PWC- MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2023 Detailed program

09:00 – 10:00

Session Chair: Paul Stuart, Polytechnique Montreal

• “Innovative Bioeconomy Business Models The Future Kraft Bioproducts Mill – Now a Commercial Reality”, Niklas von Weymarn, (CEO), Metsä Spring Oy (Finland)

Niklas von Weymarn, Metsä Spring Oy (Finland)

10:00 – 11:30

Session Chair: Przem Pruszynski, Pruszynski Consulting

• 10:00 “Quick Inversion Polymers: A New Family of Fixatives and Particle Retention Boosters”, Peter Jelinek, Kemira
• 10:20 “Novel Alternatives to Starch as Dry Strength Additives”, Pascal Rivard, Solenis
• 10:40 “Technologies and Strategies for Eliminating Talc Used for Pitch Control in Virgin Pulp”, Manoj Karivelil & James Thomas, Kemira
• 11:00 “ Novel Chemistry for Controlling Difficult Deposits in Pulp and Paper”, Maurice Rizcallah & Byron Holmes, Buckman
• 11:20 Discussion & Q&A

Session Chair: Michael Paleologou, FPInnovations

Panelists:
– Enrique Mateos-Espejel, FPInnovations (Sr Researcher, Thermal Process Group)

– Marzouk Benali, NRCan (Manager Biorefinery Program)

– Farshad Piroozmand, Irving Pulp & Paper (DirectorTechnical Operations)

– Bernard Bégin, Hydro-Québec (Commercial Engineer, Client Affairs and Energy Solutions)

Increased wood and chemical costs, environmental pressures and competition from larger, more modern kraft pulp mills in countries with fast-growing wood species are making it difficult for Canadian kraft pulp mills to remain profitable. To address these problems, several European companies are converting their mills into large industrial entities in which as much as 25% of the revenues come from bioproducts other than papermaking pulp.

Hence, the main objective of this panel is to discuss options, novel approaches and roadmaps for enabling Canadian kraft pulp mills to modernize and upgrade their ageing assets in a progressive, logical and cost-effective manner with a view to converting themselves to bioproduct mills. Some of the questions to be addressed by this panel include:

1. a) How do we set the stage for Canadian kraft pulp mills to be converted to bioproduct mills?
2. b) Which bioproducts should we produce?
3. c) Which technologies should be implemented?
4. d) How do we come up with the right roadmap for the future?

12:30 – 14:00

Session Chair: Serge Bédard, Natural Resources Canada

• Hydro-Québec – Bernard Bégin
• NB Power – Spencer Devereaux
• BC Hydro – Hansi Liu-Atkinson & Tamara Berger
• NRCan – Serge Bédard

“What is Robbing you of a Good Day at Work?”, Tom Carr, Reliability Solutions LP

What does a good day at work look like for you and the people around you? The ability to describe what a good day at work looks like is important in your journey to more reliable manufacturing. In manufacturing, no matter what the process, your good day at work depends on a lot of rotating or reciprocating equipment doing what it is supposed to do. If you listen closely to how people describe what a good day at work looks like, they are describing a manufacturing process that is running reliably. In this sense, everyone is interested in reliable manufacturing. When you ask machine operators what robs them of a good day at work, they will tell you specifics around unreliable processes or equipment. When you ask maintenance technicians what robs them of a good day at work, they will tell you when they are yanked and jerked around all day long while working on “break-ins”.

In our time together, we will explore why most seem to distance themselves from “reliability efforts” but value a “good day at work”. What if we could engage the masses and create passionate advocates for reliable manufacturing? I will show by presentation what is robbing you of a good day at work and give you a pathway to more reliable manufacturing… through your people.

After a 27 year career in the pulp and paper industry, Tom joined Reliability Solutions in 2011 to return to his passion for building people. During his career in pulp and paper, he worked as a craftsman, a maintenance instructor, a training coordinator, a reliability specialist and a maintenance supervisor. The different roles prepared him well to serve as a mentor and instructor for technicians and leadership teams in manufacturing that desire a step change in reliable manufacturing. Tom’s experience leads him to understand the different roles and responsibilities associated with this step change.

Session Chair: Bruno Gagnon – Acting Manager, Canadian Forest Service – Trade, Economics & Industry Branch, Natural Resources Canada

Panelists: 

Monique Frison – Director General, Trade, Economics and Industry Branch, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada

Minh-Tan Ton-That – Senior Research Officer, National Research Council

Hamed Bashiri – CanmetENERGY, Natural Resources Canada

Michael Wolinetz – Partner, Navius Research

Davis Chiu – Director of Innovation at Paper Excellence Canada and Acting Head of Carbon Strategy for the Paper Excellence Group

14:30 – 16:00

Session Chair: Alyssa Day, ALPAC

• 14:30 “Key Issues for NBSK demand & supply in changing global climate”, Brian McClay, Brian McClay & Associates (TTOBMA)
• 15:00 “ Eucalyptus Fibers for Tissue Application”, Manoel Faez & Luiz Fernando, Suzano
• 15:30 “Non-wood pulp – supply and availability”,  Xuejun Zou, FPInnovations

Session Chair: Mona Henderson, Valmet

• 14:30 “Energy Demand and Carbon Footprint of Bleaching Chemicals”, Alexis Metais, Xylem
• 15:00 “Bleaching Controls”, Derek Hess, Domtar
• 15:30 “Oxygen Delignification Model Using the Ji, Vanska and van Heiningen Equation”, Tom Mullen, Process Innovations

Session Chair: Virginie Chambost, EnVertis Consulting

Panelists:

Cascades CS+ – Frédéric Perreault, (R&D Director)

Kruger – Maxime Cossette (Corporate VP – Fibre, Biomaterials & Sustainability)

Paper Excellence – Davis Chiu (Director of Innovation)

Suzano Canada – Michael Rushton (Chief Operating Officer)

Klabin – Francisco Razzolini (CTO and Executive Director for Technology)

Canfor Pulp – Shabnam Sanei (Director Bio-Innovation and Technology)

In the context of identifying strategic investment within the bioeconomy, R&D&I has never been as critical as today. While dealing with a plethora of process/product opportunities, the forestry industry needs to adapt or even reinvent the way they manage innovation, to ensure its success while minimizing the risk to the core business. Many forestry companies have dedicated resources dealing with managing their innovation process, to guide strategic investment related to new process implementation and/or new non-core business product development. How has/should the innovation process be adapted? What are key success factors to foster innovation while maximizing in-house/external knowledge/expertise? 

This panel assembles practitioners to discuss how leading forestry companies develop strategic biorefinery projects, triage process and product opportunities leading to strategic investment. Industry-led examples will be used to discuss the role of R&D&I and how R&D&I has evolved to deal with the complexity of biorefinery innovation. The panel will exchange on the importance to position R&D&I within the strategic planning process, while maximizing in-house and/or external expertise to speed-up the innovation process. The panel will elaborate on key drivers and barriers to innovation within the forestry industry.