Image Credit: CFJC Today/File Photo

By Silvia Senna

PULP INDUSTRY

Lack of supply has Kamloops Kruger pulp mill looking into alternative solutions

Oct 12, 2023 | 5:07 PM

KAMLOOPS — The pulp industry in B.C. has been facing a challenging time when it comes to the supply chain. The fibre manager at Kruger Pulp in Kamloops addressed the issue today at the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) board meeting Thursday (Oct. 12).

Tom Hoffman explained much of the pulp sector is dealing with a 30 per cent drop in timber supply in 2022 and 2023.

“The main issue is the reduction in annual level cut across the province and that’s driven mostly through provincial government policy. We need to, in order to sustain our operations, look for innovative, nontraditional supply sources,” he explained.

One of the alternative solutions his company is taking is the use of dead burnt wood.

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“If the logs have been dead and dried out, they tend to crack and you can’t produce lumber. But we can still take those logs and convert them into chips or a product called hog fuel,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman explained that hog fuel also help in the production of electricity.

“We burn that [hog fuel] in our boiler to produce steam, which also produces electricity to the orders of 460,000 megawatt hours a year,” he said.