The French market pulp mill Fibre Excellence Provence, located in Tarascon, in the south of France, gradually restarted last week after a major shutdown of unprecedented scope dedicated to the maintenance and modernisation of the site. In total, more than €10m of investment and a thousand workers were mobilised for this project, an important stage in a modernisation plan involving investments of €180m over four years.
« The plant is continuing to implement an ambitious industrial strategy to return to positive results and achieve the best industrial and environmental standards,» said Roger Girard, its director. «The success of this shutdown demonstrates our determination to modernise a tool to which we are committed and our ability to deliver on our investment plan. It is the product of a great deal of work by our teams and I would like to thank them for this.»
Alongside the partner companies, the employees carried out numerous inspections and works as well as preventive replacements of parts and equipment, in order to improve the safety of production and people on the site.
The teams carried out more than 500 operations, including the complete overhaul of the boiler, its inspection and requalification, and the renovation of the economisers. The digester, an important piece of equipment in the process of extracting cellulose from wood, was completely cleaned, inspected, worked on and requalified.
This shutdown is, among other things, to prepare for the installation of the new Biowatt turbine on the site, scheduled for the end of 2022.
Each year, the plant injects around €100 million into the local economy. The budget committed to this major project has had a considerable additional knock-on effect on the local economy: more than 150 partner companies with specialised skills, such as mechanics, electricity, instrumentation, boiler making and civil engineering, have been mobilised. 85% of the committed budget has thus benefited French companies, including nearly €6 million for companies based in the PACA region. The plant will now, in a positive market context, concentrate on the production dynamic while beginning to prepare the next maintenance sequences.
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