EWPs to maximise Australian wood fibre recovery and utilisation

Project Under Development

This resource driven project aims to evaluate pathways to maximise Australian forest wood fibre recovery and facilitate improved efficiency of Australian forest resources in engineered wood products (EWPs) for construction and other uses. Recognising the existing Australian forest resources are unable to meet the current domestic demand for wood products, and access to import products are expected to become more competitive due to increasing global demands, this project will evaluate new and complimentary processing systems along with new product opportunities not currently available from Australian manufacturers.

The project will essentially explore new opportunities of ‘how we can do more with less’ – how increasing timber construction projects can be supported with domestically produced products. The project will build upon the previous research, but will extend to consider different wood feedstocks, conversion systems and product types that have not been adequately investigated for the current Australian context.

Please see Project Video for further information:

Node Introduction Video:

Objectives/Deliverables

A review of alternative and innovative EWPs, new and emerging processing and manufacturing systems that provide new opportunities to maximise Australian forest resource recovery and utiisation value.
Product and process concept development on prioritised opportunities identified from the initial review.
Upscaling and performance evaluation of selected EWPs at prototype and semi-industrial scale that will be used to determine and demonstrate commercial suitability.
Evaluation of market access opportunities to support industry adoption.

Project Leader/s

Bill Leggate

QDAF Team Leader; Project Leader; Partner Investigator

Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Project Staff

HDR Candidate

Higher Degrees by Research Scholarship Opportunity

Project Investigators

Rob McGavin

Project Leader; Partner Investigator

Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Mateo Gutierrez

Partner Investigator; Executive Board Member

AKD Softwoods

Harrison Brooke

Partner Investigator

Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia (EWPAA)

Simon Dorries

Partner Investigator

Responsible wood

Project