Written by Kory Cooper | Pulp and Paper Mills

The bleach tower vessel at a North Carolina paper plant was inspected by SVI BREMCO, who then made needed repairs to the interior walls.

What Did the Bleach Tower Vessel Interior Inspection Find?

The SVI BREMCO team performed a visual and physical inspection of the vessel’s interior from the floor and a spider climber.

The inspection found the acid bricks of the interior walls hard and well-bonded, except for the area from course 81 to 120, where the faces of the bricks were worn from ¼” to 3/8”.

The vinyl ester joints were in good condition, hard and full, except for those from course 50 to 80 where they were recessed ¼”, and from 81 to 120, where they were recessed ½”.

The floor of the vessel was in good condition, with acid brick hard and well-bonded. The cone had a fiberglass coating, and the vinyl ester joints were all in good condition.

What Bleach Tower Vessel Interior Solutions Were Offered?

Following the inspection, SVI BREMCO performed the necessary repairs, beginning with removing the brick around eight dilution nozzles. The nozzles were replaced by welding new ones to the wall.

The steel was sandblasted and primed, and then two coats of membrane were applied and brick laid in vinyl ester mortar.

SVI BREMCO recommended that the paper plant schedule a re-inspection of this vessel during their next outage.

Does your paper plant have vessels that are due for inspection and repair? Contact SVI BREMCO today to schedule your custom inspection.