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Geothermal Lumber Drying Kilns
The goal of Canfor’s emissions reductions project is to develop a commercial-scale geothermal direct-heat system at their Whitecourt facility. Drying lumber in kilns is a key step in manufacturing high quality, heat-treated lumber products and represents a significant component of energy used at their facilities. This project intends to provide geothermal heat to the sawmill’s kilns…
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MPR Fibre Procurement Project
Mercer Peace River (MPR), a pulp mill and cogeneration facility located in Northern Alberta, is undertaking a capital investment project to transform its fibre procurement process, improving environmental performance and creating a more sustainable business model.This transformative process improvement optimizes forestry operations, allowing for enhanced natural GHG sinks, novel fuel switching from fossil fuels to…
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Hinton Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage Project
The Hinton Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Sequestration (BECCS) Project Study is led by Vault 44.01 in collaboration with West Fraser and TorchLight Bioresources. The study supports a project that would capture and store biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at West Fraser’s Hinton Pulp Mill site, permanently removing 1.3 million metric tonnes of CO2 from the…
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Application of Artificial Intelligence at Pulp Refiners to Optimize Energy Usage and Product Quality
Millar Western Forest Products Ltd. operates a bleached chemi-thermo-mechanical pulp (BCTMP) mill in Whitecourt, Alberta. The refining stage of the mill’s pulping process, in which the cellulose fibres in wood chips are separated by electrically-driven mechanical refiners, is a significant consumer of energy from the power grid and indirect source of associated greenhouse gas (GHG)…
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Flash Forest Commercial Pilots and Demonstrations of Rapid Drone Reforestation Technology for 2021 to 2023
Flash Forest utilizes drone reforestation technology comprised of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and hardware, aerial mapping software, automation, and biological seed pod technology to reforest areas at a rapid pace. Flash Forest’s mapping and telemetry technology, intakes current environmental conditions to ensure trees are planted uniformly and only where they can survive. The seed firing…
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Kraft Pulp Mill Flue Gas Energy Recovery Project
This project will deploy a heat recovery system at the Al-Pac Kraft Pulp Mill to capture heat from the plant’s flue gas stream. The recovered flue gas heat will go into the hot water system for the facility, freeing up steam to generate additional “green” electricity. The innovative aspect of this approach is the unique…
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Tree Species Adaptation Risk Management
ERA provided $3 million to the Tree Species Adaptation Risk Management Project. The climate change adaptation project replicated climate variations through strategic plantings at test sites of species from other regions of the province (for example, planting northern species in southern Alberta). This knowledge is crucial to the province’s forest industry as well as the…
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Bio-Methanation with Power Generation
This project involved the integration of an energy efficient anaerobic digestion system into the Slave Lake Pulp wastewater treatment system. Waste activated sludge is generated in large quantities at pulp mills and is usually either incinerated, land filled or land applied. With the integration of the new system, the treatment facility can generate a methane…
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Weyerhaeuser Grande Prairie Evaporator Project
The old adage ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ rings true for this project that demonstrated energy efficient technology at an Alberta pulp mill. The Grande Prairie Evaporator Project is the final addition to a clean energy overhaul. This high efficiency evaporator system aimed to gather an additional 100,000 pounds of…
