Ethanol & Electricity

The new owners of the mill knew they needed to take action to address rising energy costs. Wisconsin’s Governer Doyle saw the Flambeau River Papers project as an opportunity for his state to take a leadership role in ending dependence on foreign sources of energy.

His hope is that the nation and world ultimately would look to the Midwest instead of the Mid-East to meet energy needs. The goal was to help the mill establish a plan to reduce energy costs and identify emerging technologies.

The first step was to reduce the mill's demand for energy. A new bio-mass boiler supplies 50% of all current power and the installation of a second boiler will generate 100% of needed power by the end of 2007. This will make Flambeau River Papers the first energy independent integrated mill in North America.

The Flambeau River Biorefinery project will be the first modern U.S.-based pulp mill biorefinery to produce cellulosic ethanol. It will be designed to produce 20 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year from spent pulping liquor. The technology Flambeau has selected enables production of ethanol without fossil fuel consumption. The new biorefinery, as designed, will have a positive carbon impact of ~140,000 tons per year. Once in operation, it will increase employment at the Park Falls area by approximately 100 people.

"Now that the mill's reopened, my friends will stay here in town. They won't have to leave to find jobs. Our school gets funding so I get a better education. And I like that the mill is "green," I think that'll keep it and our town going strong for my lifetime, too."

A Greener Future

Rising energy costs had contributed to the downfall of the previous mill, so Flambeau River Papers is pioneering the wide use of alternative fuel sources and sustainable technologies.