Future Direction

As a part of Upcycled Aromatics' commitment to innovation, we are already looking ahead to possible new business opportunities as our company continues to grow.

Feedstock Diversification

Upcycled Aromatics is currently considering promising new feedstocks in order to improve both the quantity and expediency of production. Possible new feedstocks include lignocellulosic materials that are currently considered waste, namely industrial wastes, wood and agricultural residues. We will be looking to establish synergistic partnerships and continue to invest in sustainability.

Lignocellulosic Biomass

Lignocellulosic biomass refers to plant biomass that is composed of cellulose (30-50%), hemicellulose (15-35%), and lignin (10-20%). The carbohydrate polymers (cellulose and hemicellulose) make up approximately 70% of the biomass and are tightly bound to the lignin through covalent and hydrogenic bonds. This makes the structure highly robust and resilient to treatment. However, a large amount of research is currently being conducted to reduce the high capital costs required for processing this material. Once economically feasible, we plan expand our feedstock to include inedible lignocellulosic biomass materials. Not only does this strategy contribute to environmental sustainability, but we will not be competing for food materials. Currently, the most abundant cellulosic feedstocks include agricultural residues, by-products from the forest industry and municipal and industrial wastes.

Agricultural Residues

Agricultural residues consist of an extensive variety of types. The two categories in which the majority of the materials fall include field residues and process residues. Field residues are materials left in an agricultural field after a crop has been harvested. This category is mostly comprised of corn stover, corn stalks and wheat straws. Process residues are those materials left after processing the crop into a useable resource. These residues include husks, sugarcane bagasse and roots.

Woody By-product Feedstocks

Mechanical Pulp & Paper Mills

Kraft pulp mills produce a pulp that is very high in cellulose purity; they extract most of the lignin and hemicellulose and then burn it to produce energy for the process and to recover their chemicals (that they recycle). This process is like “pressure cooking”. Mechanical pulp mills, on the other hand, do not chemically treat their feedstock and produce effluent streams containing lignocellulose. They use mechanical means to separate the fibre and much more lignin is retained in the final product.

As a result, the effluent from a mechanical pulp mill is different from a Kraft mill. The cellulose/lignin/hemicellulose contents and purities are also different. In the earlier stages of our expansion we will target Kraft mills to utilize the pre-processed cellulose in the waste streams. However, once we are able to diversify and process lignocellulosic biomass, mechanical mills will provide a significant source of viable feedstock. These mills produce 40-70ton/day of solid by-product that can utilized for its cellulose content.

Sawmills

A sawmill uses logs as feedstock to produce dimensional lumber. Approximately 2/3rds of the felled trees is transformed to finished product. Log bucking (cutting the trees to length) and limbing (cutting off the branches) are examples of forestry waste produced at the front end of the process. Additional waste includes bark, woodchips and sawdust lost at the sawmill itself. These sources of woody feedstock are high density with low ash content making it an attractive and cost-effective future feedstock.

Municipal and Industrial Solid Waste

Municipal and industrial solid wastes are also a potential raw material for the production of specialty chemicals. Potential feedstocks include non-recycled paper and food-processing by-products. Utilization of these waste materials limits environmental problems associated with reduction of landfill space and disposal fees.

Product Diversification

At the other end of our process, Upcycled Aromatics possesses the potential to grow not only in terms of quantity of product, but also in their variety. To that end, Upcycled Aromatics plans to explore the current metabolic pathway in use for possible high-value chemicals. In addition, we are also considering alternative pathways to produce other fine chemicals that may prove to be particularly valuable.