Innovation
Canfor Pulp’s joint venture agreement with Licella Fibre Fuels of Australia will determine whether we can integrate Licella’s unique catalytic hydrothermal reactor upgrading platform with our pulp mills to economically convert biomass, including residues from our kraft pulping processes, into biocrude oil to produce next-generation biofuels and biochemicals.
Canfor Pulp has always enjoyed a fibre advantage. Our high-strength pulp is produced from native tree species in British Columbia’s interior, mainly white spruce, lodgepole pine and sub-alpine fir. These species thrive in the extreme climate and naturally develop long, slender and thin-walled cellulose fibres with high tensile strength. This makes them especially valuable for high-quality, lightweight printing papers, wet laid non-woven products, premium tissue, thin specialty papers, electrical grades and laminates. Our modern pulp manufacturing processes ensure we deliver the high-quality premium reinforcement pulp (PRP) to the marketplace.
The Canfor Pulp Innovation (CPI) research centre supports the highly technical product applications in which our pulps are used. CPI practises open innovation, and maintains a unique network of contractors, suppliers and partners. They include world-class consultants in low-consistency refining and tissue, research organizations dedicated to the development of next-generation fibre measurement and fibre products, and university researchers.
CPI delivers opportunities for continuous customer and mill improvement, helping to improve our premium quality and securing our position as a global leader in NBSK and its applications. We have found ways to adjust our refining process to reduce our energy consumption and are able to achieve higher tensile strengths so customers can reduce their costs by using less fibre in their paper without impacting strength and runnability.
Our global customers are producing increasingly sophisticated end products, and they need more detailed knowledge about the raw materials and how they will perform. Our Mihari Initiative, a suite of leading-edge technologies, enhances our quality assurance, and supports the need for more detailed knowledge about the raw materials and their performance.
The Valmet Process Quality Vision system we implemented in 2015 at our Intercontinental and Northwood pulp mills to improve quality control. The system identifies and records dirt and shives in the finished pulp so we can be sure the pulp delivered to customers meets our high standards. Canfor Pulp customers welcomed this innovation because many of them are producing increasingly sophisticated products, and depend on high-quality pulp. We were the first pulp manufacturer to use this kind of system to inspect 100% of the pulp shipped from a mill.