Features Research & Innovation
Tembec, Al-Pac receive $8 million to develop new technologies

A first-of-its-kind biomethanol project at Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. will benefit from the support of the federal Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) Program. Al-Pac is receiving $4.5 million from IFIT to diversify its product offerings by extracting and purifying biomethanol from its pulping process.

Through a different federal program, Tembec in Temiscaming, Que., is receiving $3.5 million to develop innovative wood products made of cellulosic composites. This is a joint project with the Government of Quebec.

The Tembec funding falls under the Transformative Technology – Pilot Scale Demonstration Program (TTP-PSD), which aims to demonstrate the feasibility of new forest products technologies in pilot-scale demonstration in industrial settings.

Lauzon Planchers de bois exclusifs in Saint-Norbert, Que., will also receive $390,000 form the TTP-PSD program to demonstrate a new technology that can increase the surface hardness and durability of hardwood flooring through the application and polymerization of resins.

Almost $1.2 billion in project proposals were submitted in response to the IFIT program’s second and final Call for Proposals, which closed at the end of September. The response demonstrates an appetite within the Canadian forest sector for the implementation of innovative technologies.