They made a few different things at this plant:
-Cellulose acetate flake. HB-105 is a fiber grade diacetate flake that's used primarily for filter tow, textile filaments, and solvent cast film. They had a contract with a chinese tabacco company which would explain the cigarette filters.
-Methonal (850,000 metric tons a year).
-Cellulose acetate flake. HB-105 is a fiber grade diacetate flake that's used primarily for filter tow, textile filaments, and solvent cast film. They had a contract with a chinese tabacco company which would explain the cigarette filters.
-Methonal (850,000 metric tons a year).
Posted by aurelie Do the symptoms of methanol poisoning match up with any of your symptoms? |
Methanol poisoning
Initial symptoms of methanol poisoning may appear as soon as 12 hours post-ingestion, but usually develop 24 hours after ingestion. These may resemble ethanol intoxication and consist of drowsiness, confusion, and ataxia, as well as weakness, headache, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Collectively, these symptoms may mimic an alcohol hangover and are due to mild intoxication, caused by methanol itself. As methanol metabolism proceeds, a severe anion gap metabolic acidosis will develop. Severe metabolic acidosis in conjunction with visual effects are the hallmark of methanol poisoning. Patients usually describe blurred or misty vision, double vision, or changes in color perception. There my be constricted visual field and, occasionally, total loss of vision. Characteristic visual dysfunctions include pupillary dilation and loss of pupillary reflex (Burkhart 1990; Suit 1990). Further signs and symptoms may be shallow respiration, cyanosis, tachypnea, coma, seizures, electrolyte disturbances, and various hemodynamic changes including profound hypotension and cardiac arrest. There may be mild to profound loss of memory, confusion, and agitation, which may progress to stupor and coma as the severity of the acidosis increases (Suit 1990). In severe cases, death is possible. Surviving patients can be left with permanent blindness or with other neurological deficits (Jacobsen 1997). |
[last edit 5/17/2010 3:57 PM by AnAppleSnail - edited 1 times]
Posted by AnAppleSnail Methanol poisoning |
This is for ingesting methanol. Inhaling methanol will make you very, very "drunk" and also cold before you get enough inside you to do some real damage.
Other than that, I hope you followed rule # 2 of urbex: "don't drink the unknown substance found in a puddle or vat at an urbex location". Yes I know it's hard, I've sinned against that rule once* as well.
Tijmen
*true story
[last edit 5/17/2010 4:08 PM by IIVQ - edited 1 times]
Posted by IIVQ This is for ingesting methanol. Inhaling methanol will make you very, very "drunk" and also cold before you get enough inside you to do some real damage. Other than that, I hope you followed rule # 2 of urbex: "don't drink the unknown substance found in a puddle or vat at an urbex location". Yes I know it's hard, I've sinned against that rule once* as well. Tijmen *true story |
That's reassuring.
I hope you mean that you drank an old water bottle from a vending machine or something...
Posted by aurelie That's reassuring. I hope you mean that you drank an old water bottle from a vending machine or something... |
I was at a meet a few years ago where we found a load of unopened cans or bottles of Pepsi, including a bottle of Pepsi Blue. While at a restaurant during a break in exploring, the guy who found it opened it and poured it into a glass, and then took a sip. It apparently tasted like it had gone bad, so he stopped drinking it. Then, for some oddball reason, he and others at the table proceeded to dump and mix various condiments into it, giving the resulting combo a rather unsavory color. No, he didn't try drinking it after that.

Posted by aurelie That's reassuring. I hope you mean that you drank an old water bottle from a vending machine or something... |
Nope, I tried water that was flowing trough an underground mine. Just a small sip, for taste.
It had a very metallic taste to it but otherwise tasted quite good. As the mine is abandoned for >30 years it might actually be quite good water.
Posted by IIVQ Nope, I tried water that was flowing trough an underground mine. Just a small sip, for taste. It had a very metallic taste to it but otherwise tasted quite good. As the mine is abandoned for >30 years it might actually be quite good water. |
Just as long as it wasn't a uranium mine.

By the sounds of it, and the pictures I've seen these guys were in the 'acetate flake' part of the plant.
The Methane plant consists of almost entirely outside infrastructure, with one admin/operations building. The site is slowly being dismantled and shipped to be put back together in China. I haven't seen many if anything in that section that would cause you get methonal poisoning. Its very clean for an industrial site...
The acetate flake plant is a totally different story.
The Methane plant consists of almost entirely outside infrastructure, with one admin/operations building. The site is slowly being dismantled and shipped to be put back together in China. I haven't seen many if anything in that section that would cause you get methonal poisoning. Its very clean for an industrial site...
The acetate flake plant is a totally different story.
Posted by Capt Canada By the sounds of it, and the pictures I've seen these guys were in the 'acetate flake' part of the plant. The Methane plant consists of almost entirely outside infrastructure, with one admin/operations building. The site is slowly being dismantled and shipped to be put back together in China. I haven't seen many if anything in that section that would cause you get methonal poisoning. Its very clean for an industrial site... The acetate flake plant is a totally different story. |
Methane is somethign totally different from methanol (though they look a bit similar, chemically)
I do work around methanol and chemicals at my work (auto mechanic) so after 4 years I have developed resistance to them. I remember when good wiffs of old differential fluid and brake clean knocked me out. Now I can sniff it and be just be annoyed at the smell. Not like sniffing that is recommended. The methanol poisoning would explain some of my symptoms and maybe with all the pigeon shit in the place and other chemicals could be lethal.
Posted by thegerm I do work around methanol and chemicals at my work (auto mechanic) so after 4 years I have developed resistance to them. I remember when good wiffs of old differential fluid and brake clean knocked me out. Now I can sniff it and be just be annoyed at the smell. Not like sniffing that is recommended. The methanol poisoning would explain some of my symptoms and maybe with all the pigeon shit in the place and other chemicals could be lethal. |
old differential fluid is one of my least favorite smells on the planet
Yeah the place hasn't been in active production of methanol in a while, it would evaporated by now. Unless they forgot to empty a sealed tank and its leaking out, but methanol is valuable so I doubt there's any left. But that center building is full of benzene, sulfur and other good stuff. The pump house in the north west had/has chlorine (the main tank was empty). War crimes even told us not to in the center building.
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