Client:

Alberta Pacific Forest Industries (Al-Pac)

Opportunity:

Al-Pac’s mill northeast of Athabasca produces fly-ash as a waste product. About 7% of the fly-ash is char. Functioning as a soil amendment substance, char could be used in greenhouse potting mixes or as a growing medium and can potentially have agricultural value. It can also act as a carbon sequestration mechanism.

Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures conducted a precommercial feasibility study to assess the value of the char contained in the fly-ash waste produced at the mill. In addition to the commercial value of the char itself, removing 7% of the total waste lowers costs related to waste management and handling.

Status:

AITF and Al-Pac have completed: phase one separation feasibility; phase two, char characterization and germination tests; and phase three, greenhouse evaluations of peat amended with fly-ash char. Al-Pac expects the product to go to market in 2012.

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