The Kennebec Journal / Morning Sentinel, Waterville, Maine, USA, cooperative news site centralmaine.com reported this past week that Sappi Fine Paper’s Somerset mill in Skowhegan, Maine, is now running on natural gas instead of oil, a move the company hopes will shave 30% off energy costs and reduce environmental impacts. Summit Natural Gas of Maine completed the final installation of equipment to allow the Somerset mill to run at full capacity using natural gas, according to Mark Hittie, director of marketing and communications at Sappi’s North America offices in Boston, Mass.

 

"The Somerset mill is now fully connected," Hittie said. "We had a routine shutdown for state ordered maintenance in October to complete the final stage of our natural gas conversion project, converting the lime kiln. We are now fully operational on natural gas."

 

Hittie said the biggest impact of switching to natural gas is in the mill’s lime kiln, where gas has replaced the equivalent of 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of No. 6 fuel oil used per year. Converting to natural gas will also reduce oil use in the mill’s power boiler and decrease the ash load on environmental equipment.

 

Summit, which went online with natural gas at the Madison Paper Co. mill after a six-month delay in April, began installing pipe to Sappi about a year ago.

 

In the last decade, higher energy costs and foreign competition have resulted in mill closures around the state and dramatic drops in property tax valuations recently in mill communities such as Madison and Skowhegan. Switching to natural gas can help offset those rising costs, Summit executives said.

 

"The opportunity to utilize natural gas is essential to maintain the competitive cost position of our Somerset mill and is another example of our investment in Maine," Mark Gardner, president and CEO of Sappi North America, said. "Thanks to Summit, we have established access to clean, economical natural gas. This is reducing our energy costs and is better for the environment and will ensure the long-term profitability of our operations."

 

Sappi’s mill in Skowhegan is the seventh largest coated paper mill in the world, producing more than 2,200 tpd of paper. The mill also employs more than 700 Maine workers.

 

"With natural gas, the mill will have an additional energy resource available in its portfolio, providing an additional opportunity to save on energy costs," said Mike Minkos, president of Summit. "We’re proud to provide an energy source that will help keep the Somerset mill in a cost competitive position,"

 

"Initially, we plan to pay for the $24 million project investment that will reduce our cost of manufacturing to remain competitive to other mills who have benefited from natural gas access," Gardner added. "The reduced manufacturing cost will improve earnings for further reinvestment and improvements to our processes."