Smurfit Westrock Mahrt Mill — manufacturing facility | Ask the Grid

Smurfit Westrock Mahrt Mill

Large load · 1817 Highway 165 South, Phenix City, AL

Smurfit Westrock's Mahrt Mill, at 1817 State Highway 165 South in Cottonton, Russell County, Alabama, is a paperboard mill that produces paper grades for consumer and commercial packaging. WestRock Coated Board, LLC operates it as part of Smurfit Westrock plc. The mill produces about 950,000 metric tons of carton board a year and generates electricity onsite from steam turbine-generators and a combustion turbine.

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Overview

Mahrt produces a range of paper grades used for sustainable consumer and commercial packaging. A mill supplier puts annual output at 950,000 metric tons of high-quality carton board. The mill continues operating and investing, 60 years after its founding.

Profile

Electricity and grid: The mill's boilers supply steam turbine-generators GEN1 and GEN2, and a combustion turbine drives GEN3. An EPA review describes total onsite nameplate capacity of approximately 113.4 MWe, against mill electrical needs of approximately 95 to 100 MWe when operating. Steam turbines #1 and #2 came on line in 1966 and 1990 with nameplate capacities of 27.2 and 61.2 MWe, and generator #3, a 25 MWe combustion turbine, began operating in January 1998 on natural gas or fuel oil. Under EPA's Acid Rain Program applicability determination, the mill's electricity sales must not exceed 219,000 MWh in any calendar year.

Ownership and permits: WestRock owned and operated the Mahrt mill through WestRock Coated Board, LLC, which applied to renew the mill's Title V Major Source Operating Permit. Alabama published notice of the renewal application on March 5, 2026, and the draft permit would not authorize any new emissions. Smurfit Westrock plc is the parent, formed when the combination completed on July 5, 2024.