Where's u tankers loading at this morning

Been hauling a lot of caustic lately, out of GAC Chemical in Searsport, ME. Most of it has gone to the Woodland mill in Baileyville, ME.

The Friday after Christmas, the Sappi paper mill in Skowhegan, ME. got a load of sodium hypochlorite (bleach) going to the paper house. The bleach is unloaded next to a another unloading line for ammonium bromide. Both lines are clearly labeled, color coded and one is a 2" hook up, the other 3", so as to not mix them up.
Two mill employees came down that day, one of which was in training. Out of all three people, no one noticed that they started to unload into the wrong tank and about 500 gals. of bleach went into the bromide tank. This caused violent chemical reaction and an orange cloud formed causing a shut down and evacuation of the paper house. Amazingly only three mill employees had to go to the hospital.
I later heard that a portion of the plastic tank got so hot you could not touch it, if any more bleach had been dumped into the bromide tank, the tank probably would have melted, dumping the contents on the floor, and making the situation even worse.
Lots of changes have already happened there, and more are coming to prevent a repeat. The only reason I post this here, is so that maybe it will help prevent something similar from happening anywhere else, because you, the driver, should be paying enough attention to make sure they are unlocking the correct line and that you have connected to the right line. So far every place I have been too, the unloading lines have been marked, so I know which line to connect to.

 

We use inch and a half hook ups for our bleach tanks and inch and a quarter for other mini bulk stuff. 2-3” for other bulk.

 

Something like that happened at a power plant we haul sulfuric acid and caustic to. The Canadians underbid us one year. And the first load they hauled in, he dumped acid into the caustic. They figured out cheaper isn't always better in the long run.

 

Hauling 50% caustic out of St. Paul back to ND right now. Parked for the night in western Minnesota. Second load out of St. Paul. Going back for a third after this.

 

Do you have steam or a heated compartment? That’s gotta be super cold by the time it gets to ND

 

Insulated tanker. No in transit heat. Its loaded at about 90 degrees, so not a problem. Lose about 5 to 10 degrees per day, depending on wind and temperature. It gets unloaded right away anyway. If its deep subzero with wind and it has to sit for a few days before its unloaded, we park them in the shop.

 

#### I've been to the Skowhegan Sappi mill a few times when I was in training out of auburn... I'm just doing a local run lately pickup at Kinder Morgan philly run out to a customer in Lancaster for a air off... usually about a 9 hour day missing running the road though.

 

That was always one of my biggest fears when I was hauling chemicals. I hope the people injured are OK. Breathing in bromide would cause a lot of damage to the lungs.

 

Everyone was OK. The bromide unloading point is going to be moved into the next room, so this doesn't ever happen again.
The company I drive for used to haul the bleach in there all the time, but since last fall, it's been a different company most of the time. We may do a weekend load once in while. The first time this other company showed up, the driver aired the trailer up to 40 psi before opening the external valve, and he didn't open it slow, he flung it wide open, causing a major surge to go through the unloading line, blowing it out, and spraying bleach.

 

I bet that was a sight to see. It amazes me what some of these people do when unloading somewhere.