Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

This project is to collaborate with AV Group to establish databases of wood and fibre properties that are critical to the production of dissolving pulp, and to develop models relating key wood properties, including chemical compositions, to processing parameters and end-product properties. The proposed research falls into the general area of maximizing the value of Canadian natural resources. Pulp and Paper is one of the largest industries in Canada and is particularly important to the economy of Atlantic Canada, where the forest industry represents approximately $2.6 billion in real GDP and over 25,000 primary jobs. The project is not only of direct relevance to the AV Group that operates 2 mills in New Brunswick (AV Nackawic and AV Cell), but also other mills in Canada will benefit from the project. The dissolving pulp sector is growing rather rapidly. The knowledge generated from this project certainly will have a significant impact by improving the manufacturing process and product quality. The project objectives/deliverables include: 1) Collect representative wood samples by species in different eco-regions in New Brunswick that supply AV Nackawic and AV Cell; 2) Determine the chemical compositions, including pentosan, alpha-cellulose, ash, iron, acid soluble and insoluble lignin contents of these samples; 3) Establish models/databases of the chemical compositions of various wood species and correlate them to the properties of resulting dissolving pulp properties; determine if certain species/compositions would have dramatic differences between different eco-regions; 4) Develop models relating wood species/composition to the quality of dissolving pulp quality and determine potential strategies of producing high-quality dissolving pulp, including segregating wood from different eco-regions/different compositions in order to decrease the variation in the dissolving pulp quality.