Friday Offcuts – 20 November 2015
Click to Subscribe - It's FREE! Yesterday the New Zealand leg of the ForestTECH 2015 series was completed. An array of innovative new technologies were unveiled to assist local forestry company’s boost their mobile connectivity (see short story below). Tools were also discussed from local and international specialists to enable companies to streamline their data collection out in the field, manage, process and analyse “big data” and package it into meaningful information that can be readily used by managers, planners and field staff. The second leg of this latest FIEA technology series will run for Australian foresters in Melbourne next week starting on Tuesday.Since a number of our readers have been focussed on communications and forest inventory tools in Rotorua this week we’ll be devoting some of the other stories today to new and emerging technologies. The global market for nanocellulose (prepared from any cellulose source but typically wood pulp is being used) is projected to grow to around US$700M by 2023 with an annual growth rate of over 33% expected over this period. Although demand is being led out of North America and Europe, the market share of Asia Pacific is likely to expand over the next decade. The global market for green building also climbed a very healthy 12.8% in 2014. As outlined, investment and growth is expected to continue as increasingly many countries are now implementing policies supporting green building construction. A month or two back we covered a story of a Chinese company that had successfully 3D-printed an entire 200 square metre home and then assembled the structure in super quick time. While construction of the home took roughly three hours, the entire process required only 10 days from the beginning of printing to the installation of the final module. Not a bad effort. This week we’ve got a story of a Russian engineer who not only is able to 3D print an entire building in short time (24 hours for this unit) but he’s also designed the printer so it’s small enough to be moved easily around. It can be transported, assembled and used on a building site rather than printing on a separate site, transporting and then reassembling the building. Check out the story and link in this week’s issue. Finally, stats just released by ABARES points to an improvement in Australia’s forestry sector. Figures from their latest report for the March and June quarters of this year show increases in the estimated volume and value of logs harvested, dwelling commencements and trade in most wood products. Following a couple of tough years, the volume of logs harvested in 2014-15 climbed by around 8 per cent to more than 27 million cubic metres. House starts approached levels similar to those seen in 2009-10 and the value of exports reached an all time high of AU$2.8 billion. A link to this latest report on the industry is contained in the story below. On that positive note, enjoy this week’s read.
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This week we have for you:
Australia increases log harvest by 8% in 2014-15
Australia’s forestry sector is showing continuing signs of improvement, according to a report released by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES). The report, Australian forest and wood products statistics: March and June quarters 2015, highlights positive results for the forestry sector for the second consecutive year, with increases in the estimated volume and value of logs harvested, dwelling commencements and trade in most wood products. ABARES Executive Director, Karen Schneider, said the latest data suggested that Australia’s forestry sector is showing signs of continued recovery. “ABARES interim estimates indicate that the volume of logs harvested increased by around 8 per cent, to more than 27 million cubic metres in 2014–15,” Ms Schneider said. “This follows a difficult period that saw the industry contract under adverse conditions, including low levels of residential construction, weak global demand for wood products and a high Australian dollar.” Increases in log volumes coincided with an increase in housing activity and wood product exports, with house commencements approaching levels similar to those seen in 2009-10 and the value of exports reaching an all time high of $2.8 billion. However, strong growth in imports meant that the trade deficit in wood products continued to increase in 2014-15, to around AU$2.3 billion. Ms Schneider also said that production and consumption of selected wood-based panel products showed further signs of recovery, with an increase in production and consumption of plywood, medium density fibreboard and particleboard in 2014-15. “This may be indicative of a turnaround for the forestry sector,” Ms Schneider said. “However, production and consumption statistics for other wood product categories, which will become available later in the year, will provide a clearer picture of how the sector is tracking.” For a copy of the report visit ABARES Publications Source: Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) Commercial demonstration plant for Boyer MillNorske Skog and Circa Group Pty Ltd have entered into a joint venture to manufacture and market a range of sustainable platform chemicals to global markets. The joint venture announced that the Boyer Mill has been selected as home for a Commercial Demonstration Plant that will produce Cyrene, a non-toxic, “green chemical” alternative to existing solvents used in pharmaceutical and agrichemical industries across the world.The AU$6.6 million plant will produce around 50 tonnes per annum of Cyrene and is due to be up and running within 12 months, following a grant of AU$1.5 million from the Tasmanian Government. Norske Skog’s Regional President, Andrew Leighton welcomed the joint venture with Circa Group and thanked the Tasmanian Government for their support for this exciting new opportunity. Mr Leighton said the diversification into bio-chemical production was a good fit for Norske Skog’s Australasian strategic direction of “building our future from fibre and energy”. He said the company had been working with Circa Group for the past 12 months and he looked forward to a long and productive relationship. Mr Tony Duncan, CEO Circa Group said the company’s focus was the research, development and commercialisation of biochemicals from sustainable cellulose feedstocks. He said Circa had been working on the current project since 2009 and it was great to have Norske Skog on board given their knowledge and experience in processing wood residues and large scale manufacturing. Mr Duncan said the Commercial Demonstration Plant at the Boyer Mill would be the fifth and largest scale up to date of Circa's FuracellTM technology. He said the plant was designed to demonstrate the commercial viability of the technology, while providing increased volumes for researchers and customers in Europe, North America, Asia and locally. He said customer trialling, which has been underway for 18 months, has shown CyreneTM to be one of the very few new solvents capable of competing in a global market of over 900,000 tonnes per annum, where many traditional products are under increasing regulatory pressure due to environmental and health concerns. First drone beyond-line-of-sight flying approval sought
Scion, New Zealand’s forestry crown research institute, will become the first organisation in New Zealand to fly drones beyond line of sight when it seeks approval under new Civil Aviation Authority rules to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for forest monitoring.Scion has been conducting publicly and privately funded trials of UAVs for the past three months, including flying along the edge of forests to evaluate tree harvesting and using a UAV with interchangeable remote sensing technology to transmit information on tree health and pests in North and South Island forests. A Callaghan Innovation-commissioned report last year estimated flying drones out of the operator’s line of sight could provide economic gains of up to NZ$190 million annually to New Zealand’s farming, forestry and energy sectors. More than 440 commercial UAV users are registered on New Zealand's Airshare website while the consumer drone market is booming. Scion project leader Bryan Graham said smaller forest owners struggle to afford getting vital information in other ways. In one example, using drones halved the cost of building roads through private forests, he said. Scion was proceeding cautiously because it didn’t “want to be the first to have an accident” but Graham said he hopes to gain approval for commercial beyond-line-of-sight operations by February. Greg Dudek, a professor at Canada’s McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines, told an Auckland conference last week that New Zealand could become a hotbed for testing UAV technology because of its more progressive regulatory approach. The University of Canterbury got CAA approval last year for a 100 square kilometre test zone south of Christchurch for flying drones out of the pilot’s line of sight. University spokesman Kelvin Barnsdale said the test zone was being used to attract international researchers to New Zealand to test their UAV technology, with the university likely to benefit from research collaborations and new students. He said a couple of companies, including Australian-based UAV company Flirtey which trialled a drone parcel delivery in Auckland in June with Fastway Couriers, are interested in using the test site along with two UK universities. He said many outside of New Zealand think it would be a good place for testing because no-one lives here, but “we do still have aviation laws”. Callaghan aviation programme manager Chris Thomson is another who thinks the CAA rule changes will attract international organisations to test UAV technology in New Zealand, and points to Yamaha New Zealand, which set up an office last year. Yamaha is planning to apply in the next six months for beyond line of sight flights for its RMAX UAV, which sprays noxious weeds or drops fertiliser on farms that are hard to access on foot or by fixed-wing aircraft. Source: Scoop Modified wood manufacturer to build second factoryNorwegian modified wood manufacturer Kebony has raised 177.5M Norwegian Kronor (NOK), equivalent to around €19.05M, to fund the construction of a second factory in Belgium, Property Magazine International has reported. CEO Christian Jebsen said international sales had increased by an average of 35% over the last seven years, and demand was about to exceed capacity at the company's existing plant in Vold.The chairman of Kebony's board, Thomas Hoegh, described the plan to develop its first facility on the European mainland as a milestone for the company. He said the Flanders region in Belgium was the perfect location as a hub for future growth. Innovations, developments and trends in wood treatment, including modified wood, composites and EWP, is a key theme for next years’ Wood Innovations 2016 event being run in both Australia and New Zealand in mid-late May. Full programme details will be available in the new-year. Further information on the technology event can be found on the event website, www.woodinnovations.events.  3D printer fits in a truck and prints buildings in 24 hoursCreated by Russian engineer Nikita Chen-yun-tai, the new Apis Cor 3D printer is powerful enough to print a building in one day, yet small enough to be moved with minimal preparation and transportation costs. This portability allows users to print a building in one location and easily move the Apis Cor the next day to another spot. It promises to revolutionize the use of 3D printers in construction, especially in developing nations where low-cost, efficient printing is critical.The 3D printing of houses is not a new idea — companies have been using the tenets of additive manufacturing for years. What makes the compact Apis Cor printer unique is the unit’s small size — it measures 16.4 ft by 5 ft, weighs 2.5 tons and can be assembled within 30 minutes. As a result, the Apis Cor can be moved easily without the need for an expensive method of transportation and setup. It requires no site preparation and no testing before use, which means it can be dropped on site and deployed right away after assembly. The Apis Cor prints from a single point and does not require any cumbersome railings that other printers use to move around the building site. Despite its single-point design, the Apis Cor has a printing zone of up to 630 square feet with no limitation on the height of the structure. It uses a swiveling extruder head that provides two plane printing at a single time. This design is incredibly efficient, offering a high speed of operation that can build a house in just one day. It’s also ecologically friendly, using only 8 kilowatts of energy and producing no construction waste during building. The lack of waste is a huge benefit for both the builder who no longer has to worry about waste disposal and for the future homeowner who can build a house with no wasted material cost. According to the team behind the printer, several investors are already interested in the Apis Cor, especially in areas such as China, South Korea and the Arab Emirates. Government and businesses in these areas are already exploring new technology for house construction. Check out the video clip on here. Source: digitaltrends.com  Connecting rural businesses in New Zealand
As part of the just completed ForestTECH 2015 series, a number of key points about early adoption of new technologies, current use and projections of digital communications by New Zealand consumers and businesses were raised by leading communications specialists. A few key points presented by Craig Young, CEO, Telecommunications Users Association of NZ included; - Monthly internet usage had gone from 10 GB of traffic in 2010 to 55 GB in 2015 - By 2016, 3.75 million Kiwis will be mobile internet users - Smartphone ownership has gone from 13% to 77% in 4 years - NZ is 2nd in the world for social media usage - Tablet growth has gone from 4% to 44% in 4 years - NZ is 2nd in the world for daily use of tablets - High Internet use firms” are 4 years ahead of the average firm in the industry - In NZ high-internet usage firms are 6% more productive that the average - Business that take online orders grow faster and export more - Digitally enabled SMEs have revenues ~20% higher than those less engaged - 13% of New Zealand’s population and 23% of businesses are in rural areas. This is a diverse and low density population spread across a large area, with highly rural/remote areas making up almost half of New Zealand’s land area with less than 2% of the population - 13% of New Zealand’s rural population do not have access to the internet, and while lack of access is an issue, it appears that disinterest and high costs are the biggest barriers to internet uptake in the rural sector One more set of stats for you. It's projected by 2020 that globally, it's expected that there will be 4 billion connected people, 25+ million Apps, 25+ billion embedded and intelligent systems and 50 trillion GB's of data. Further details from the latest FIEA technology series will feature in upcoming issues. Green Building Market grew 12.8% in 2014
The Green building market witnessed a healthy growth of 12.81 percent in 2014. The growth is driven by rise in green building construction and government initiatives promoting sustainable environment propelling the growth. The green building materials market is witnessing an increase in the adoption from the healthcare segment, and although it is still in the nascent stage in the APAC region, Europe and the Americas emerged as the early adopters of green building materials. According to the recently completed Global Construction Waste Management Market 2015-2019 report, many countries, notably the US, Singapore, India, Australia, France, and Malaysia, have framed policies to support green building construction. Increased demand for green building materials has also been witnessed in the commercial and office buildings and residential buildings segments. The major factor contributing to this demand is rising awareness about the benefits of green buildings, which in turn is driving investment in green commercial building construction. The tax benefits offered by the governments of various countries to encourage construction of green buildings will foster demand for green building materials during the forecast period, the report said. Source: greentechlead.com Nanocellulose market forecast to grow at over 33%pa
Nanocellulose market forecast to grow at over 33%pa over 2015-2023
Transparency Market Research has published a new report titled “Nanocellulose Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2015 - 2023.” According to the report, the global nanocellulose market was valued at US$54.9 mn in 2014 and is anticipated to reach US$699.6 mn in 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 33.8% between 2015 and 2023. Extensive financial and technical support from government and research organizations has been the key factor driving the nanocellulose market in the recent past. Countries in North America and Europe have been supporting the development of nanocellulose. Nanocellulose has the ability to lower carbon footprint, as it is obtained from renewable sources. This is expected to boost the usage of nanocellulose. Nanocellulose is primarily employed in composites, paints & coatings, oil & gas, paper processing, food & beverages, and personal care products. Superior structural strength of nanocellulose has been another key factor for the growth of nanocellulose in recent past. Nanocellulose offers higher mechanical strength vis-à-vis carbon fibre, Kevlar, and aramid fibers. Its superior strength is expected to propel the usage of nanocellulose in composites. However, technical and economic issues such as high production costs, plant scaling up, and lack of product standardization and quality are likely to hamper market growth during the forecast period. Composites has been dominating the nanocellulose market since the past few years primarily due to high tensile strength and biocompatibility of cellulose nanofibers. Composites accounted for over 35% of the market share in 2014. Nanocellulose has the potential to replace glass and carbon fiber composites in the fields of transportation, wind, consumer goods, sport, and biomedical. Paper processing held the second-largest market share in 2014. Nanocellulose is expected to enhance the performance of paper, paperboard, and related products. North America and Europe were the largest markets for nanocellulose, cumulatively accounting for over 60% share in 2014. Countries in these regions have been supportive of the growth of nanocellulose. This trend is anticipated to continue in the next few years however, technical issues and lack of consumer awareness in the region are expected to hamper market growth.  Fins on tyres could improve a vehicle's fuel efficiency
Slapping a giant fin on the back of your hand-me-down Corolla isn’t going to make it go any faster. But researchers at Yokohama have found that http://www.yrc.co.jp/release/?id=2518&lang=enadding a series of angled fins to a tyre can actually help improve a vehicle’s aerodynamics, which in turn means better fuel efficiency and fewer stops at the pumps. Back in 2012, the company’s research team found that adding small fins on the inner sidewalls of a tyre in a radial pattern helped reduce aerodynamic drag within a car’s wheel wells. The less resistance there is to a wheel spinning, the less a car’s engine has to work, and the less fuel is burned. But continuing that research using supercomputer aerodynamics simulations, and working with a team from the Institute of Fluid Science at Tohoku University, Yokohama has found that adding a series of subtle fins around a tyre’s shoulder leads to other improvements. With the fins added, the upper part of the tyre helps further reduce aerodynamic drag on the side of the vehicle while it’s spinning, while the lower part of the tire helps reduce lift under a car which can result in a loss of traction. For now we just have CG renders of what the fin-augmented tires will look like, but at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, Yokohama will officially reveal what its new aerodynamic tyres will look like, and hopefully, when they will actually be available to upgrade your ride. Source:The Yokohama Rubber Company  Scion’s Log Price Outlooks to assist industryDuring 2015 Scion issued three opinion-based log price outlooks to assist the New Zealand industry with decisions, where applicable. The outlooks request a wide range of people to vote on where they think prices are heading over the next 12 months. An increasing number of people have been participating in these forecasts since February. The graphs below display the actual log prices (blue bars) and the corresponding outlooks that were generated in February, May and August (grey lines).Although no forecast is 100% correct, this information can be valuable. The outlooks are not based on a mathematical model, but rather the minds of many industry decision-makers. Even when the outlook is wrong, it shows what industry was anticipating. For example, in February the general sentiment was that log prices were going to remain high. This did not materialise and it can be anticipated that many businesses would have recalibrated their activities and budgets when prices came under pressure. Various people participate in the generation of these outlooks, many from overseas, including large international traders. Currently Scion’s goal is to repeat these outlooks every three months and as time progresses to generate more sophisticated information. Anybody is welcome to participate in the outlook. The next log price outlook is running from 16 – 29 November 2015. To participate click on this link. Participation is confidential and the November outlook will be distributed in early December, exclusively to participants only. For more information contact: carel.bezuidenhout@scionresearch.com.  Timber is the new concrete
Timber is the new concrete, according to Professor Alex de Rijke, former dean of the School of Architecture at the London College of Art and founder of dRMM architecture. Mr de Rijke is currently in Australia to present a series of talks for WoodSolutions about the opportunities offered by engineered timbers for major construction, and to add fuel to calls for federal, state and local governments to adopt “wood encouragement” policies for publicly funded buildings. Currently, there are four Australian councils promoting the use of engineered timbers – Latrobe Valley and Wellington Councils in Victoria, Kyogle Shire in NSW, and Wattle Range Council in South Australia. Rotorua council in New Zealand is also on board. Mr de Rijke last week made a presentation to MPs from major parties at Parliament House in Canberra. “We’re entering a new era of timber construction – super-modern buildings which are created faster, more cost effectively and way more sustainably using engineered timber,” Mr de Rijke said. “Timber is the new concrete. The vast potential and versatility of engineered timber holds the key to construction for the 21st century, just as the 18th century was about brick, the 19th steel, and the 20th was concrete.” In Europe, timber construction is seeing a revival, with building codes altered across the EU to permit the use of engineered timbers such as laminated veneer lumber, cross-laminated timber and glulam in multi-storey buildings. It was almost used for the London Olympic Games Athletes Village accommodation. which dRMM designed for Lendlease, Mr de Rijke said. As with all the practice’s projects, the client had to be convinced timber would work out no more expensive than steel and concrete, and Mr de Rijke not only proved that point, he also took Lendlease representatives to Austria to see CLT and LVL being manufactured, and to see some examples of the new era of timber buildings. While the concept was not used at the athletes village, the new awareness Lendlease gained about CLT was later put to good use in the design and construction of Forte and Library at the Dock, Mr de Rijke said. Source: The Fifth Estate Kiwi company sees $100M opportunity in drone securityAdvanced Security Group, which integrates electronic security systems, is planning to build a NZ$100 million revenue company in the next five years with the launch of automated drone surveillance.Auckland-based Advanced Security's sister company ASG E-Guard has received Civil Aviation Authority authorisation and has a patent application on software for a security system with a drone that can be dispatched automatically to a customer's site to investigate alarms and other alerts, in what chief executive Mike Marr says is a world-first. The VirgilAir system lets drones travel predetermined flight routes and parameters, while accounting for weather, safety, privacy and other factors, feeding back live video footage. The ASG E-Guard unit was launched in 2014 to develop products drawing on new technology, and has been working on a number of projects including unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and cloud-hosted security services. "This new business has the potential to be a NZ$100 million revenue company within five years," Marr said. Advanced Security won the supreme award at this year's AUT Excellence in Business Support Awards and is forecasting annual revenue of NZ$23 million in the coming year, having grown revenue at an average annual rate of 30 percent since its inception past 13 years ago. New Zealand has been at the forefront of regulating drone use, introducing a framework this year where the CAA can certify use of the vehicles at night, beyond the line of sight, or above 400 feet. A report by commissioned by Callaghan Innovation estimates allowing drones to fly beyond the line of sight will generate economic gains of up to NZ$190 million in farming, forestry and energy sectors alone. Scoop.  New Forests now manages more than 525,000 haIn regional Australia, forestry industry leader David Brand is playing a key role in rebuilding the shattered sector and bringing battered timber regions back to life. Through New Forests, the company he founded in 2005, he and his team manage more than 525,000ha of land, including 330,000ha of forests – 45,000ha in South Australia, 150,000ha in Tasmania, 55,000ha in Western Australia and 80,000ha in Victoria.David Brand emerged in a pivotal role in the industry when he started New Forests, seeing an opportunity to capitalise on a wave of overseas institutional capital seeking to provide a good, long-term home for high-returning hard assets such as forestry and agriculture. Since then he has quietly built the company from AU$50 million under management in its first year to more than AU$2.75 billion under management and a place as one of the world’s 10 largest forestry investment companies. Along the way he has navigated the downfall of the management investment scheme sector and the global financial crisis to develop Australia’s largest forestry investment manager. New Forests has played an important role in redeveloping distressed assets sold as a result of the forestry disasters stemming from failed managed investment scheme investments, including Gunns and Great Southern. Mr Brand said institutional investment funds managed by New Forests have recapitalised the industry, while lifting productivity, cutting costs, improving competitiveness, developing markets and boosting its potential to invest in commercial opportunities. “We were fortunate after the GFC that there was a large shift into hard assets such as timber, agriculture, property and infrastructure with trillions of dollars shifting into those types of investment vehicles,” Mr Brand said. He correctly foresaw the shift when much of the forestry industry was owned by state governments and managed investment scheme operations to today when 60 per cent is owned by institutional investors. He expects it will reach 75-80 per cent within another five years. “The benefit of that transition is the industry has been recapitalised and through a longer term focus, operates on the basis of economic fundamentals,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate in being the only major Australian-based investor in the forestry sector and we’ve developed the scale required to be successful.” Rebranding a splintered industry Mr Brand said New Forests had produced a return on investment in the low to mid-teens each year and he suggested the firm may look at other processing opportunities through Timberlink Australia, a leading national timber business established by New Forests in 2013, if the markets are right. Timberlink has high-quality sawmills that manufacture plantation pine products at Tarpeena in the South-East and Bell Bay in Tasmania. It also owns a third mill at Blenheim in the South Island of New Zealand. Timberlink has invested AU$20 million in developing the Tarpeena mill, including AU$8 million from the State Government, giving it the ability to process 600,000 tonnes of logs a year. New Forests also established Forico in 2014, comprising the old Gunns Tasmanian forestry estate of 175,000ha and affiliated nursery, two woodchip mills and a wood fibre technology laboratory. Mr Brand said there was plenty of further room for expansion, in timber processing and bioenergy, if the opportunity was right, and as the NSW, Western Australian and Tasmanian governments contemplated selling forestry assets in the next few years. Source: Advertiser Finnish forest industry walking the talkIn 2012, Finnish forest industry companies agreed on environmental and responsibility commitments that will see the sector voluntarily develop its operations significantly by 2020. A progress report that outlines the achievements made in each of the industry’s ten commitments has just been published. According to the report, the forest-based sector has made remarkable progress in five of its ten commitments.The forest-based sector's voluntary environmental and responsibility commitments and the progress made towards their objectives demonstrate how strongly forest industry companies are committed to responsibility. Well-managed environmental and responsibility issues are a significant competitive factor for the Finnish forest industry. The forest-based sector has managed to raise the share of certified wood in its domestic wood consumption to 85%. The objective for 2020 has thus already been surpassed by five percentage points. In order to maintain this good performance on the coming years, it is important to ensure that the coverage of regional group certification remains at a high level. The forest-based sector has already achieved its goal of cutting landfill waste by 30%. The deadline for this objective was set for 2020. Measures contributing to this include new recycling destinations as well as an increase in the energy utilisation of organic waste. Good progress has also been made with regard to the targets related to renewable energy use. In 2014, renewable energy accounted for 84% of the forest-based sector's energy production, up from 78% in 2011. The progress report on the forest-based sector's environmental and responsibility commitments as well as environmental statistics for the pulp and paper industry can be accessed online. Innventia coordinating Swedish-Brazilian Lignojet research
Innventia is coordinating the Lignojet research collaboration, which aims to establish lignin as a raw material in bio-based aviation fuel. The Swedish-Brazilian project is co-funded by VINNOVA, and brings together players throughout the entire value chain. The global market for renewable products is expected to exceed USD 200 billion as early as 2015. Brazil will be one of the most important producers in this global market, with significant raw material assets and large-scale production of bio-based fuels. The recently launched Lignojet project will demonstrate how bio-based aviation fuel can be produced from forest raw materials that do not compete with food production through integrated production in the pulp mill. Future aviation fuel must be based on renewable raw materials, but in order for these to be able to compete with fossil fuels they must be produced cost-effectively. This can be achieved by integrating production in the pulp mill, where there are already processes and equipment for dealing with large flows in a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly manner. The project is bring co-funded by VINNOVA, and will run until December 2016. In addition to Innventia, the Brazilian pulp producer Fibria, Karlstad Airport, LignoBoost Demo, Valmet and SP Process Development are also involved. One of the project’s aims is to establish a roadmap for introducing lignin-based aviation fuel in Brazil and Värmland. Europe’s first permanent tank facility for bio-jet fuel was installed at Karlstad Airport a year ago. “It’s certainly true that bio-jet fuel made from various raw materials is already used, but here it’s a matter of also developing applications within products based on forest raw materials as quickly as possible,” says Karlstad Airport’s CEO Peter Landmark. “In this way we will gain a new local fuel industry, and with our current knowledge we should be able to fly using certified biofuel from forest raw materials within 5-8 years.” “Bringing so many players together along the value chain has enabled us to create the right starting point for a large-scale launch of a new biofuel,” explains Marie Anheden, who is leading the project and is responsible for Energy & Chemicals at Innventia. Source: Innventia AB Forest and Forest Products Innovation tour of OregonLynea Advisory in association with Oregon Wood Innovation Center, Oregon State University and the Institute of Foresters of Australia is planning a forest and forest products tour of the Oregon forest sector in July 2016. This 7 day/6 night tour, will focus on innovative techniques and approaches used by a range of forest growers and processors across Oregon. Site visits will include engineered wood products, biomass production, hardwood processors, softwood mills, veneer peeling plants, secondary manufacturers and a range of forest types and plantations.The tour will be limited to 15 places and is expected to cost around $US4500 (plus airfare). Lynea Advisory is now taking expressions of interest for participants interested in joining the tour. Please email Lyndall on lyndall@lynea.com.au if you would like to register your interest and reserve your place for this tour. Jobs
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...and one to end the week on...the lawn mower
Sharon's lawnmower broke and wouldn’t run. She tried to fix it herself but it simply wouldn’t start. She left it in the garage hoping it would start again the next time she used it, but her partner kept hinting that she should get it repaired professionally. And on that note, have a great weekend. We look forward to catching up with Australian resource and inventory foresters in Melbourne next week. Cheers. Brand PartnersOur Partners & Sponsors Friday Offcuts is made possible through the generous support of the following companies.
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