Kalama wine bottle plant to restart, kick out 100 million bottles

KALAMA, Wash. — Workers have jackhammered out tons of glass that hardened in an electrical furnace after it failed at a wine bottle plant at Kalama.

The old furnace has been removed and the Bennu Glass company is installing a new furnace that will be fueled by liquid oxygen to heat molten glass to 2,800 degrees.

The Daily News reports the plant should be ready to restart in July, producing 100 million bottles a year for West Coast wineries.

The plant at the Port of Kalama was crippled by a molten glass leak and shut down in 2009. Bennu bought the plant last year at auction.