Innovation

Ashley Forbes, ashley.forbes@maine.edu June 25, 2021  This year, when eighth graders Ian Blackwell and Nik Horton were looking for a project for the Maine State Middle School Science & Engineering Fair, they spotted a spiffy varnished wood box tricked out with bracing and hardware in their science classroom at the James F. Doughty School in Bangor, […]

By Maureen Milliken Developers of Rock Row in Westbrook have announced the launch of the commercial phase of the massive mixed-use development, and there’s a twist. This phase will include Maine’s first commercial building constructed from cross-laminated timber.

May 14, 2021 By Maureen Milliken The town of Ashland is launching a development program, Original Mass Timber Maine, that aims to build markets for structural round timber, a low-cost and carbon-friendly building product that is a perfect fit for the state’s forest industry, those behind the initative say. The three-year project, funded by a grant to […]

April 6, 2021 By Maureen Milliken The issue for Maine’s forest product industry after a year of a pandemic economy is one it faced before the pandemic — finding the workforce to cut down, haul and manage the timber and the products it produces. When Forest Opportunity Roadmap/Maine, a coaltion of industry stakeholders, was formed in 2018, the focus […]

new Maine company plans to build a plant that will sequester carbon from Maine forests at the former Great Northern paper mill site in East Millinocket. Standard Biocarbon Corp. has signed a letter of intent with the East Millinocket Industrials Inc. board of directors to site a pyrolysis plant at the former mill site. If completed […]

With help from federal funding, two forest bioproducts processing plants at the University of Maine will upgrade their equipment to expand their research into finding renewable energy uses for wood byproducts, such as jet fuel or home heating oil.

The University of Maine Forest Bioproducts Research Institute (FBRI) will upgrade its Technology Research Center (TRC) in Old Town and Process Development Center (PDC) in Jenness Hall to bolster ongoing efforts to create new bioproducts, increase production and find uses for woody biomass materials typically considered waste.

To meet the increasing need for sustainable and efficient fuel resources, Defense Logistics Agency Energy is teaming with the University of Maine to transform forest residues, sawmill residues, municipal solid waste, and construction wood wastes into a hydrocarbon fuel oil.

“Biomaterials that address existing and emerging challenges in human health are in high demand, and this is another area in which nanocellulose shows real promise.” Nanocellulose can be used in many applications, but new nanocellulose composite material developed at UMaine is engineered to contain a similar structure to bone which could lead to health care […]