General news
AustroCel announced the reopening of the factory. The district authority of Hallein approved the
recommissioning after the thorough technical evaluation of the measures taken by the company on 31 March 2022. In the past weeks, AustroCel has tested and optimised the plant in detail for its functionality and safety under production conditions. In the course of the extensive work, the pipelines with a total length of three kilometres were technically checked and maintained.
Extensive modernisation program
The production was halted after the incident on June 2 2021 where a sulphur dioxide leak occurred and an employee died. With the involvement of TÜV Austria and the technical consultancy TeLo, AustroCel subsequently had a comprehensive safety analysis of the entire plant carried out. Further to the repairs of the pipe, AustroCel decided to go well beyond the necessary treatment and started to rebuilt the whole digester room with the exception of the vessels themselves. In other words, in recent months the plant has been modernised including an electronic safety control.
The pulp produced by AustroCel reaches the quality level intended for sale. The primarily Asian customers for textile pulp have already placed their orders in Hallein. The production of bio-ethanol for OMV has also started up again. AustorCel operates the worldwide biggest, wood-based plant for second generation bio-ethanol with a production capacity of up to 30 millions litres.
