1. March 2017 Update: Forestry and Timber Technologies Industry Leadership Group and Timber Development.
Andy Leitch

2. Scottish Forest and Timber Technologies Industry Leadership Group Structure – priorities
SFTT ILG
Skills Group
Emerging Markets
Forest Floor Efficiencies
Adding value through innovation in Construction
Outline that industry put in significant effort to agree Aims and objectives of RFFG, therefore important document and important that we review regularly and update objectives when required.

3. Scottish Forest and Timber Technologies Industry Leadership Group Structure – priorities
SFTT ILG
Skills Group
Emerging Markets
Forest Floor Efficiencies
Adding value through innovation in Construction
Outline that industry put in significant effort to agree Aims and objectives of RFFG, therefore important document and important that we review regularly and update objectives when required.

4. Skills: Industry Skills Group activities to date
Draft Action plan in place. “About us”
Forestry Apprenticeships (shared).
Forest Machine Operators Training.
Forestry Ambassadors.
Careers mapping.
Introduce Steve and he will talk about SE led activities aimed at encouraging and facilitating growth in the forestry and Timber Technologies sector.

5. Lantra Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards – SFTT Trees and Timber Award: Winner Emma Staniforth, Runner-up Matt Lingard
Introduce Steve and he will talk about SE led activities aimed at encouraging and facilitating growth in the forestry and Timber Technologies sector.

6. Developing a Forest Machine Operator Training Course/Apprenticeship
Focused on new talent and upskilling where required.
Considering Apprenticeship model.
week course offering a more consolidated option to that of the original 8 week course.
Provide a qualification.
Will require buy-in from public and private sector.
At a costing stage and exploring all funding options.
FCS has committed funds to pilot any new training model agreed by FMO sub-group .
Introduce Steve and he will talk about SE led activities aimed at encouraging and facilitating growth in the forestry and Timber Technologies sector.

7. Forestry Ambassadors
Uniform approach to representing sector to schools and further/higher education establishments.
Develop material that can be used by all.
Possibly develop a register of ambassadors;
To recognise efforts of individuals and organisations.
To give a point(s) of contact to access ambassadors.
Who would maintain the register? ICF? Colleges?
Regional groups have a part to play in providing ambassadors and points of local contact?
Introduce Steve and he will talk about SE led activities aimed at encouraging and facilitating growth in the forestry and Timber Technologies sector.

8. Updated Careers Map
Single careers map that represents opportunities across all segments of our sector.
It must be designed to be attractive and understood by potential students, their parents and career advisors. Best practice from other industries.
Engage fully with Scottish Government career initiative “My world of Work” and ensure only pertinent and current information is placed on this platform.
Introduce Steve and he will talk about SE led activities aimed at encouraging and facilitating growth in the forestry and Timber Technologies sector.

9. Emerging market: A Scottish biorefinery based on wood fibre?
IBioIC intro
M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017

10. M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017
Policy drivers
Scotland's national strategy aims to:
Grow industrial biotechnology related turnover to £900m by 2025
Increase the number of IB-using companies to 200.
Building on Success, National Plan for IB Progress Report 2015
Create one or more Scottish biorefineries
Biorefinery Roadmap for Scotland, 2015
Ambitious plans
M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017

11. M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017
What is a biorefinery?
Produces a liquid biofuel, like bioethanol, from biological feedstocks
Is large in scale, like an oil refinery
Leads to additional co-products
Conventional idea, built around bioethanol production - may need re-thinking
This picture of what a biorefinery should look like is now being challenged
M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017

12. M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017
Second-generation biofuels
Feedstock is lignocellulosic biomass: wood, straw, waste
Sustainable and avoids competition with food
Lower feedstock costs
Conversion to sugar is
difficult and expensive
Oil price means more
Interest in non-fuel products
Key problem is technical difficulty of converting cellulose, protected by lignin as in wood, into glucose
M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017

13. M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017
Biorefining feedstocks
In Scotland, wood has emerged from a number of scoping exercises as the front-running raw material
Biorefining in Scotland: Report for Scottish Enterprise by E4tech (UK) Ltd, 2014
M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017

14. ‘Sugar platform’ processes
Wood
Chemical pre-treatment
Hemicelluloses
Cellulose
Lignin
Depolymerisation
Sugar
Phenolic resins Aromatic feedstock chemicals
Carbon fibre
Fermentation
Bioethanol or other products
M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017

15. M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017
Wood extractives
2-20% of clearwood depending on species (2% for Sitka). Higher levels in knots, roots, bark
Extraction process easily added to front end of biorefinery process
Complex mixtures of unfamiliar chemicals
Composition quite different according to species and anatomy
Scottish speciality
M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017

16. M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017
What kind of wood fibre is required?
First call would be on small roundwood, chips and perhaps sawdust.
Biorefinery community looks out for ‘waste’ streams.
Pretreatment step easiest for hardwoods
Competition with biomass for co-firing and other low-value markets
So competition with biomass for co-firing. Not much prospect of premium over prices for co-firing. Could be premium from sawdust (particle size) or from utilising extractives, e.g. Knotwood cut out from finger-jointed products. Lignin and nanocellulose could also create premium, especially if wood quality can be helpful for nanocellulose
M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017

17. M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017
Opportunities
Strong Scottish Government support for a demo-scale wood-based biorefinery, using approx 500,000 m3 of wood per year
Potential pharmaceutical buyer identified for sugar from a wood source. Sugar from Sitka spruce gave promising results in preliminary trials
Two companies interested in building pilot thermochemical biorefineries in Scotland
Ineos could provide infrastructure for a biorefinery at Grangemouth: Irvine and two sites in Fife also possible
Scottish academic expertise: extractives and lignin technology
M.C. Jarvis. SFTT NE Meeting, Finzean Hall, 8 March 2017

18. Forest Floor Efficiencies: Potential projects
Genomics Project: Growing Better Sitka faster!!
3 year project proposal submitted to BBSRC.
Led by Oxford Uni, but including Forest Research, Roslin Institute and Canadian Universities
£1.5M budget, including £160k contribution from private sector.
Quicker growth, shorter rotations with no effect on quality. Improved resilience.
Awaiting news of success of bid.
Yield models for improved Spruce
Improved production forecasts accounting for improved stock.

19. WoodWisdom End of Programme Seminar 4th and 5th April, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
23 Transnational Projects involving 12 countries and over 20 partners. Four of them had UK partners.
Over 30M euros invested in research on adding value to wood supply streams in Europe.
Key focus areas were; wood mobilisation, construction and biotechnology.
Some very interesting topics:

20. WoodWisdom Seminar – Construction
Hybrid Cross laminated components.
Durable Bridges
Tall Timber Facades
How wood products contribute to healthy buildings
Hardwoods for construction sector
Using recovered wood for reprocessing and manufacture
Wood based thermal insulation materials
Silent Timber Buildings.

21. WoodWisdom Seminar - Biotech topics.
Value chains for Polysaccharides from wood.
Aerogels for biomedicine
New substitute for creosote
Liquid fuels from lignin.
Biorefining recycled wood.
Manufacturing Composites from nanocellulose.
New products created from hemicellulose.

22. CLT – CCG Yoker 7 Storey Accommodation

23. Race for Tall Timber Buildings
UBC – 53m high, 18storey building
Amsterdam – 73m tall
Construction to begin 2nd half of 2017

24. Structural Testing + Analysis – Edinburgh Napier

25. Thanks for Listening