Active R&D Projects
The forest products R&D portfolio focuses on developing technologies to reduce steam demand in a state-of-the-art pulp and paper mill. Active projects are listed below. Project fact sheets, which include contact information for the principal investigators, are available these projects as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.
High Efficiency Pulping
The kraft chemical process is currently the dominant pulping process. This process uses heat and alkaline chemicals to remove the lignin that binds the cellulose fibers in wood. Wood chips are cooked in a digester and then the spent chemicals and lignin are washed from the pulp. The wash water or weak black liquor is then processes to generate steam and electricity and recover the pulping chemicals for reuse. These projects focus on developing technologies to reduce the energy intensity of kraft chemical pulping.
New Screenable Wax Coatings and Adhesives Will Improve Paper Production from Recycled Fibers (PDF 1.2 MB)
- Improved Wood Properties Through Genetic Manipulation: Engineering of Syringyl Lignin in Softwood Species (PDF 1.2 MB)
- Highly Energy Efficient Directed Green Liquor Utilization (D-GLU) Pulping (PDF 1.1 MB)
Improved Fiber Recycling
Recovered paper provides approximately 27% by weight of the fiber used for U.S. paper and paperboard production. Rising wood prices and land fill costs demand efficient processes for waste paper recycling. These projects focus on increasing the amount of fiber that can be utilized or recovered from waste paper.
- Development of Screenable Wax Coatings and Water-Based Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (PDF 1.1 MB)