Packaging supplier Cascades investing $26 million in Quebec biorefinery project

Quebec-based packaging products and tissue paper maker Cascades Inc. is investing $26 million to replace the use of chemical products in its materials recycling process at its Norampac-Cabano, Que. facility.

In what Cascades calls a Canadian first, the company will use an innovative new process to extract hemicellulose – a natural polymer found in plant cell walls – from wood chips. The process will replace production of sodium carbonate-based chemical pulp.

According to Cascades, the project is being backed by a $10 million investment from Natural Resources Canada’s Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program and $4.4 million from the Québec Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs.

The project is also expected to reduce the plant’s energy consumption, which will boost Cabano’s competitiveness.

“Cascades is once again pleased with this pioneering achievement in the areas of innovation and sustainable development, especially within the four walls of one of its original facilities,” said Mario Plourde, the company’s president and CEO. “This project represents a unique advance in biorefinery technological development. This new process will enable improvements in the efficiency and competitiveness of our Cabano plant’s current corrugated paper production process, thus making existing jobs more secure.”

One of Canada’s largest packaging manufacturers, Cascades packaging sector spans three groups: European Boxboard Group, Containerboard Group and Specialty Products Group. The Specialty Products Group makes plastic products manufactured by extrusion, thermoforming and injection molding.