SCA Hygiene Australasia’s tissue plant in Kawerau, New Zealand will reduce its carbon emissions significantly by replacing steam raised from natural gas with locally produced geothermal steam.

The country’s volcanic zone contains several areas of thermal activity, amongst them Kawerau in the North Island. Thus News Zealand’s geothermal power stands for approximately 10% of the country's electricity with installed capacity approaching 600 MW. Steam, currently produced from natural gas firing in boilers, is an integral requirement at SCA’s tissue plant in Kawerau for producing household towels, napkins, toilet paper. They are sold under brands as Purex, Tork, Deeko and Handee.

“By replacing the natural gas with sustainable and locally produced geothermal steam we will significantly reduce our carbon emissions”, explains Murray Lucas, Site operations manager at the tissue plant. Using geothermal steam directly instead of natural gas follows SCA’s sustainability target to reduce emissions from fossil fuels by 20%, using 2005 as a base year. The pipeline and steam processing equipment in Kawerau will be constructed by September 2010.