What Is White Liquor?
White liquor is a dangerous chemical mixture used in the industrial production of paper. It’s a mixture primarily made from sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and disodium carbonate. White liquor is used in the kraft process—the industrial process for converting wood into pulp. The mixture is used to treat wood chips, which are then cooked under high pressure, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s unclear what caused the rupture at the Nippon Dynawave facility, and firefighters are currently focused on rescue operations. Authorities also stressed the chemical leak was not a threat to the greater community. The industrial sites “have great safety protocols,” according to Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein, a local Cowlitz County rural fire district whose department partners to respond to the industrial area by the Columbia River.
Read more ‘Obsession’ Becomes This Summer’s Breakout Box Office Hit
Tangent
The implosion in Washington comes only days after an overheated chemical tank at an aerospace facility in Orange County, California, forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate. The tank, containing the toxic chemical methyl methacrylate used to make plastics and acrylic paints, threatened to explode as its internal temperature rapidly rose to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. A crack in the tank eventually relieved pressure and has likely averted a major explosion. However, as of Tuesday, about 16,000 people were still under evacuation orders, the Associated Press reported.