BC’s Deadwood Project: Low-Grade Fiber Converted to Substitute Wood Product

The Deadwood project in BC is an innovative manufacturing venture that entails a business partnership between Nak’azdli Development Corp. and Deadwood Innovations, aiming to revolutionize the forest sector, according to a feature by Canadian Forest Industries (4-22-24).

The venture has developed an innovative process that converts low-grade timber and low-value lumber into a wood product that can be used as a substitute for lumber and timber in various applications.

The Deadwood project uses a hydro-thermal chemi-mechanical process that imparts strength and stability into the fiber. Engineering work is currently underway to scale-up from a pilot plant to a 30,000 cubic meters per year commercial operation in order to demonstrate the feasibility and commercial potential of this process. The pilot plant equipment was manufactured in Fort St. James, BC.

With support from programs such as the BC Ministry of Forest’s Indigenous Forest Bioeconomy Program and the federal government’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program, this project is aligned with many of the priorities of different levels of government: supporting Indigenous leadership in the forest sector, reducing carbon emissions through its sequestration in wood products, and moving from high-volume to high-value.