Paper Mill In Brunswick, Ga: Fact Or Fiction?

Yes, there is a paper mill in Brunswick, Georgia. The Brunswick Pulp Mill is owned by Georgia-Pacific and is one of the largest producers of absorbent fluff pulp in the world. The mill employs around 600 people and is a heavy user of water, particularly groundwater, which is a valuable resource along the south Georgia coast. In recent years, the mill has reduced its water usage by investing in new technology and equipment, decreasing the strain on drinking water supplies in the region. The mill's effluent is treated on-site before being discharged into the nearby Turtle River.

Georgia-Pacific Corp's Brunswick Cellulose paper plant

The Brunswick plant is a heavy user of water, particularly groundwater, which is a valuable resource along the south Georgia coast. In recent years, the plant has reduced its water usage by investing in new technology and equipment. The mill uses water to process 1,000 truckloads of yellow pines it receives each day, reducing the logs to chips and cooking them into fibre with water. This fibre is then converted into fluff pulp, 70% of which is exported to Europe, Latin America, and the Far East.

The plant's use of groundwater has dropped from about 55 million gallons per day in the 1970s to about 31 million gallons per day. This reduction has helped ease the pressure on drinking water supplies for most of Southeast Georgia and Northeast Florida. The reduced strain on the Floridan Aquifer has also decreased the risk of environmental harm, specifically saltwater contamination of aquifers, which has been a problem in the Brunswick area.

Georgia-Pacific Corp started as a lumber company and moved into paper production in the 1950s by opening a pulp and paper mill in Oregon. The company has since expanded through acquisitions, including the purchase of the Fort James Corporation in 2000, which allowed it to move into toilet paper and paper towel production. Georgia-Pacific was acquired by Koch Industries in 2005 and has since reinvested profits into the Brunswick mill, reflecting the company's philosophy of reinvesting 90% of its profits back into the company.

Water usage and environmental impact

The Georgia-Pacific Brunswick Cellulose paper plant in Brunswick, Georgia, is a heavy user of water, especially groundwater, which is a valuable resource along the south Georgia coast. The mill uses water to process into pulp the 1,000 truckloads of yellow pines it receives each day. It reduces the logs to chips and uses the water to cook the chips into fiber. This fiber is then converted to fluff pulp, which is used in diapers and other hygiene products.

In the 1970s, the mill was using about 55 million gallons of water per day. However, in recent years, the company has reduced its water usage to about 31 million gallons per day by employing new technology and equipment to make production more efficient. The mill's state Environmental Protection Division permit currently allows it to withdraw 45 million gallons a day and a monthly average of up to 49 million gallons per day.

The reduction in water usage has had a positive environmental impact. Before the overhaul, the high volume of water being withdrawn from the Floridan Aquifer reduced pressure in the upper aquifer, causing saltwater from the lower aquifer to travel upward through fissures and cracks into the Upper Floridan. This intrusion of saltwater threatened to contaminate public and private drinking water supplies in the area. By reducing their water usage, the Brunswick pulp mill has eased the pressure on drinking water supplies for most of Southeast Georgia and Northeast Florida and lowered the risk of environmental harm.

In addition to reducing water usage, the mill has also stopped using water from the Turtle River for its operations. Instead, they now recycle the water they use and rely on cooling towers to cool the water. The mill treats its effluent on-site before discharging it into the river and is in compliance with Georgia's environmental regulations for groundwater and surface water use, wastewater treatment, and drinking water standards.

Georgia-Pacific's history and ownership

Georgia-Pacific is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of tissue, pulp, paper, and paper products. It was founded by Owen Robertson Cheatham on September 22, 1927, in Augusta, Georgia, as the Georgia Hardwood Lumber Company. The company thrived due to Cheatham's business and social skills, and by 1938 it operated five lumberyards in the South.

In 1947, the company acquired its first West Coast facility in Bellingham, Washington. The following year, it changed its name to Georgia-Pacific Plywood & Lumber Company and went public on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1956, the company changed its name again to Georgia-Pacific Corporation. A year later, under the leadership of new president Robert B. Pamplin, the company entered the pulp and paper business by building a kraft pulp and linerboard mill in Toledo, Oregon.

Over the years, Georgia-Pacific continued to expand through a series of acquisitions, including US Plywood in 1987, Great Northern Nekoosa in 1990, and the Fort James Corporation in 2000. The company's purchase of the Fort James Corporation deepened its involvement in the production of toilet paper and paper towels, including well-known brands such as Quilted Northern, Brawny, and Dixie.

In 2005, Georgia-Pacific was acquired by Koch Industries, a private company based in Wichita, Kansas, for $21 billion. This acquisition made Koch Industries the largest privately held company in the United States. Since then, Georgia-Pacific has operated as an independently managed subsidiary of Koch Industries, with its headquarters remaining in Atlanta, Georgia.

Today, Georgia-Pacific operates in various countries and employs tens of thousands of people worldwide. The company continues to be a major player in the pulp and paper industry, with a focus on sustainability and environmental protection.

Paper production process

Paper is a thin sheet manufactured from cellulose pulp derived from wood and other lignocellulosic materials such as cotton, rice or wheat straw. It is used for writing, printing and packaging purposes. The global paper production capacity is projected to reach 510 million tons by 2025, driven by rising demand for packaging, printing, and writing paper products.

The paper production process involves several stages, including pulping, refining, screening, and drying, each of which plays a crucial role in determining the quality and properties of the final product. The process also generates significant waste, including water, chemicals, and paper sludge, which can have a significant environmental impact if not managed properly.

The first step in paper production is to produce pulp from wood chips. Softwoods, such as spruce and pine, with slender, strong and elastic fibres, are the most commonly used species in North America. Pulp, the raw material of paper, can be manufactured using two methods: chemical pulping or mechanical pulping.

Chemical pulping involves breaking down the chemical structure of lignin into a liquid using different chemicals, including sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide. Mechanical pulping, on the other hand, involves grinding the wood chips or other raw materials using mechanical force to separate the fibres. This method is faster and more efficient but produces lower-quality pulp that is not suitable for all paper types.

The pulp then goes through a refining process to further separate and refine the fibres. This involves passing the pulp through a series of conical or cylindrical refiners, which use rotating discs or bars to mechanically refine the fibres. The refining process can be adjusted to control the degree of fibre separation and the resulting fibre characteristics, such as length, strength and flexibility.

After refining, the pulp is diluted to form a thin fibre mixture. This is followed by the formation of fibres on a thin screen, pressurization to enhance material density, and drying to eliminate density. The paper is then cut into the desired size and shape and may be coated or treated with chemicals to improve its properties, such as brightness, smoothness or resistance to water.

The Brunswick Pulp Mill in Georgia, owned by Georgia-Pacific, is one of the largest cellulose mills in the US. It employs 600 people and produces fluff pulp, an absorbent form of paper used in diapers and feminine hygiene products.

Other paper mills in Brunswick, GA

There are several other paper mills in Brunswick, GA, aside from the Georgia-Pacific Corp mill. These include:

• Suncoast Paper Inc: This company is a paper manufacturer and wholesaler, specialising in paper boxboards. They are based in Fernandina Beach, FL, and are a part of the Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, the world's largest paper recycler.
• Voith Paper Fabrics Waycross: Part of the Voith Paper group, this company is a leading manufacturer of paper-related equipment. They are based in Jacksonville, FL.
• Packaging Corp of America: A paper manufacturer and packaging company located in Jacksonville, FL.
• Sandar Industries Inc: Specialising in paper mill machinery, Sandar Industries has been engineering solutions since 1975 and is an international leader in Paperband Reel Turn-Up Systems. They are located in Atlantic Beach, FL.
• International Paper Company: A paper manufacturer and wholesaler, located in Jacksonville, FL.

In addition to these, there are several other businesses related to the paper industry in the Brunswick, GA area, including St George Timberland Holdings, a company that provides packaging solutions, and Interstate Paper, a linerboard mill that produces over 800 tons of linerboard per day.

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