Technology Test Succeeds Against Mountain Pine Beetle

Newsprint manufacturer wins beetle battle but the war wages on

November 16, 2009 - Edmonton, AB

As an Alberta business celebrates a win in the war against the mountain pine beetle’s economic impact upon communities, word comes of new government funding for further offenses against the beetle.

The Alberta Newsprint Company (ANC) used a hi-tech weapon to gain an economic edge over the mountain pine beetle infestation that has attacked forests, businesses and communities in Alberta and B.C. Leaders from ANC rallied their allies from Woodland County and the Alberta Research Council (ARC) to gather on Friday, November 13, for a celebration on their battle ground:  the operating floor of ANC’s Whitecourt plant. This is where a field trial using ARC sensor technology has proven successful in converting inferior beetle-attacked fibre into high-grade newsprint.  The process has proven so successful ANC has improved its production by ten percent.

The pilot was part of a $28 million three-year project aimed at using new technology to counter the effects of using mountain pine beetle-killed wood in pulping operations. The pilot plant retrofit was announced in September of 2008, and the results are now becoming clear.

“This research partnership came up with an innovative answer to a unique problem – and it’s good news for the people who work here as well as for the folks in the community of Whitecourt,” says ANC technical director Gary Smith.  But the impact could be even farther reaching.  “This technology could be employed at other facilities facing the same challenge, thanks to the foresight of our partners.”

“ARC is delighted with the success of the pilot field trial at ANC. We are looking forward to helping deploy this technology in other paper mills,” says ARC President and CEO John McDougall.

In advance of the ANC-based pilot project, ARC conducted a series of pulping and bleaching process studies from beetle-infested wood and identified several scenarios. The pulp mill installed five new ARC sensors on the production line to detect and respond to changes in both wood supply and mill process water quality, better equipping them to handle beetle-killed wood’s drier, weaker and darker characteristics. Pulp samples were sent to German paper machine manufacturer Voith, which custom-engineered a press to handle the beetle influences while maintaining ANC’s premium sheet quality and throughput. In addition to the new press.

This three-year start-up project was supported by investments of almost $17 million from the Alberta Newsprint Company and a $10 million grant from the provincially administered national Community Development Trust (CDT). Other funding partners include the Alberta government, through the Alberta Forestry Research Institute ($600,000) and the Alberta Research Council ($450,000), the National Research Council Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program ($240,000) and Woodlands County ($200,000). The Government of Canada created the $1-billion Trust to help provinces and territories assist communities and workers facing economic hardship caused by the current volatility in global financial and commodities markets. Alberta’s allocation of the CDT is $104 million.

Woodlands County, where forestry is a primary industry, is one of many communities concerned about the devastation of forests across British Columbia and Alberta. The mountain pine beetle has left millions of trees dead and dying, the lumber weakened, dry and discoloured.

At the same time as ANC and ARC celebrate the success of this pilot project, Federal Minister of State Rob Merrifield and Alberta Minister of Sustainable Resource Development Ted Morton jointly made a significant announcement with regard to the mitigation of the mountain pine beetle.  They say federal and provincial governments know how important it is to maintain a resource that adds $9 billion to Alberta's economy and employs 38,000 Albertans in primary forestry and secondary manufacturing.