Gas leakage at Ahlstrom-Munksjö’s Aspa pulp mill in Sweden

AHLSTROM-MUNKSJÖ OYJ NEWS RELEASE JANUARY 28, 2020

On Sunday, January 26, a leakage of a gas containing hydrogen sulfide occurred at the Aspa pulp mill in Sweden at 10:30 a.m. local time. The leakage occurred in the evaporation plant when maintenance work was conducted, and a total of eight people were exposed. Four people were directly exposed to the gas and brought to hospital for care. Two out the four injured have been released from the hospital. One light injured person remains for observation. According to our information, the condition of the severely injured person has stabilized.

For safety reasons, production was stopped at approximately 11:00 a.m. on Sunday. Hydrogen sulfite did not leak out from the factory premises, thus, there was no danger to the public.

On Monday, January 27, investigation into the root cause of the leakage started. At 5.00 p.m. preparations for restarting production began and the plant has reached full production level on Tuesday, January 28.   

Aspa pulp mill produces specialty pulp and is part of Ahlstrom-Munksjö’s Insulation business within the Industrial Solutions business area.

For further information, please contact: 

Plant Manager, Michael Berggren +46 583 816 01