Increasing Utilization to Enable Decarbonization – The LNFMI Biohub
Project Start Date: 30/09/2025
Project End Date: 31/03/2030
CRIBE Funding: $300,000
Project Total Value: $1,400,000
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The project will support the ongoing development of LNFMI’s Hurkett Biohub Facility, a first-of-its-kind forest products Biohub wholly owned by a First Nation corporation. The facility will operate as a centralized forest products hub that can receive wood in any form, process it to achieve the highest level of utilization and ensure the best suited wood products are sent to the most suitable user(s). The Biohub will operate in tandem with a biofuel plant; residuals generated from the Biohub operation will serve as the feedstock for the adjacent biofuel plant, thus promoting a value-added and zero-waste recovery process.
The project builds on the success of LNFMI’s earlier project, which was also partially funded by CRIBE.
MS#2 Update
The Hurkett Biohub, a first-of-its-kind forest products facility wholly owned by a First Nation corporation, continues to make strong progress toward full commissioning of the site. As part of recent advancements supported by CRIBE, Milestone #2 has been successfully completed, which included the purchase and installation of a woodchip conveyor system to improve material flow and processing efficiency and construction of four new feedstock storage tents and concrete pads equipped with hydraulic heat lines and ventilation to facilitate chip drying. These structures significantly expand the facility’s storage capacity and year-round handling capabilities of feedstock for utilization in the LNFSES biofuel plant. These infrastructure upgrades enhance the Biohub’s ability to receive and process wood in any form while maximizing fibre utilization and supporting value-added recovery. The improvements also strengthen feedstock consistency for the adjacent biofuel production facility currently being developed through LNFMI’s joint venture with CHAR Technologies. Together, these achievements reinforce the project’s core objective of improving biomass supply chain efficiency, supporting emerging green energy technologies, and building long-term resilience in the regional forest sector.