Fortress Paper has commenced the final conversion project phase at the company’s Fortress specialty cellulose mill. The company has begun the start-up phase of the mill with the last process testing, containing hot and cold trials along with the safety systems testing planned to be conducted in the upcoming days. The company is expecting to start the cooking of wood chips soon and will commence the production of the dissolving pulp.
The company has delayed the conversion project completion, due to the sudden strike of the construction workers previously during October, the additional time needed for the return of the employees to start the work at the construction location, completion of developments found for the infrastructure of supports, buildings and the chip tower inter-connection and application of developments to the control and safety systems of the mill.
Fortress Paper’s CEO and Chairman, Chad Wasilenkoff, stated that the company is anticipating the upcoming dissolving pulp production, which will unveil a significant highlight in the company’s history. Fortress has considered that the supplemental process control testing implementation will offer an efficient ramp-up for production commercially.
At present, the conversion project completion is within the budget. The company is significantly executing the cogeneration project at the mill, as per the plan, and is expecting to complete it in the 2012 third quarter.