A new research consortium will create value chains from waste biomass in South Africa



Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.

A newly established initiative in South Africa, the Biorefinery Research Consortium (BRC), will develop opportunities for the beneficiation of wastes from forestry, timber, pulp and paper industries (see press release from the South African Government News Agency, 20/09/2018). The consortium is a partnership between the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Tshwane University of Technology, the University of the Witwatersrand and Sekolong Sa Dimelana (a rural-based bioenterprise).

The BRC will use the recently launched Biorefinery Industry Development Facility (BIDF) that supports innovation in a range of industries (including forestry, agro-processing and other biomass-based industries) at the CSIR's Durban campus (see “The South African Government launches the Biorefinery Industry Development Facility in Durban”, 26/3/2018). The consortium has been envisaged with a strong emphasis on the full value chain and will provide broad access to technical expertise and the biorefinery demonstration infrastructure of the BIDF.

Figure 1. Bruce Sithole, CSIR Manager for Forestry Products, at the opening of the BIDF in March 2018 (extracted from “Mining forestry waste streams”, SA Forestry online)

The BIDF has developed a novel process to produce cellulose nanocrystals directly from wood sawdust. The cellulose nanocrystals produced at the BIDF will be used by other consortium members for downstream development of various nanocellulose-based products, such as high-performance composites for packaging and construction sectors and biopolymers for water filtration and biomedical applications.

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