Nippon Paper invests in new CNF production facilities

Nippon Paper Industries to install CNF mass production facilities for foods and cosmetics at the Chemical Division Gotsu Mill in Shimane, Japan. These are CNF production facilities that apply technology to produce Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC), which is sold as a food additive.

Nippon Paper Industries is set to invest about 1.1 billion yen ($10.9 million) on the project and 30 tons will be the initial annual production volume. The facilities will possess the ability to increase its annual production volume up to 100 tons in the future. The construction of the facilities is scheduled to be completed in September 2017.

Nippon Paper Industries has many years of experience in producing functional chemical products using wood components, such as cellulose derivatives, mainly at Gotsu Mill, and selling them domestically and globally. CMC, which is one of these products, is an anionic water-soluble polymer that is obtained from wood cellulose. It is widely used for foods, cosmetics, etc., as a natural additive that possesses excellent thickening, absorptive, and water retaining properties.

As a new development for CNF, Nippon Paper Industries established the production method of obtaining carboxymethylated CNF (CM-CNF) from chemically treated wood pulp using CMC production technology. This CM-CNF has a fiber width of several nm to several tens of nm, and it is known as microfibrillated cellulose (MFC).

Nippon Paper Industries also established a technology to solidify water-dispersed CNF (moisture contents of 10% maximum), that achieves the prevention of CNF decomposition and the reduction of transportation costs.