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CelluForce gets $6.4M investment for nanocrystal production and jobs

February 5, 2019 – The federal and Quebec governments have announced a combined $6.4-million investment to allow CelluForce Inc.’s cellulose nanocrystal facility to become the world’s first full commercial demonstration-scale plant of its kind.

Paul Lefebvre, parliamentary secretary to Amarjeet Sohi, Canada’s minister of natural resources, and Marie-Louise Tardif, parliamentary assistant to Pierre Dufour, the Quebec minister of forests, wildlife and parks (MWFP), made the announcement this morning at PaperWeek Canada, a pulp, paper and forestry conference in Montreal.

The funding will support the production of 300 tonnes of nanocrystals annually at the new, state-of-the-art facility, and will allow CelluForce to increase production efficiency by 50 per cent and help create more than 100 jobs in the next commercial plant.

The funding is provided through Natural Resources Canada’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program and the government of Quebec by means of the MWFP’s Innovation Bois program and the Ministère de l’Économie et Innovation’s Fonds du développement économique.

The new material, which can be used in everything from papers to paints, electronics to adhesives and cement to cosmetics, is produced from the cellulose in trees.

The Quebec government is contributing a total of $14.2 million to CelluForce, including $2.5 million from its wood innovation program. This program is one of the key measures of the 2018–2023 strategy to develop Quebec’s forest products industry. In addition, Quebec is providing $11.7 million from its economic development fund, specifically $4.9 million in the form of equity investments and $6.8 million in the form of loans.

“This investment will allow us to maintain our leadership in the field and expand the development of improved products with our customers. It will further enable our continued growth,” says Sébastien Corbeil, president and CEO of CelluForce.