Canada invests $1.2 million in wood-based car parts
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The project will combine wood pulp with polymers to create a special strong and lightweight thermoplastic with more uniform and improved properties compared to other products.
TORONTO - The Canadian federal government will invest $1.2 million in the use of wood products for automotive applications.
 
The money is going toward GreenNano Technologies, a Toronto-based research firm, to help it ramp up production of a lightweight wood-fiber-based composite material. 
 
“Using forest products in the automotive sector is a great example of the high-tech future of forestry. Companies like GreenNano Technologies are creating good jobs and finding new markets for Canadian wood,” said Seamus O’Regan, minister of Natural Resources in a press release.
 
 
The project will combine wood pulp with polymers to create a special strong and lightweight thermoplastic with more uniform and improved properties compared to other products. The new product, if successfully applied in the automotive sector, could have a number of consumer and commercial applications, including aerospace parts, pharmaceuticals, solar panels and cosmetics.
 
GreenNano is also collaborating with Ford Canada’s Power Engineering Research and Development Centre, located in Windsor, Ont., to test the new material in the production of lightweight car parts.
 
Funding for this project is provided through the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program, which encourages the Canadian forest sector to adopt and implement unique technologies and processes to diversify into new product streams and into emerging markets.

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About the author
Robert Dalheim

Robert Dalheim is an editor at the Woodworking Network. Along with publishing online news articles, he writes feature stories for the FDMC print publication. He can be reached at [email protected].