Lincoln P&T to Invest $7.8 Million in Energy-Efficiency Plan

Lincoln Paper and Tissue, Lincoln, Maine, USA, will spend $7.8 million to improve energy of its tissue production line. The retrofit will also result in some layoffs, a company official was quoted this week in an article by the Bangor Daily News, Bangor Maine.

 

In response to an explosion at the mill last November, the mill’s plan will result in a workplace that is "likely going to require fewer people," mill co-owner Keith Van Scotter said in the article. The mill currently employs some 190 workers. "It’s going to be a few," Van Scotter said of the layoffs. "The big driver is not reducing head count, but there will be some."

 

A smelt water explosion in a chemical recovery boiler this past November 2 forced the layoff of about 200 workers at the mill about a month later. The explosion idled one of the paper machines and the mill’s pulping facilities, forcing the company to purchase pulp off-site. The layoffs represented about half of the company’s workforce.

The company’s three tissue machines continue to run nonstop, officials said. 

The energy upgrades at the Lincoln mill will save 5.8 million kilowatt hours a year, enough energy to power about 915 homes. The total project cost is estimated at $2.8 million and is part of an overall $7.8 million facility upgrade to improve the logistics of the mill’s new business model. Lincoln Paper and Tissue produces about 200 tpd of tissue.