UMaine Process Development Center

Join us at the UMaine Process Development Center on November 2 & 16 for our two session Softwood Cellulose Nanofiber Discovery Workshop! Augusta Sparks Farnum will introduce this novel, non-toxic material to explore, create, and investigate innovative ways CNF can be used. Register here: https://lnkd.in/g_y3t6VA #umaineinnovates #cnf #nanocellulosevalley #umaine #workshop

Last week the UMaine Process Development Center produced about 700 pounds (dry weight) of highly refined cellulose (or cellulose nanofiber) suitable for food contact applications. Following current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), the PDC was pleased to produce this material for CapaTec Inc. Sean Ireland, CEO and Co-founder of CapaTec, as well as the PDC's technology partner Valmet, were on site for this inaugural run. The PDC can now serve clients that wish to provide highly refined cellulose, or cellulose nanofiber, to the food, pharmaceutical, and biomedical industries. #Umaineinnovates #sustainablematerials #pulpandpaper #GMP

Please come join us December 10-11 for the Thermoformed Molded Fiber Symposium to learn the latest technical advancements in using wood and other fibers to replace plastics with innovative fiber thermoforming technologies. The UMaine Process Development Center is pleased to host this event featuring a full agenda of industry experts. For more information, please visit https://lnkd.in/g_CqdBZk #Umaineinnovates #moldedfiber #sustainablematerials #sustainability #pulpandpaper

🎃 Join us for our CNF Jack-o-Lantern workshop and competition!!! 🎃 This workshop gives students, faculty, community members, and others the opportunity to play with CNF. It will be an open-house style from 3pm-5pm on Tuesday, October 1st in the Jenness Hall lobby and everyone will be given a kit to take home. Once you finished crafting your jack-o-lantern, submit it into our competition to be judged on October 30th. There will be several cash prizes for the top CNF jack-o-lantern creators! If you can’t make it to the workshop, we will have extra kits available. Please reach out us at: umaine.pdc@maine.edu To sign up, scan the QR code or follow this link: https://lnkd.in/gCR3fbnY #umaine #jackolantern #nanocellulose #umppf #nanocellulosevalleycnf

Thank you to all the students who visited our table at Career Fest on Wednesday! It was a wonderful opportunity to inform students about the amazing work happening at the UMaine Process Development Center and the numerous student employment possibilities. For anyone interested in a tour of the PDC (on October 9th) or who wants to learn more about available student employee positions, please reach out to us at: umaine.pdc@maine.edu

Thank you so much to BTG Group for all your help in acquiring and installing our new equipment! The new additions to our Wet Lab are the PCD-06 (particle charge), SZP-10 (zeta potential), and DRF-05 (drainage/retention/freeness). We are excited to start using the equipment for our molded fiber research and supporting our clients! #umaine #umaineinnovates #btg #moldedfiber #pulpandpaper #umppf

Congratulations to all of the🦞Lobstah Bowl teams! This was a fantastic event! Can't wait till next year!🦞

A huge THANK YOU! to all of our speakers, sponsors and of course the attendees at our 6th annual UMaine PDC Cellulose Nanomaterials Forum at #MaineForestBiomaterialsWeek The event was full of fantastic content, new ideas and of course inspiration! We are already looking forward to next years UMaine Process Development Center forum August 2025! Plan on attending to learn more about sustainable solutions and follow us to keep up to date on our new and exciting announcements! #UMaine #umaineinnovates #sustainability #Biomaterials

What an exciting day 1 of the UMaine PDC Nanomaterials Forum during the #MaineForestBiomaterialsWeek! 🌱🌳 🌎 We had fascinating speakers, New product and technology pitches, CNF art exhibit and the winners were announced for the student researchers poster session! Congratulations to David Neivandt's team, 🦞Greg Simms, Reece Tippery and Hunter Lizzotte for the Win!🦞🎉 Charles Eme was the individual poster winner!!! Congratulations to all of the researchers for their hard work! #umaineinnovates #UniversityOfMaine #sustainability #Biomaterials

Thank you Wisconsin Paper Council for sharing this case study from WPC Associate Member Rockwell Automation on modernizing the paper web handling system! "When the UMaine Process Development Center (PDC) turned to the The University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation for help with upgrading the obsolete coordinated drive system, Packaging Corporation of America (PCA), a Foundation corporate member and longstanding customer of both UMaine PDC and Rockwell Automation, stepped up. The UMaine PDC selected Rockwell Automation as the solution provider and funded this essential modernization. We are truly grateful! 'The purpose of the PDC is to serve industry, but it’s also to get potential students interested in a school that’s developing sustainable solutions using forest fiber. Modernization will provide industry users with additional information and demonstrate what is possible today to UMaine students.'” Read the full case study (Author - Colleen Walker): https://lnkd.in/gMZSdS9s #Umaine #paperindusty #automation #modernization