Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The requested CRD grant will support a research collaboration between Dr. Pedram Fatehi of Lakehead university and Dr. Michael Paleologou of FPInnovations. The main objective of this research project is to develop processes that can be adapted in kraft pulp mills for producing value-added products from kraft lignin. Kraft is the dominant chemical pulping process in Canada, and various chemical pulps are produced with kraft pulping technologies. Kraft lignin is one by-product of this pulping technology, but burned in the recovery boiler of the mills. Although its incineration generates heat for the mills, kraft lignin is currently an under-utilized material. The chemical modification of kraft lignin will broaden its practical applications in various industries. The chemical modification can be conducted to increase the water solubility and interaction of kraft lignin with other water soluble materials. In this project, various hardwood, softwood and fractionated kraft lignin samples produced at FPInnovations' demonstration plant in Thunder Bay, Ontario, will be used as raw materials. They will be chemically modified (via different approaches) so that their water solubility and interaction affinity with other materials will be improved. Then, the application of chemically modified kraft lignin as dispersants and flocculants in different industries (including the oil) and waste water systems will be evaluated. FPInnovations will benefit from this project via obtaining the detailed data and knowledge of the developed technologies. These technologies could be adapted by FPInnovations to any kraft pulp mill across Canada in its effort to convert these mills to forest biorefineries. The kraft lignin-based value added products that are produced in this research could increase the revenues of kraft pulp mills in particular, and substitute for the oil-based materials in general, which would help decrease the environmental concerns and help the overall economy of Canada.