When
natural gas from a pipeline starts flowing into UPM Madison's heating furnaces
late this year, it will be a fuel conversion several decades in the making and
a move General Manager Russ Drechsel expects will boost the paper mill's
competitiveness.
"We
first looked at this 30 years ago, and today it has become a reality,"
says Drechsel of the switch from oil to compressed to liquefied and now to
pipeline natural gas. While he would not reveal the savings the magazine-grade
paper mill expects from the changeover, he says even a savings of 10% would have
been more than enough to make the investment. But by his estimates, the mill
could see a much better return than that. Drechsel says natural gas will cost
about one-third less than oil on a per ton basis. Still, he's opted for a
dual-burner system, with the memories of oil price fluctuations and natural gas
shortages last winter still fresh in his mind.
