Started up in 2003, the kraft fiberline at Catawba was designed to produce 1500 tpd of bleached pine pulp for use in lightweight coated papers. Bowater/Catawba is the biggest LWC mill in North America. The fiberline features a large single-vessel hydraulic Lo-Solids digester followed by a pressure diffuser. Next, there's a two-stage oxygen delignification system (smaller and larger reactors in series), and finally a DEopDD bleach plant targeting 90% ISO brightness. Andritz DD washers are used all the way from pre-O2 to the end of the bleach plant.

News in 2020: this mill was recently sold, and the new owner intends to convert it to kraft linerboard production. This will require very substantial changes in equipment and operating practice. Very few conversions of this type have ever been attempted.