Q&A with Mark DeAndrea: Domtar’s BioMaterials Innovation Team

In search of a replacement for petroleum-based products and materials, the world is turning its attention to biomaterials. the company spoke specifically with Mark DeAndrea, vice president and business unit leader for Domtar’s BioMaterials Innovation team, about what the future holds for biomaterials.

Why is the BioMaterials Innovation team important to Domtar?

The world is transitioning away from one that depends on petroleum-based products toward one that will favor bio-based products. To do so, we need access to harvestable, sustainable, renewable biomass — the largest source of which is trees. According to the USDA Forest Products Laboratory, there are more than 22 billion metric tons of standing forest in the United States alone, growing at 2 percent annually. Approximately 1 percent, or 236 million metric tons, of that supply is harvested each year.

Think about it. Petroleum is derived from plant and animal matter that has been underground, under extreme heat and pressure, for millennia, slowly becoming fossil fuel. At Domtar, we can now achieve the same result in less than a day at a pulp mill, where we break down wood into cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and extractives — materials that are renewable and managed sustainably, without releasing sequestered CO2 into the atmosphere.

Our BioMaterials Innovation team is looking for ways to leverage our asset base, including but not limited to our mills and our biomass supply chain. We started three years ago by formalizing a process to map, screen and quantify opportunities. We’ve been looking at macro trends — such as the move to ban plastic or increase the use of biodegradable, carbon-neutral, renewable fuel sources and materials — to identify pain points within existing industries and determine where we can provide a solution and, more importantly, have a competitive advantage.

For example, the adhesives industry is moving away from products containing formaldehyde. Can we use our lignin to produce formaldehyde-free resins? After some initial evaluation work, we concluded the answer was yes. The evaluation process also includes understanding the patent landscape, the value proposition, the market risks, etc. At the end of the day, our product also needs to be on par with existing petroleum-based products.

We have five BioMaterials Innovation platforms: extractives, lignin, cellulosic sugars, advanced fibers and thermochemical fuels.

Extractives is our most mature platform. If you have ever touched a tree and found yourself with sticky sap or oils on your hands, those are the extractives. Our pulping process cooks those extractives out of the wood. We collect them and sell them in bulk as raw materials, or feedstock, to specialty refiners. They, in turn, sell them to companies who put them into products we use every day.

For example, the alpha-Pinenes found in our turpentine are used in insect repellents, soaps, toothpaste, makeup, fragrances, food flavorings, lubricants, resins, inks and other common household goods. We are exploring ways to move downstream into some of those markets with our partners as well.

Lignin is our second-most mature biomaterials business. I believe lignin is the most compelling platform because of its abundance and its natural functional properties. It is a natural polymer, adhesive, antimicrobial, antioxidant and fire retardant, just to name a few benefits. More importantly, lignin is one of the most abundant organic polymers on Earth, exceeded only by cellulose. Lignin comprises 17–30 percent of wood, meaning our industry harvests and burns more than 70 million tons of lignin every year, primarily as a fuel source for mills.

Some near-term lignin opportunities include carbon foam, carbon black, graphene, animal feed, thermoplastics, antibiotic replacements, agriculture films and adhesives. We’re also exploring opportunities to broker and/or modify lignin.

We will never be the world’s only or largest lignin producer, as our total possible lignin output is limited to a few million tons per year. However, our technology and know-how have positioned us as a leader in lignin modification. Our plan is to own specific applications and either license our technology or be the lignin modifiers of choice for our customers.

Cellulosic sugars are another exciting area for the BioMaterials Innovation team. Cellulose, which we use to make paper, is made of sugar. Commercially available yeast can convert cellulose to fuels such as ethanol. We also are looking at ways to develop omega-3 oils and numerous bio-based chemicals from cellulose.

Our advanced fibers business is progressing well, as we have developed our own technology to modify wood cellulose fibers to enhance strength, formation, density and barrier properties. This is exciting, especially when we look at combining our advanced fiber (Stealth Fiber Technology) with our lignin and cellulosic sugar platforms. It give us options and a built-in competitive advantage.

Finally, the BioMaterials Innovation team is excited about the opportunities for bio-based thermochemical fuels. We are developing processes that use high temperature, steam and pressure to turn numerous pulp mill feedstocks into bio-oils, biofuels and biochemicals.

To summarize, our overall strategy is to have a diverse portfolio by making a lot of small bets. The bets are big enough to make a difference, but they don’t require betting the farm.