Valmet and Red Leaf Pulp sign agreement for new pulp tech

Red Leaf Pulp Ltd. and Valmet Ltd. have signed a long-term teaming agreement to exclusively collaborate and pursue commercialization of Red Leaf’s ag-based pulping process in North America, employing Valmet’s fibre-line and other equipment.

“We are pleased to partner with Valmet in developing this new pathway for ag-feedstock pulp.  The technology has been successfully proven through piloting at Valmet’s Fiber Technology Center in Sundsvall, Sweden and will comfortably scale to achieve strong financial returns.”  said Martin Pudlas, CEO, Red Leaf Pulp. “Valmet’s team has been terrific to work with and their technical capability and equipment options are second to none.  We appreciate the confidence shown in our process and our team, and look forward to completing final feasibility and project finance with Valmet’s invaluable support.”

Red Leaf’s initial plant in Regina, Saskatchewan is expected to start commercial production in 2023, and will have the capacity to produce 600 tonnes per day of market pulp from waste wheat straw collected and aggregated from local producers.

“The growth of ag-feedstock pulp processing in North America is an exciting development for the pulp and paper industry, with many positive impacts to sustainable business,” said Drew Humphries, Vice-President, Pulp and Energy – North America for Valmet.  “Red Leaf Pulp is a very innovative Company and we are proud to combine our expertise with them towards the success of this effort.”