Optimization and value determination of products attained from wood waste materials through a novel dewatering and lignin extraction process.

Bridges Environmental Solutions Inc has developed a novel and low cost process for dewatering wood and waste wood materials and extracting a lignin-based solution useful in subsequent wood reforming and laminating processes, which they have helped develop. They use this lignin product to both chemically modify cellulose structures and permanently reform wood for improved mechanical properties. Their technology reduces the chemical and energy investments needed for attaining lignin and offers an environmentally friendly alternative to adhesives and laminates used in other manufacturing processes. Their dewatering process also represents a means for taking wood waste materials that have very low value, such as legacy sawdust piles and bush grind with high moisture content, and converting them into useable feedstock for biofuels and syngas production. To further develop their technology, they need to 1) validate the energy balance and cost recovery of their novel dewatering process; 2) chemically characterize the composition of the lignin product they produce; and 3) improve the colour, purity and stability of that lignin product to better serve the product quality requirements needed by other industries.

Faculty Supervisor:

Hossein Kazemian

Student:

Partner:

Bridges Environmental Solutions Inc

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Agriculture; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Northern British Columbia

Program: