By JIM FAILE

Sonoco announced Tuesday that it will invest $100 million over the next three years to build a biomass boiler and make other improvements at its Hartsville plant site.

The $75 million biomass facility will replace two aging coal-fired boilers that have been in use at the plant for 60 years, said Sonoco President and Chief Operating Officer Jack Sanders.

“We are extremely excited about this project,” Sanders said. “”It is the single largest capital investment that Sonoco has made to our Hartsville manufacturing operations and in South Carolina. In addition to maintaining the viability of our operations and protecting hundreds of existing jobs, the project will create new growth opportunities and new jobs.”

The new facility will mean the creation of 10 new permanent jobs in addition to the more than 1,600 full-time jobs Sonoco currently employs at its Hartsville plant. But the construction project itself will at its peak employ about 200 workers, Sanders said.

In addition, the company expects about 30 indirect jobs to be created with businesses providing materials to fuel the new plant, Sanders said.

Sonoco plans to break ground on the new biomass plant later this month, Sanders said.

He said Sonoco has already asked state employment officials and local employment agencies to hire as many qualified, locally-based, skilled workers as possible.

The company expects to secure the necessary construction permits for the project this week.

Construction of the facility is expected to continue into July 2013, and the plans are to put the plant into operation by the fourth quarter of 2013.

With the biomass plant project as the cornerstone of its planned investment in Hartsville, Sonoco also plans to put another $11 million into improving the operating efficiency of one of its corrugated paper machines as well as upgrading emissions control technology and improving the operating efficiency of another of its boiler systems, Sanders said.

The company also plans to implement environmental maintenance upgrades to its water treatment and landfill operations, he said.

Once in operation, the new biomass facility should save Sonoco about $14 million in its annual operating costs, Sanders said. It should also be eligible for certain tax credits that further reduce costs, he said.

The new boiler will be fueled primarily by woody biomass created by regional logging activity, but it can also operate on natural gas. The boiler will produce about 16 megawatts of green energy that will be consumed by the manufacturing complex, as well as steam that is used in the paper making process.

The new facility will meet all new air emission standards, Sanders said.

Sanders said the upgrades to the Hartsville plant’s infrastructure are necessary to keep the Hartsville location viable in the current global economy.

Sonoco’s Hartsville complex is the company’s largest manufacturing complex in the world. “We operate three paper mills that produce various grades of uncoated recycled paperboard from seven different paper machines,” Sanders said.

Hartsville is also where Sonoco maintains its world headquarters. “Clearly, the Hartsville complex is important to Sonoco,” Sanders said.

But upgrading the two old boilers would have proven too costly and would have actually driven up production costs, Sanders said. “That option would significantly diminish operations in Hartsville and result in hundreds of job losses,” he said.

“But we have a very creative team at Sonoco. They put their heads together and found a solution – a green solution,” he said.

Sonoco will purchase more than 400,000 tons annually of bio material produced by regional logging operations to fuel the new plant, Sanders said. “We expect to buy this material directly from regional loggers,” he said. He said the plant will consume about 65 truckloads of material a day.

State and local officials welcomed the announcement. “Sonoco’s investment is one of the largest industrial investments in the history of the county,” said Darlington County Council Chairman Billy Baldwin. “The county council and the school board have responded to Sonoco’s commitment to Darlington County with a globally competitive performance-based tax incentive package. We thank the legislative delegation for providing this project the support of the S.C. Department of Commerce and ability to provide competitive rates.”

“This new biomass boiler system is the culmination of Sonoco’s ongoing sustainability efforts,” said Robert Long, executive director of the Darlington County Economic Development Partnership. “Sonoco is a great corporate citizen that embraces their environmental responsibility.”

Sanders thanked county officials and also expressed the company’s gratitude to Sen. Gerald Malloy and House Speaker Pro Tempore Jay Lucas, both of Hartsville, for their support of the project at the state level.

Hartsville Mayor Mel Pennington said the announcement demonstrates Sonoco’s commitment to remain a strong economic force in Hartsville for years to come.

“Sonoco is a world-class company, and we are excited that they are making this large investment in Darlington County,” Gov. Nikki Haley said in a statement. “This announcement not only indicates the company’s commitment to South Carolina – it also demonstrates that we are doing the right things on the economic development front to attract large investments like this one.”

“For more than a century, Sonoco has played an important part in South Carolina’s manufacturing sector and we congratulate them on this new investment,” said S.C. Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt in a statement. “Today’s announcement is another indication that ours continues to be a manufacturing state.”

The state Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved a rural infrastructure grant of $100,000 to assist in improving roads that will be used by trucks going to and from the new facility. Those improvements will include a turning lane from Highway 15 and expanding Society Avenue and Sonovista Drive, Sanders said.

Sanders said trucks will not come through Hartsville to make deliveries and that deliveries will be made only during daylight hours.

Founded in Hartsville in 1899, Sonoco is Darlington County’s largest private sector employer. The company has more than 19,000 employees working in 340 operations in 34 countries around the world.