Top 5 Innovations From Forest Products
Forests provide products that we use every day. From the wood framing of our homes to bathroom tissue, we touch forest products hundreds of times a day. Forests across the U.S. South, 86% of which are in the hands of private landowners, are essential to our economy. Private landowners need reliable markets to keep their land in forests, due to other economic pressures for development. In this article, Keeping Forests set out to explore five of the most innovative products coming from the forests today.
World's First 3D-Printed Fully Biobased Home
Yes, you read that right. Georgia-Pacific, a Keeping Forests partner, teamed up with the University of Maine to create a first of its kind 3D-Printed home made from wood-fibers and bio-resins. Currently, this technology can produce a 600 square-foot prototype at 150 pounds per hour and the team is expecting to increase production to 500 pounds per hour.
This home could be a part of the solution to the ongoing housing crisis.
Before you search the internet for a “where to buy” site - this technology is still being researched for improvements. Needless to say, the future looks promising as forest products continue to provide raw materials for housing.
2. Lignin Batteries
Lignin - defined as, “a complex organic polymer deposited in the cell walls of many plants, making them rigid and woody.” Basically, it helps make a tree a tree. Since it’s found mostly in woody plants (i.e. trees!) lignin is a common byproduct from pulp mill when cellulose is separated to make paper.
Since trees grow by converting atmospheric carbon dioxide into energy, forest byproducts contain the carbon structure to successfully conduct electricity as a substitute for graphite.
While the market is still in development - experts believe that the future of lignin batteries will also require help from the environmentally-conscious consumer. Current lignin batteries are at a cost disadvantage to graphite, but with investors and consumers looking for ways to reduce the carbon footprint of product supply chains, lignin batteries could emerge as the sustainable choice for future technologies. Could trees one day power our electric vehicles?
3. Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Converting forest biomass into other uses is nothing new. Biomass power plants that harness the power of residuals for the forest and agriculture have been around for decades. But researchers are working on many exciting new uses for aviation fuel that could provide potential markets for wood residuals. Enviva (a Keeping Forests partner) recently partnered with Alder Fuels on a mission to replace fossil-based aviation fuels with “green” wood biomass.
"SAF (sustainable airline fuel) made from renewable biomass and waste resources have the potential to deliver the performance of petroleum-based jet fuel but with a fraction of its carbon footprint, giving airlines solid footing for decoupling greenhouse gas emissions from flights," says the U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office.
This is great news for private landowners across the U.S. South who need these markets to provide a return on their investment in forests.
4. Sustainable Fashion
Sustainability is a key concern for many industries - fashion being no exception. For years, fashion has been dominated by traditional materials such as cotton, silk, and polyester. Now there are innovative materials, cellulose fibers, that are being extracted from wood. This market is expected to increase from 6 to 10 million tons over the next fifteen years.
Companies such as Sappi are pushing this market while championing the message that working forests, “enhance biodiversity, resilience, and maintain functional ecological condition.”
Talk about a fashion statement: Adel recently wore a gown made from wood pulp, for her latest Las Vegas residency show!
5. Lignin-Based Plastic
Traditionally, plastics have been made with fossil-fuel bases of crude oil, natural gas, or coal. The vast majority of plastic in use today is created synthetically due to the ease of manufacturing methods. As consumers shift away from plastics, specifically single-use plastics, a new biobased plastic process has begun to emerge.
A report published by Dunwei Wang, Boston College’s Maragaret A. and Thomas A. Vanderslice Chair in Chemistry, found that a lignin-based feedstock would help transition away from petroleum-based plastics. Forest landowners should be encouraged, since the same process of paper and wood milling produces 50 million tons of lignin annually as an additional byproduct. Whether a forest-based plastic or an electric car battery - it’s clear that lignin will be worth the investment in research for years to come.
Zach Clifton
Keeping Forests Communications Specialist
Zach supports Keeping Forests via its partnership with the Georgia Forestry Association. Zach and the other communications staff at GFA lend support to the partnership both strategically & tactically.
