Joint venture to commercialize cellulose filaments

Vancouver, BC and Montreal, QC – A new joint venture company – Performance BioFilaments – has been set up by Mercer International and Resolute Forest Products to develop commercial applications for cellulose filaments, a new biomaterial. Cellulose filaments have special performance-enhancing properties with significant potential to improve a wide array of consumer and industrial products.

“The significance of this new biomaterial, derived from wood fibre, is tremendous from both an environmental perspective and the range of possible applications,” said Gurminder Minhas, Performance BioFilaments’ managing director. “It holds the potential to make a variety of products stronger, lighter, more flexible and more durable, while leveraging a sustainable and renewable resource.”

Performance BioFilaments’ cellulose filaments are made from wood pulp, processed using a proprietary technology licensed from FPInnovations, a research organizations that conducts forest products research and development. The resulting cellulose filaments have great strength and purity, with a high aspect ratio.

As a member company of FPInnovations, Performance BioFilaments has access to all current and future cellulose filaments research, including production processes and applications, as well as the process technology, findings and production quantities being advanced at the Trois-Rivières mill – the world’s first five tonne per day cellulose filament demonstration plant.