by Web Editor | Aug 18, 2017 | News
Maine’s glut of softwood fiber created by closed paper mills makes the state an ideal location for a factory that can produce insulation board from wood, a Belfast architectural and construction firm says, and it’s trying to find a European manufacturer that shares that vision.
GO Logic, which specializes in energy-efficient buildings, says it’s negotiating with undisclosed companies that make wood-based insulation board in Europe, where the product already is in commercial use. The goal is to have a plant operating here within two years.
Two of GO Logic’s executives also attended an affordable housing conference Aug. 3 and 4 in Philadelphia. One of them, GO Logic co-founder Matt O’Malia, was an invited speaker and discussed the company’s efforts. They also planned to line up commitments from a retailer in the New York City area to carry the product, as well as some contractors and a prefab builder. That’s crucial to attracting financing.
GO Logic also has been in discussions with a Maine lumber company that could be a source of sawmill waste, as well as a family-owned lumber yard with nine stores in Maine’s midcoast.
Taken together, these actions are another example of how businesses are looking at Maine’s abandoned paper mill sites and surplus capacity in wood harvesting to create new opportunities. Other efforts involve biofuels, agriculture and electricity generation.
From the Portland Press Herald: https://www.pressherald.com/2017/08/17/company-works-multiple-angles-to-produce-innovative-insulating-boards-in-maine/
by Web Editor | Mar 1, 2017 | News
The world’s first ever technology to recycle MDF waste has moved a step closer to reality. MDF Recovery has successfully concluded proof of concept trials to develop a commercially viable process to recover wood fiber from waste MDF.
It is the culmination of more than six years’ research and development to create a technology that will offer the first alternative to the use of landfill or burning to dispose of MDF. Britain, alone, disposes of around 350,000 tons of MDF each year.
The solution generates a new raw material source for the wood/natural fiber industry that reduces the demand on standing forests. The recovered fiber is of the same high quality as virgin wood fiber and provides feedstock to the manufacturers of MDF board, insulation products and horticultural growing products.
Co-founder and managing director Craig Bartlett is now ready to take the proprietary technology to the commercial market. Craig, who established MDF Recovery in 2009, says, “We have already begun discussions with a number of leading companies and organizations operating in the MDF production and waste industries and look forward to progressing these during the early part of 2017.”
“The recycling process we have developed is a genuine world first. There is no other environmentally-friendly alternative to the use of landfill or burning to dispose of MDF waste.”
From Furniture & Joinery Production: https://www.furnitureproduction.net/news/articles/2017/02/655160671-successful-trials-conclude-mdf-waste-recovery
by Web Editor | Oct 12, 2016 | News
From: Panel World Staff
A report conducted by Forest Economic Advisors and released by Composite Panel Association says that in 2015, the total (direct, indirect and induced) impacts of U.S. CPA-member composite panel manufacturing on the U.S. economy were $7.05 billion in output, employment of more than 22,500 and wages of $1.45 billion. The Canadian composite mills’ impact on the Canadian economy were $3.41 billion (Can), employment of almost 11,500 and $724 (Can) in wages.
“Economic Impact of U.S. and Canadian Composite Panel Mills” also reveals that in 2015 37 U.S. CPA-member mills had sales of $2.30 billion and 12 Canadian mills had sales of $1.34 billion (Can).
The report estimates that U.S. and Canadian composite panel facilities consumed 8.3 million dry tons of residual fiber in 2015, out of total residual supply of 76 million dry tons. On a regional basis, composite panel mills in the U.S. South consumed the most wood fiber, accounting for 2.8 million dry tons, 34% of the total in 2015.
Other findings:
— Resin costs account for 30% of composite panel production costs.
— Energy costs account for 10-20% of costs.
— Value-added shipments accounted for 31% of North American particleboard ships in 2014 and 18% of MDF shipments. For particleboard, the biggest value-added product was thermally fused laminate panels, accounting for 66% of value-added particleboard shipments.
— In 2015, the 42 composite panel mills operating in the U.S. and 12 in Canada had total capacity of 8.15 billion SF (five of these U.S. mills were not CPA members).
— In 2015, North American composite panel shipments hit 5.97 billion SF, 31% below the pre-recession mark of 8.64 billion SF, but a gradual improvement over 5.23 billion SF in 2009.
Read more in the November issue of Panel World magazine…
by Web Editor | Nov 2, 2015 | News
From: Panel World Staff
Jackson Morrill, president of Composite Panel Association, updated the executive committee’s recommendations on “policy positions” with regard to energy/biomass issues that impact wood fiber supply during the September Fall Meeting in Banff, Alberta.
CPA opposes government policies that distort the market for woody biomass raw material, Morrill noted, adding that market forces should determine all uses of wood and wood residuals for renewable energy; policies that have the direct effect of diverting biomass supply to subsidized energy should be avoided; and governments that choose to initiate policies intended to increase demand for biomass energy production should couple them with policies that increase the available long-term supply of wood to meet future demand of composite wood panels as well as new and growing markets for energy and other uses.
Morrill said CPA will stay silent on the carbon neutrality of wood-to-energy, noting however that forest derived biomass should be treated as carbon neutral where there is a sustainable growing forest; within carbon accounting frameworks, the composite panel industry’s use of wood residuals to make long-lived products should be treated as a higher value use than energy recovery; the composite panel industry’s use of wood residuals is an important alternate use that should be considered when determining the scope of “qualified biomass” under the U.S. EPA Clean Power Plan.
Morrill said CPA will advocate that composite wood products be recognized for their carbon sequestration benefits; that public policies should recognize that sustainably managed forests and forest products sequester and store carbon and reduce CO2; the use of biomass in creating long-lived products that serve as carbon sinks should be formally recognized in any carbon calculations that might be referenced in a future carbon economy.
