Nova Scotia’s Port Hawkesbury Paper hopes to move ahead with a demonstration sugar extracting operation within a year. The mill has commissioned an engineering study that is nearly complete for the plant, which would be located at the Point Tupper (Nova Scotia) mill site, according to Atlantic Farm Focus Thursday.
They’ve been working on the project for some time with FPInnovations, a pulp and paper research and technology institute.
Port Haweksbury Paper
The sugars would be used to make non-food products, such as biodegradable plastics. They can also be used in products such as cosmetics or pharmaceuticals.
If a demo plant goes ahead, there would be employment created through its construction and a group of scientists would be working at the mill site. Mill employees would be involved where needed, with the mill possibly hiring or offering overtime, Dube said.
Extracting sugars also makes fibre burn at a higher temperature at the biomass plant in operation at the mill site.