Timber iQ December 2018 - January 2019 // Issue: 41 | Page 8

NEWS
Local consortium to create
value chains from biomass
The waste biomass sector receives a boost thanks to the establishment
of a biorefinery research consortium (BRC) by the Department of Science
and Technology (DST), to create new value chains from waste biomass.
In order to create new value chains from waste biomass, the Department of Science and Technology has established a
biorefinery research consortium.
T
he consortium is a partnership between the Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the
Tshwane University of Technology, the University of
the Witwatersrand, and Sekolong Sa Dimelana, a rural-
based bio enterprise.
The consortium will investigate opportunities for the
beneficiation of waste by-products from forestry, timber,
pulp and paper industries such as sawdust, finding
alternative and innovative uses for the waste and diverting
it from landfills. This will have both economic and
environmental benefits.
The BRC will use the recently launched R37.5-million
Biorefinery Industry Development Facility (BIDF) at the
CSIR’s Durban campus. In its initial phase (2018 to 2021),
the consortium will focus on the revitalisation of the
forestry, timber, pulp and paper industries.
The BIDF supports innovation in a range of industries,
including forestry, agroprocessing and other biomass-based
industries. Currently, biorefinery technology in South
Africa’s pulp and paper industry is practised on a very
limited scale. Most wood, pulp and paper waste ends up in
landfill sites or is burnt, stockpiled or even pumped out
to sea.
Ben Durham, DST chief director: bio-innovation, says the
consortium was conceptualised with a strong emphasis on
the full value chain approach, coordination and technology
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DECEMBER 2018 / JANUARY 2019 //
transfer, by providing broad access to technical expertise
and the biorefinery demonstration infrastructure that the
BIDF provides.
The BIDF has developed a novel process to produce
cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) directly from wood sawdust,
without the need for the conventional pulping and
bleaching processes that are currently used to isolate CNC
from wood.
Cellulose nanocrystals are nanoparticles that have
impressive optical, rheological and mechanical properties
comparable with stainless steel, and have widespread
applications in various industries, namely the construction,
paper, environmental and industrial sectors.
According to CSIR chief scientist at the BRC, Professor
Bruce Sithole, CNCs are high-value materials that currently
sell for approximately USD1 000 per kilogram. They are
typically produced from high-purity wood-derived cellulose
products such as microcrystalline cellulose, so producing
CNC from wood sawdust is an achievement.
The CNCs produced at the BIDF will be used by other
consortium members for downstream development of
various CNC-based products, such as high-performance
composites for packaging and construction applications,
biopolymers for water filtration and biomedical
applications, as well as biobinders produced from sawdust
and castor oil.
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