WHAT FBRI DEVELOPED BIOPRODUCTS ARE CURRENTLY CLOSE TO COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT?
UMaine’s proprietary “van Heiningen process,” which applies hemicellulose extraction techniques to wood chips prior to the pulping process, is moving towards technology deployment at Red Shield Environmental’s nearby mill in Old Town. Red Shield Environmental converted its existing pulping system at the Old Town mill into a two-vessel system able to accommodate both pulp production and the additional extraction of hemicellulose from wood chips. In the future these hemicellulose-rich extracts will feed the mill’s proposed ethanol refinery process, capable of producing two million gallons of ethanol per year.
