Mill will smell, but not as bad

Published 11:11 am Saturday, May 28, 2011

FRANKLIN—Along with the new life coming to International Paper’s Franklin paper mill will be a familiar and not-always-welcomed guest.

The rotten-egg-like smell produced from the Kraft pulping process will return along with 213 jobs and some increased tax revenue, but because of a change in the process and the volume of production, the smell should not be as bad as in the past.

The smell produced from sulfur components in the process and the act of cooking the wood will be mitigated due to some new technology and a decreased volume of production, said International Paper spokesperson Donna Wadsworth.

“The smell will be there, but won’t be as bad as previously,” Wadsworth said. “The legacy odor associated with mills has been greatly reduced by technology.”

Wadsworth said the smell comes largely from boiling wood during the pulping process.

“You know when you burn wood and you get a nice smell,” Wadsworth said. “If you were to boil it, you’d get a vegetation smell.”

The smell will be mitigated because the mill will incinerate the gases produced in the process rather than releasing them into the air.

The change has an added environmental bonus as well, she said.