The Ohio-based coated-paper manufacturer has been working with Sweden’s Chemrec for two years on a project to produce biofuels through the gasification of kraft paper-pulp black liquor from NewPage’s paper mill in Escanaba, Michigan.

Chemrec has a proprietary technology to gasify the high-energy liquid by-product of the kraft process, which breaks down wood into pulp.

NewPage president and chief executive Rick Willett says: “The escalating cost of the installation of the Chemrec process, and the substantial investment required to modify our existing operations, preclude us from proceeding with this project.”

Chemrec