Development of new technologies for the pulp and paper industry

由于新兴的电子商务和来自巴西、印度尼西亚和中国等依赖廉价劳动力成本和/或原材料的国家的竞争日益激烈，加拿大纸浆和造纸行业正面临挑战。 为了保持健康和竞争力，该行业需要在开发新的增值产品和/或改进制造工艺方面进行创新。 倪永浩博士目前的提案满足了这些需求。在过去的24年里，他建立了一个广泛的研究计划，为纸浆和造纸行业开发新技术/产品，其中包括对现有制造工艺/产品和新工艺/产品的改进。在此应用中，他将继续相同的研究计划，并专注于两个方面，即：1）开发和表征高电导率纸及其在纸天线中的应用及其在射频识别（RFID）中的应用;* 2）通过提高纯度生产高品质纤维素材料。纤维素纤维具有可持续性、可回收性和可生物降解性等固有优势，可用于生产塑料、金属等材料的新型产品，为纤维素纤维创造价值的纤维工程近年来备受关注。研究结果将直接影响加拿大纸浆和造纸工业，该工业致力于开发使用纤维素纤维作为原材料的新技术。纤维素（也称为溶解纸浆）在加拿大是一个不断增长的部门。 在接下来的5年里，倪博士和他的团队的目标是通过提高半纤维素的去除来提高纤维素的质量。预计其结果将使这一重要部门受益。加拿大森林资源丰富，是全球纤维素（溶解浆）生产的领导者，加拿大生产的溶解浆全部出口到其他国家。预计该研究将对加拿大产生重大的社会/经济效益。

The Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry is facing challenges due to emerging e-commerce and increasing competition from countries such as Brazil, Indonesia and China, which rely on inexpensive labour costs and/or raw material. To remain healthy and competitive, the industry needs innovations in the development of new value-added products and/or of improved manufacturing processes. The present proposal by Dr. Yonghao Ni addresses these needs. He has established an extensive research program in the past 24 years on the development of new technologies/ products for the pulp and paper industry, which includes both the improvements in the present manufacturing processes/ products and novel processes/ products. In this application, he will continue the same research program and focus on two aspects, namely: 1) development and characterization of high electro-conductivity paper and its application for paper antenna and its application in the radio-frequency identification (RFID); ***2) production of high-quality cellulose material by increasing the purity.******Fiber Engineering, which creates values for cellulose fibers, has received much attention recently because cellulose fibers, due to their inherent advantages of sustainability, recyclability and bio-degradability, can be used to produce novel products that are usually made of plastics, metals, etc. The research on paper antenna and its application in the RFID fit the fiber engineering concept well. The outcome of the research will be of direct interest to the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry, which strives for the development of new technologies that use cellulose fibers as raw material.******Cellulose (also known as dissolving pulp) is a growing sector in Canada. In the next 5 years Dr. Ni and his team are aiming to improve the quality of cellulose by enhancing the hemicellulose removal. The results will be expected to benefit this important sector. Canada, rich in forest resources, is a global leader in the cellulose (dissolving pulp) production, and all of the dissolving pulp produced in Canada is exported to other countries. It is expected that the research will have significant social/ economic benefits to the Canada.