The development of hydrogen and biofuels along with sustainable wood products are being targeted in a new partnership between the Government and major pulp, paper and fibre packaging manufacturer Oji Fibre Solutions.
The initiative will take place at the Kinleith Mill near Tokoroa, creating jobs and reducing emissions across the economy, according to forestry minister Stuart Nash.
“In order to build a low-emissions, high-wage economy, we need to explore innovative and sustainable solutions across all sectors.
“In the wood processing sector, there is the opportunity to integrate bio-manufacturing, which means producing bio-energy and high value bio-chemicals through the development of an advanced bio-economy manufacturing cluster,” Nash says.
Oji Fibre Solutions is a world-leader in pulp, paper and packaging products, and the Kinleith Mill employs over 500 people in the South Waikato.
The $2 million joint feasibility study will explore innovative ways to process wood in New Zealand and tap into the bio-economy to harness the valuable by-products of wood fibre.
The study with be funded jointly with the New Zealand Forest Service contributing up to $1m. It is expected to be completed in early 2023, after which decisions on next steps will be taken.
“Throughout this study, we’ll investigate how we can make high-value and sustainable bio-products from wood. This could create high-wage, highly-skilled jobs as well as unlocking regional economic opportunities and ultimately building a productive, sustainable and inclusive bio-economy,” Nash says.
“This partnership is one of the first tangible actions from the draft Forestry and Wood Processing Industry Transformation Plan I launched in August. A key focus of the plan is how to add value to the forestry sector by processing logs domestically rather than sending them off-shore for other countries to extract value.
“The forestry and wood processing sector has significant growth potential, and innovative ways of thinking like this study will help will help the sector decarbonise, support local job creation and drive the circular economy,” Nash says.
Costs and economic modelling for an upgrade to Kinleith Mill’s energy boilers will also be updated as party of the study, along with investigating opportunities for third-party investment into the bioeconomy.
Oji Fibre Solutions’ Kinleith facility is New Zealand’s largest industrial site, located on 2400 hectares of land.
In early 2020, a Wood Fibre Futures project identified viable wood-based alternatives to high carbon emitting products such as transport fuel, concrete, steel, and coal.
Forestry New Zealand identified considerable interest in biofuels and biomass energy from organisations such as Air New Zealand and Fonterra.
Government-owned research institute Scion has also identified the viability of generating biofuels from the forestry sector.
