Auto industry looks at branching out
Instead of making pulp and paper, trees in Alberta could one day help make cars and trucks.
Alberta researchers are teaming up with automotive supplier Magna Exteriors and Interiors and Ontario scientists on a project to integrate wood fibre into auto parts.
Parts made from forest fibre have the potential to be strong, lightweight and low-cost replacements for hydrocarbon-based components.
“(Magna’s) clients, the mainline auto manufacturers around the world very much want to get these kinds of products and that’s what led to this particular project,” said Stan Blade, chief executive of Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions, a provincial government agency.
If successful, the technology could open a new market for Alberta forest products, he said.
“Given the market pressures that we’ve seen in pulp and paper … people are really looking at diversifying those product streams.”
The agency is chipping in $600,000 to the $3.5-million project over two years. It is joining Magna and the Ontario-based Centre for Research and Innovation in the Bio-economy (CRIBE) to develop the technology.
CRIBE chief executive Lorne Morrow said Ontario’s forestry industry has been hit hard by declining demand for paper products and a high Canadian dollar.
“Opportunities like this are exciting, because they have the potential to provide a new industry which will create new demand and a new revenue stream for Ontario’s pulp mills,” Morrow said.
Two Alberta companies, which were not named, will provide wood fibre to researchers to develop prototype products, such as interior headliners, matting and interior door panelling.
“The dual challenges our industry faces to reduce the cost and weight of auto parts can be addressed in part with high-performance wood-fibre reinforced plastics,” said William Henry, Magna’s executive director of research and development, in a release.
The first phase of the project will test various wood fibres for integration into the auto parts using a blend of Alberta and Ontario wood fibre to achieve optimum performance. Technical experts from Alberta Innovates Technology Futures will assist Magna in the testing.
The second phase will look at modifying the technologies to produce pallets and packaging materials.