Cost-competitive biocomposites using lignocellulosic materials from pulp and paper industry

The biocomposites global market is currently growing at an impressive annual rate (12% annually between 2014-2019 and US$ 5.8B in 2019), stimulated by a strong demand in the construction and transportation sectors [1-3].

Domtar is a global leader in the fabrication of paper and forestry products (25Mt/year), including several lignocellulosic materials which have the potential to be utilized in high added value products such as polymer blends and composites. Canplex, a company from Quebec, is specialized in the fabrication of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) extruded profiles. The company manufactures a number of flexible, semi-rigid and rigid products for the construction market, and is willing to improve the environmental performance and reduce the cost of their products. They already collaborated with NRC on the development of partially bio-based PVC formulations.

In this project NRC, Domtar and Canplex will join forces to valorize various cellulosic fibres derived from wood and produced by Domtar through their integration into plastics to produce biocomposites for industrial applications. More specifically, this project will target the development of biocomposites based on PVC for construction products, and of biocomposites based on PP (polypropylene) for the automotive market (interior parts).

The work of the partners will be structured as follows: i) Domtar will optimize their technology for the production of wood derived cellulosic fibers at their Windsor mill (QC) in order to optimize the characteristics of the fibers (aspect ratio and surface properties) while minimizing the production cost; ii) NRC will develop the formulations and processing techniques of the PVC and PP based biocomposites integrating Domtar’s cellulosic fibers for targeted applications. NRC’s expertise and inventions in the field of biocomposites will be used to accomplish this task. In particular, NRC’s patented technology (US 7,041,716) [4] will be used. This invention allows the fabrication of biocomposites at low cost and energy consumption by eliminating the necessity of drying the cellulosic fibers prior to their incorporation in the polymer; iii) Canplex will use their industrial extrusion lines for the prototyping of PVC biocomposites profiles, while NRC’s semi-industrial scale injection molding platform will be used to prototype PP biocomposites. The ultimate goal is to demonstrate the possibility of utilizing lignocellulosic materials coming from the pulp and paper industry for the fabrication of low environmental impact materials for construction and automotive interiors applications at a competitive cost permitting an efficient industrialization.