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West Fraser lignin project gets $6 million from SDTC

The lignin extraction project at West Fraser’s Hinton Pulp mill is one of a bunch of clean technology projects to receive funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada in recent weeks.

The lignin extraction project at West Fraser’s Hinton Pulp mill is one of a bunch of clean technology projects to receive funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada in recent weeks.

West Fraser Mills Ltd., based in Vancouver, will receive $6.1 million, to construct Canada’s first LignoForce™ commercial lignin recovery plant, where pulp mill waste will be recovered and used in a variety of applications.

“West Fraser is proud to be the recipient of SDTC funding in support of the world’s first commercial demonstration LignoForce System™ lignin recovery plant. Working with FPInnovations and NORAM Engineering and Constructors Ltd., the project will use Canadian- developed proprietary technology and will also explore opportunities for the use of extracted lignin in new, marketable higher value products,” said Ted Seraphim, president and CEO, West Fraser.

Initially, West Fraser will pursue the use of lignin as a renewable, natural replacement for certain glue components used in the manufacture of plywood and engineered wood products, such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and oriented strand board (OSB).

A consortium of companies is involved in the lignin recovery project: West Fraser Mills, AB Plywood, Ecosynthetix, FPInnovations, Hinton Pulp, and Quesnel Plywood.

West Fraser’s Hinton pulp mill will be the first in Canada to extract the lignin from its black liquor recovery stream to commercial scale, enabling it to produce sufficient quantity to meet the supply requirements of end-users. Hinton will use a proprietary process developed by FPInnovations and NORAM Engineering, called LignoForce.

Announced last June, the LignoForce installation has also received a contribution of $10 million from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), under the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program.

This project is the evolution of a transformative process that began with an investment in a similar LignoForce pilot-scale demonstration facility in Thunder Bay, Ont., which was funded by NRCan’s Transformative Technologies Pilot Scale Demonstration Program, the Government of Ontario and the Centre for Research and Innovation in the Bio-Economy (CRIBE).