Saiccor - The First 50 Years 5.8 MB - Sappi

The Tainton Period (1971–1983)
it was established that after 13 years solids in the effluent had eroded
the rubber lining, and thus being exposed to effluent the mild steel
pipeline had corroded� After much debate and discussion, it was
decided to insert an HDPE pipe (plastic), called Phillips Driscopipe,
into the mild steel sea line and to replace the landline with HDPE
pipe� This apparently was common practice in the USA, and would
be guaranteed for 25 years�
The HDPE pipe was ordered in April 1981� The landline was
replaced in an 11-hour factory shutdown on 29 September 1981 and
the sea line was sleeved in a 34-hour shutdown on 26 October 1981�
The effluent line was again operating without leaks� Everyone was
happy, particularly the Board, who regarded the relining as an
outstanding achievement (at a cost of R3,4 million)� Once the sea
line was relined, the diffusers over the last 300 m were blocked off,
forcing all the effluent out of the end of the pipe, which increased
the visibility of the effluent plume from the shore�
By 1980 Saiccor’s production started to exceed Courtaulds’
requirements� After lengthy debate, Courtaulds decided it would be
preferable to sell Saiccor’s surplus production outside the Courtaulds
group, rather than reduce Saiccor’s production� External sales started
in 1981 and by 1982 made up 27 per cent of the total Saiccor sales of
384 198 t at a price of R386 against the Courtaulds price of R277�
The marketing effort was a joint venture between Saiccor and
Courtaulds Pulp Trading (CPT), with the objective of replacing the
declining Courtaulds demand for pulp with external sales� Courtaulds
Pulp Trading was established in April 1982 as an expansion of the
Coventry based Courtaulds’ company Springwood Cellulose (formed
20 years earlier to market Usutu pulp)� CPT would sell pulp from
both Saiccor and Usutu� The company consisted of 18 people, headed
by Jim Walmisley (who became a director of Saiccor in 1986) and
included Marcello Malpiedi�
Early in 1981 discussions started to take place in Saiccor on the next
expansion project� At that time bleaching was the bottleneck� With
both bleaching plants operating at well above design capacity, a new
bleach plant was considered essential for any expansion� However,
increasing the bleaching capacity would create bottlenecks in virtually
every other plant� It became clear that the next expansion would
mean a new mill, and if a new mill was to be built, it should be
magnesium based rather than calcium based, for economic as well as
environmental reasons� So was born the concept of the 500 t/d
magnesium plant expansion, from woodyard to pulp store, that was
to serve as the thrust of Saiccor’s development for the next 14 years�
In May 1981 Mike Howlett and I were sent to Sweden and Austria
to explore the requirements for a new magnesium-based pulp plant�
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