Appearance-based products will first be considered. Various secondary processing characteristics (eg. machining and finishing properties, surface quality, etc.). will be examined in relation to stand/tree/stem characteristics to develop tree-level models to estimate the value-added end-use potential for the resource. The same approach will be used for pulp and paper. Following chip and fibre quality evaluation, the chip samples from Theme 3 will be divided into two comparable groups, one for pulping and the other for medium density fibreboard (MDF) and wood-plastic composites (WPC) manufacturing. The yield and properties of these fibre-based products will be evaluated using standard methods. Bioenergy production will also be considered. One approach to biofuel generation is the biorefinery concept. A biorefinery is an industrial facility able to convert biomass, including lignocellulosic materials such as wood chips, into a range of material, chemical, and energy products, analogous to a petroleum refinery. The potential bioenergy production from Canada’s boreal forests will be determined.

Researchers and students associated to this theme are :

• Researchers : 
• Phil Evans (UBC) 
• Yonghao Ni (UNB) 
• Bernard Riedl (U. Laval)
• Ning Yan (U. of Toronto)
• Roger Hernandez (U. Laval)
• Ahmed Koubaa (UQAT)
• Paul Cooper (U. of Toronto) 
• Alain Cloutier (U. Laval) 
• Jack Saddler (UBC) 
• Warren Mabee (Queens U.)
• Frank Lam (UBC)
•  
• Students and postdoctoral fellows: 
• Arash Jamali (UBC) 
• Xin Liu (UNB)
• Jonathan Haase (UBC) 
• Fabio Tomczak (U. Laval)
• Jiemin Chen (U. of Toronto)
• Julie Cool (U. Laval) 
• Mourad Saddem (UQAT)
• Thierry Mounanga (U. of Toronto)
• Benjamin Yang (U. of Toronto)
• Brian Vezeau (U. Laval)
• Chengda He (UNB)
• Jamie Stephen (UBC)
• Ling Li (UBC)
• Kirby Calvert (Queens U.)
• Thomas Lim (UBC)
•  

 

You will find all theme 4 projects in the following table.