Proposed Upgrade of the Outeniqua Pale (Pty) Ltd Timber Treatment Facility at Albertinia
Outeniqua Pale (Pty) Ltd has recently purchased the timber treatment and pole yard on erven 965 and 966,Albertinia, for the purposes of expanding their pole treatment capacity, which includes a facility situated near Great Brak River. The site is on the southwestern side of the town of Albertinia, between the railway line and N2 on the extreme west of the industrial area, as indicated on the attached map.
The site has been used as a timber treatment facility since 1994 with Outeniqua Creosote Pole operating the facility since the beginning of 2007 after purchasing it from South Cape Poles. South Cape Poles had been operating the facility since 2002 when it was purchased from the deceased estate of the previous owner Mr G Sipman. Prior to operating as a timber treatment facility the site was used as a training facility by Mosgas. The training facility was only partially demolished and concrete slabs and pillars were not completely removed.
The property is currently used for debarking, drying and treating wood poles with Creosote (approximately 30m3 per day) and CCA (Copper Chrome Arsenate) (approximately 40m3 per day) for the agricultural market.In order to increase capacity, Outeniqua Pale intends to replace the existing Creosote treatment tank with a larger one and to modify the existing tank for treatment of timber with CCA and Boron. The proposed upgrade includes modernizing the plant to bring it in line with the latest international standards and to meet with the specifications of SANS 10255:2003 and 10005:2006 (SABS). The proposed treatment capacity after the upgrade will be approximately 80m3 per day for Creosote. The treatment capacity for CCA will remain the same (approximately 40m3 per day) and an additional approximate 10m3 per day will be treated with Boron. The volume of each of the proposed treatment tanks will be 60,000 litres, 30,000 litres and 10,000 liters for the Creosote, CCA and Boron respectively.
The treatment process itself involves the submersion of timber products into the respective liquids during which the liquid is pressurized to approximately 800kPa. Both CCA and Boron are water-soluble and treatment is at standard temperature. Creosote, however, is a tar-like substance and must be preheated to a maximum of 95°C to make it fluid enough to penetrate the timber. During this heating process some emissions may be released into the atmosphere, which result in such installations requiring a permit to be issued in terms of the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act of 1965 (Act No. 45 of 1965) by the Chief Atmospheric Pollution Control Officer (CAPCO). Hard surfaces will be established for the storage of treated timber to ensure that no contamination of soil takes place.
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