CelluForce estrena su planta de producción de nanocristales de celulosa recién modernizada

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Tipo de entrada: NOTICIA BREVE.

CelluForce es una empresa canadiense que se dedica al desarrollo y a la producción de nanocristales de celulosa (“Cellulose NanoCrystals”, CNC por sus siglas en inglés). Su oficina principal está en Montreal y sus actuales inversores son Domtar, FPInnovations, Schlumberger, Suzano (antes Fibria) e Investissement Quebec. La firma acaba de relanzar las operaciones en su planta de producción de CNC en Windsor tras la finalización de un proyecto de mejora de las mismas.
Nota de prensa: “CelluForce restarts production of cellulose nanocrystals at its newly modernized facility”, 6/2/2019.

Figura 1. Vista de una de las zonas de las instalaciones de Celluforce (extraída de la página web de la empresa)

La planta original se construyó en 2011 usando una primera versión del proceso de producción que se escaló a partir del trabajo de laboratorio y de pruebas a piloto a pequeña escala. El nuevo diseño de la planta, que está basado en una serie de pruebas de mejora realizadas en los últimos años, permitirá que CelluForce: (1) Utilice equipo de última generación para mejorar la eficiencia del proceso en más del 50%; (2) Estabilice su capacidad de producción en 300 toneladas al año; (3) Produzca varios grados de productos requeridos por algunos clientes; (4) Continúe con el desarrollo de aplicaciones basadas en CNC.

Muchos clientes internacionales del sector industrial están actualmente esperando por la nueva producción de CNC para continuar desarrollando sus aplicaciones. Según un estudio independiente reciente, el mercado global de nanocelulosa, que fue valorado en 285 M$ en 2018, debería aumentar en más del doble y alcanzar los 661 M$ en 2023 (una tasa de crecimiento anual proyectada del 18,4%). La planta modernizada contribuirá a satisfacer la demanda creciente de CNC y servir como prototipo para el diseño de las plantas futuras de CelluForce.

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