CelluForce gets funding support for cellulose nanocrystal facility
February 5, 2019
By
Maria Church
Feb. 5, 2019 - The federal and Quebec governments have announced a combined $6.4-million investment in the upgrade of CelluForce's cellulose nanocrystal facility to become the world's first full commercial demonstration-scale plant of its kind.
The funding will allow the state-of-the-art facility in Windsor, Que., to double its annual production to produce 300 tonnes of nanocrystals a year. Extracted from wood fibre, the nanocrystals can be used in everything from papers to paints, electronics to adhesives and cement to cosmetics.
“CelluForce has been working hand in hand with industrial partners, helping them develop high-performance and sustainable products using cellulose nanocrystals,” CelluForce CEO Sébastien Corbeil said in a news release. “This investment will allow us to maintain our leadership in the field and expand the development of improved products with our customers. It will further enable our continued growth.”
The federal funding is provided through Natural Resources Canada’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program, and the provincial funding is through Quebec Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks’ Innovation Bois [wood innovation] program and the Ministère de l’Économie et Innovation’s Fonds du développement économique [economic development fund].
The increase in capacity is expected to help create more than 100 jobs.
“This project is a terrific example of the brighter, bio-based future ahead of us. Congratulations to CelluForce for leading the way in forest sustainability and providing eco-friendly development solutions in Canada,” Paul Lefebvre, parliamentary secretary for Natural Resources Canada, said in the release.
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