Bioenergy research project gets funding support

Prince George, BC – Researchers at the University of Northern British Columbia have received the inaugural grant in the new Canfor Pulp Grants Program. The grant is worth $75,000 over three years.

Joe Nemeth, CEO of Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership (CPLP), presented the award to associate professors in the faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Steve Helle and Michael Rutherford, for their research on value-added ash utilization.

Currently, Canfor Pulp disposes the ash from their bioenergy production in landfills. The UNBC project seeks to take that nutrient-rich ash and test its applications for soil supplementation in forests and agriculture.

The project “not only addresses an environmental issue related to ash disposal from our mills, but seeks to turn this into an advantage in enhancing our forest resource,” said Mr Nemeth. “We look forward to collaborating with UNBC.”

“It’s great to be part of a research project that allows us to develop practical solutions to current economic and environmental issues facing our community and region,” said Dr Rutherford.

The grants program was announced in June 2011 to foster collaborative research between CPLP and UNBC and the University of British Columbia (UBC). The goal of the program is to provide funding to one research project per year at both UNBC and UBC that fits the grant criteria, addressing environmental issues in a sustainable way.