Forestry sector set sights on high value bioproducts
Friday 24 Jan 2025
“Recent pulp and paper mill closure announcements are set to be
replaced by more positive news of exciting moves for using our logs and
other forest resources for higher value export products from across
forestry and wood products sector”, says Rotorua-based forest
technology specialist, John Stulen.
“Industry leaders from across the forestry supply chain are
getting behind a new initiative to support new technologies and
processes for extracting high value chemicals from logs and other
forestry byproducts from sawmills”, he added.
In collaboration Scion, the New Zealand Product
Accelerator, chair Steve Wilson is
initiating a new forestry biofactory to foster new developments for
making new bioproducts from forest resources to deliver much higher
value export products to fruition.
“To bring our industry innovators together, we are pleased to
announce a new conference called Forest Bioeconomy
Innovations. It will run on 20-21 May 2025 in
Rotorua. We are bringing international startup leaders together
with forest and wood technology innovators to supercharge new processes
to complement and eventually replace pulp and paper mills to a large
degree,” says Stulen. “We are also working closely with
officials and the Minister at MPI/Te Uru Rakau and key industry leaders
to showcase sustainable and potential bioeconomy export products from
New Zealand’s vast forest resources.”
Local entrepreneurs are already developing new products from sustainable
resources:
- Making graphite using
CarbonScape technology produces high-quality,
sustainable bio graphite from renewable materials for greener lithium-ion batteries. An international forest company, Stora
Enso is now backing them.
- Another success story is AgriSea. They are
creating the world’s first commercial seaweed nanocellulose
facility. Nanocellulose is a high-value material with exceptional
properties, boasting a tensile strength stronger than steel and a
coefficient of thermal expansion lower than glass, making it highly
suitable for numerous applications, including electronics, aerospace,
and medicine.
- Port Blakely New Zealand
Essential Oils (PBNZEO), is now a global leader in
sustainable essential oil production, is
among the first essential oil producers
worldwide
- NZ Bio Forestry is a multinational company
that focuses on transforming plantation forestry biomass into biofuels,
bio-chemicals and innovative materials.
In May 2025, hundreds of business innovation and primary industry
leaders will gather at this new circular economy event – our
NEW Forest Bioeconomy Conference
.
More >>
Source: Innovatek
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