1. Roadmap Towards Innovation Driven Forestry Manufacturing
Prof. Bruce Sithole
4 October 2017
Biorefinery Industry Development Facility
CSIR NRE, Durban

2. Forest Products Industry - Background Information
How big is the industry?
Forest Products Sector’s Current Contribution to South Africa:
2.6% contribution to the RSA GDP
12% contribution to RSA manufacturing GDP
35.5% contribution to RSA agricultural GDP
Direct employment to 160,000 people

3. Challenge: Production Decline and Job Losses
The forestry sector also faces serious challenges of:
raw material shortage: drought
aging machinery
under developed Infrastructure
access to markets
access to finance
lack of funding for forward integration into value-added products
unsustainable use of waste material
skills shortages and keeping abreast with global technological advancements
broad challenge of low timber recovery rate of around 47% compared to international recovery rate of over 60%. This means that the country is losing 53% of the tree that could have been beneficiated.
Disruptive technologies include:
Tablet computing
Internet shopping
Electronic books and papers
Functional coatings
Digital archiving
On-demand printing
Text messaging
Air-laid papermaking
Cellulosic bioenergy

4. Production decline and job losses in the forestry industry
North America

5. Production decline and job losses in the forestry industry
Europe

6. Production decline and job losses in the forestry industry
South Africa
Printing and writing papers
Reasons for closure
“in response to difficult market conditions and the continuing rise of input energy, water, and fibre costs”
Disruptive technologies include:
Tablet computing
Internet shopping
Electronic books and papers
Functional coatings
Digital archiving
On-demand printing
Text messaging
Air-laid papermaking
Cellulosic bioenergy
Production, tonnes

7. Recovery plant and energy co-generation
Current forestry sector technology is wasteful and has limited products
Trees
logs
Lumber mills
chips
Pulp and paper mills
liquor
Recovery plant and energy co-generation
Extracting only 47% value from trees
A highly inefficient use of a natural resource
Waste bark, sawdust, shavings
Waste sludge, liquor, dregs, effluent, fly ash
Wastes
Disposal to landfill and receiving waters
Landfill & receiving waters

8. Landfill & receiving waters
Current forestry sector technology is wasteful
Fly ash
Sawdust
Sludge
Bark
Expensive
“one mill spends R20 million per annum to handle, manage, and dispose waste” ..
Greenhouse gas emissions
Shortage of landfill space
Impending regulations
Landfill & receiving waters

9. What is Required to Address the Challenge?
Reinventing
the future via
Biorefinery technologies

10. What can be done to revitalise the industry?
Biorefinery
A facility that integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, power, and chemicals from biomass
Analogous to today's petroleum refineries, which produce multiple fuels and products from petroleum
Identified as the most promising route to the creation of a new domestic bio-based industry

11. Recovery Plant and energy Co-generation
Biorefinery technologies deliver improved resource efficiency and diversify the sector’s product offering
Trees
logs
Lumber mills
chips
Pulp and paper mills
liquor
Recovery Plant and energy Co-generation
> 90% tree utilisation Diversification of products
Waste Bark, Sawdust, Shavings
Waste sludge, liquor, dregs, effluent, flyash
Materials
Disposal to landfill and receiving waters
Fibres and fillers for Biocomposites
High value/ specialised chemicals
Bio-energy
Biorefinery Technology
Landfill & receiving waters

12. Develop new value streams – valorisation of saw dust
Pine oils
Xylitol
Extraction of saw dust to obtain a variety of marketable chemicals
Xylose for conversion to xylitol. In the South African market xylitol sells for approximately R150/kg and demand is increasing
A company in South Africa imports 20 tons of pine oil every 3 weeks and sells the product on the local market for approximately R40-60/kg
We want to enable local production of valuable chemicals
We are working with SMMEs for uptake of the technologies

13. New value chains
What happens to the fibres remaining after the extractions?
Convert them into a high value NCC fibres

14. Nanocrystalline Cellulose (NCC)
What can we make from NCC?
Paints, varnishes, coatings
Films
Adhesives
Thermosets
Thermoplastics
Reinforced biopolymers
Synthetic fibres
Nanocomposites
Cosmetics & pharmaceuticals
Optical devices
Viscosity modifiers
Catalysts
Flexible displays
Printed films
Hydrogels
NCC nanocomposites prepared at the BIDF
High performance composites

15. Conventional methods Our technology
Novel technology for production
of nanocrystalline cellulose
Conventional methods
Our technology
Waste
Pulp
(sells for
$1200/ton)
(Free)
Wood
Nanocellulose
Biomass waste
Yield = 15%
Yield = 40%
Currently NCC sells for $1000/kg
BIDF technology: NCC production directly from wood waste
Looking to develop industrial partnerships

16. Beneficiation of saw mill wastes
NO MORE WASTE > 95% TREE UTILISATION!
Conversion into xylitol, furfural, etc
PRE-EXTRACTED
SAWDUST WASTE
RAW SAWDUST
WASTE
EXTRACTION OFSUGARS
Extraction of NCC
FUEL
EXTRACTION OF PINE OILS
Industrial & household cleaning agents,
disinfectants, solvents, fragrances, terpenes

17. Beneficiation of mill sludge
Typical pulp mill sludge and potential valorisation products
MILL SLUDGE CONTAINS APPROXIMATELY:
ORGANIC 60%
INORGANIC 40%
NANOCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE
BIOPOLYMERS/
PLASTICS
BUILDING MATERIALS
CEMENT BRICKS
MILL SLUDGE CONTAINS APPROXIMATELY:
ORGANIC 60%
INORGANIC 40%
BUILDING MATERIALS
CEMENT BRICKS
FIRE RESISTANT GEOPOLYMERS
Typical Pulp mill sludge and potential valorisation products

18. MASSIVE! Massive potential for biorefinery USA DoE Phyto-chemicals
Sucrose
MASSIVE!
Phyto-chemicals
USA DoE

19. Technoeconomic study What are the best products to focus on?
Transportation costs
Markets
Sustainability
Job creation
Should lumber mills stop producing lumber
and invest 100% in biorefinery technologies?

20. Biorefinery Industry Development Facility
CSIR Biorefinery Industry Development Facility
A national facility for development /evaluation of biorefinery technologies
A world-class facility central to the major biomass production region in SA
Highly trained specialist technical experts for advisory and technology development
Foundational pilot scale mills, fractionators and thermo-chemical digesters for biomass processing
Advanced and unique analytical equipment for characterisation of biomass and products
Human capital development to meet industry needs
Growing network of partnerships and collaborations
Human capital development
Technical expertise
Facility
Pilot
equipment
Specialised analytical equipment
Networks
Biorefinery technologies to extract maximum value from trees

21. Thank you!