MPB Background Information 

September 8, 2008 - Edmonton, AB

Details about the project partners and technology

About the partners:

Government of Alberta:

Alberta Advanced Education and Technology - provides strategic leadership for the development of the next generation economy in Alberta through the provision of accessible, affordable and quality learning opportunities for all Albertans and support for a dynamic and integrated innovation system.

Alberta Forestry Research Institute - fosters and champions forest management and utilization research and innovation as a key driver for economic diversification and growth within Alberta's bioeconomy. This project builds on more than $1 million AFRI-supported research and development over the last two years.

Alberta Research Council - develops and helps deploy innovative science and technology solutions for the benefit of Alberta.

Alberta Sustainable Resource Development - encourages balanced and responsible use of Alberta's natural resources through the application of leading practices in management, science and stewardship.

Government of Canada:

In January 2008, the Government of Canada announced the creation of the $1-billion national Community Development Trust (CDT) to support a wide variety of initiatives, from coast to coast to coast, including job training and skills development to create opportunities for affected workers, community transition plans that foster economic development and create new jobs, and infrastructure development that stimulates economic diversification.

The Alberta government will use its allocation of $104 million from the CDT in a variety of areas, including:

• Training and skills development assistance for workers affected by recent adjustments in the economy.
• Assist greater Aboriginal participation in Alberta's labour force.
• Investments aimed at strengthening communities reliant on Alberta's agriculture and forestry sectors, and assisting those communities affected by the Mountain Pine Beetle.
• Investing in research and innovation to develop new and value-added opportunities.
• Developing and strengthening targeted infrastructure to foster economic transition.

The National Research Council Canada, the Government of Canada's premier organization for research and development, provided an additional $240,000 for this project through its NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program.

Woodlands County - located at the geographical centre of Alberta, the county incorporates over 7,600 square kilometres of land, 925 kilometres of roadway and a rural population of 4,158. Major industries include timber, petroleum, and agriculture.

Alberta Newsprint Company - located in Whitecourt, Alberta, is a leading North American manufacturer of premium newsprint.

Innoventures Canada - also known as I-CAN, is an independent not-for-profit national organization linking Canada's provincial research organizations and other specialized applied research and development partners across the country to help fill the gap between early stage R&D and commercialization. I-CAN provides a mechanism to bring together industry, government and applied research organizations to tackle large research, development and technology projects on a national scale that no one company or industry could do on its own. 

About the technology:

Mountain pine beetle-killed wood results in thermal-mechanical pulp with inferior characteristics than the normal pulp produced from green pine trees. Pulp from beetle-killed wood is weaker (from the dry, brittle wood fibres and extractives content) and darker (from the blue staining). To process this wood into newsprint requires the addition of new sensor technology to detect the wood chip characteristics, which triggers adjustments to the newsprint process. The Alberta Newsprint Company's current press section within the paper machine will be custom retrofitted incorporating a research designed shoe press tailored to process mountain pine beetle killed fibre.

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