TILBY TECHNOLOGIES INC.

 

VALUE-ADDED CO-PRODUCTS

 

The versatility of Tilby procesed cane is reflected in the following partial list of high-value added co-products. In each case the cane based co-product is equal or superior to competitive products. Comparable or superior quality is clearly a vital ingredient in successfully marketing of the value-added co-products. Further, producers employing the Tilby Separation System will enjoy a considerable cost advantage with revenues of US$600 per tonne of feedstock possible.

 

Co-Product Options based on Separated Sugarcane:

 

COMFLO Based Products:

Crystal Sugar

Amorphous Sugar

Ethanol/Alcohol

Health/Sports Beverages

Bio-Plastics

Polyphenols

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COMRIND Fiber Based Products:

Laminated Strand Lumber (LSL)

Oriented Strand Lumber (OSB)

Corepanel Low Cost Housing Panels

Cement Board

Pulp & Paper

Bio-Degradable Paper Packaging

Biochar/Activated Carbon

Fuel Pellets

 

COMFITH Fiber (comflo extracted) Based Products:

Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF)

Cement Board

Particle Board

Flour/Fillers

Animal Feed

Biochar/Activated Carbon

Absorbents

 

DERMAX Fiber Based Products:

Wax

Pharmaceuticals

Cosmetics

Bio-active Compounds

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COMRIND CO-PRODUCTS

 

Laminated Strand Lumber (LSL)

Cane based LSL is proprietary to Tilby Technologies, and is a direct replacement for traditional lumber applications such as flooring, beams and framing materials. 

 

Separated Comrind segments are rinsed and dried before passing through a resin applicator. Segments are then metered, aligned, formed and pressed into a continuous section. Sections are cut into appropriate lengths after which all manner of wood products, currently relying on feedstock from depleting forests, may be produced.

 

By adjusting the press, the density of cane lumber can be altered to suit specific requirements. Additives to the binder can render the product waterproof, resistant to fire, termites and rot. In addition it is free of knots and other imperfections associated with natural wood. It is a laminated product and therefore it does not tend to warp. It can be sawn, milled, shaped or turned and receives stains and paints in the normal manner. 

 

Corepanel Low Cost Housing

Corepanel is a lightweight, structural, insulating panel manufactured on our proprietary continuous press. Corepanel may be supplied cut to almost any required length. A flexible, versatile product, corepanel lends itself to numerous building styles and techniques for residential and commercial construction.

 

Presses are available to produce panels in 4 or 8-foot widths and can produce panels of various thicknesses. The strong, lightweight corepanels are joined using techniques that are part of the proprietary Tilby Technologies Building System. Corepanel is an excellent base for the application of variety of finishes including plaster & stucco.

 

Corepanel also lends itself to the efficient construction of schools and other institutional and commercial buildings. For large scale building projects, entire wall sections can be raised and positioned using a mobile crane and other specialized equipment.

 

The structural corepanel components making up the exterior walls, roof decking and interior partition, are pre-cut, numbered and packaged to suit just about any required plan. Corepanel completely eliminates the need for conventional stud framing and insulation.

 

The corepanel building system may be considered “low tech”, enabling relatively unskilled local labour to produce quality housing at a reasonable price. Corepanel will provide truly sustainable low-cost housing made from locally grown and renewable fiber.

 

Oriented Strandboard (OSB)

Conventional OSB is a structural building product made from wood strands specially cut from timber logs. OSB is a direct alternative to exterior grade plywood. It is typically manufactured in 4 foot by 8-foot sheets of various thicknesses and is rapidly replacing plywood for roof decks, wall sheathing, and sub-floors.

 

OSB from forest-based feedstocks requires large scale operations. Trees have a long growing cycle and, as a result, huge tracts of timber must be secured. This, of course, involves building and maintaining roads and continually extending them into the timber area as cutting results in ever-longer hauls. For the most part OSB operations represent a single end-product utilization of the raw logs.

 

Sugarcane is an annual crop. Therefore, when it is grown and harvested to provide a feedstock for the production of OSB, the short hauling distances remain the same indefinitely. Frost problems and heating do not need to be considered and labour costs are usually quite attractive in areas where sugar cane is grown.

 

Most importantly, of course, is the fact that numerous value-added co-products may be produced simultaneously with the production of comrind strands. 

 

Sugar cane based OSB is produced using the same equipment as conventional timber based OSB. However, the Tilby System eliminates the need for the expensive front-end log handling, thawing, debarking and chipping systems.

 

Fiber Cement Board

Fiber cement board is a composite gaining popularity as a roofing and siding substitute. Using current technology, Comrind fiber based cement board can compete with the very best alternatives, including wood shakes, slate, brick and metal.

 

Molded Products

Comrind may also be used for the production of laminated shapes. With appropriate binders it can be used as a feedstock for the production of houseware products, moulded furniture and automotive panels.

 

Fuel Pellets

Comrind lends itself well to the production of fuel pellets. Comrind's relatively low ash content will produce fuel pellets with class A1 or A2 certification.

 

Pulp & Paper

Comrind is an ideal feedstock for the production of fine grade writing paper, linerboards and certain grades of newsprint.

 

 

 

COMFITH CO-PRODUCTS

 

Particleboard and Medium Density Fiberboard

Particleboard and Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) are similar composite board products with MDF being a finer grade product than ordinary particleboard. Both board products have become very popular for non-structural interior uses.

 

Conventional particleboard has a surface that is sufficiently smooth to receive paint, melamine sheets and decorative coatings. However, the texture does not permit the edges to be satisfactorily milled and finished. The fine grain of MDF, on the other hand, permits milling, shaping and carving. Hence, MDF, unlike particleboard, can be used for mouldings, decorative plaques etc.

 

Off-the-shelf equipment used for the manufacture of particleboard or MDF from comfith will be virtually identical to that used for forest based particleboard & MDF. The important difference will be in the feedstock preparation. Wood must be classified as to species and colour and must be cleaned to remove free bark and other contaminants prior to grinding to the appropriate particle size. Comfith, on the other hand, is pure and consistent when it leaves the Tilby Separation System and, as a result, requires less particle preparation/reduction than wood chips, sawdust etc.

 

Particleboard and MDF can be produced from either comrind or comfith, although we do not recommend utilizing comrind due to it's unique, high value attributes as a feedstock for structural board products.

 

High Fiber Flour & Fillers

Comfith as it leaves the separator is in an ideal form for processing into various grades of flours and fillers. The unique physical and chemical composition of this new flour/filler is made possible by the complete separation of the soft inner core (comfith) from the hard outer rind and epidermal layer (comrind and dermax). Uses range from dietary high fiber flour, cosmetics, skin cleansers, paints, absorbents, pet foods, stabilizers, thickeners, and bulking agents.

 

Fiber Cementboard

Fiber cementboard is a cement composite gaining popularity as a roofing and siding substitute. Using current technology, comfith fiber based cementboard can compete with the very best  wood based products. 

 

Absorbents

Comfith fiber absorbs up to 18 times its own weight. Untapped possibilities include diapers, sanitary napkins, paper towels and tissues.

 

Animal Feed​

With the addition of blended additives, comfith has proven to be an ideal medium for the production of a high quality animal feed. 

 

 

 

COMFLO CO-PRODUCTS

 

Alternatives to Refined White Sugar

The superior purity of Tilby sourced sucrose opens up a number of co-product possibilities not viable with conventional juice. “Direct to White Sugar” is one such possibility. The process effectively sidesteps the conventional raw sugar and sugar refining stages by going directly from sucrose to white sugar. The result is a white sugar product retaining virtually all of the nutritional aspects of raw sugar. The key to the direct to white sugar process is the availability of very high purity sucrose. High purity sucrose is not economically viable when extracted by conventional means.

 

Amorphous (specialty) Sugar

The production of Amorphopus Sugar is made possible by the high purity juice (comflo) produced by the Tilby System. The resulting powdered sugar retains all of the nutritional value and may be sold through the health food markets.

 

Ethanol

Each tonne of cane or sweet sorghum should yield between 75 to 100 litres of ethanol depending on the type of cane and the process used. Sugar cane-to-ethanol is a process extensively implemented in Brazil where there is regulatory encouragement for the utilization of ethanol as fuel. Ethanol from renewable feedstocks continues to gain momentum in the USA. The ever increasing domestic fuel market, coupled with the shortcomings of corn as a feedstock, are expected to give sugarcane and sweet sorghum the spotlight for ethanol production.

 

Beverages

Preliminary tests indicate a very pleasant tasting beverage (health food and sports energy drinks) may be produced using Tilby sourced high purity juice.

 

 

 

DERMAX CO-PRODUCTS

 

Cane Wax

The only two known sugarcane wax extraction plants are located in India and Cuba. The rind of the sugarcane stalk is coated with a waxy epidermal layer. When cane is processed (crushed) by conventional cane milling about 50% of this waxy layer is deposited in the filter press mud. The remainder is lost to the bagasse fiber residue. The wax portion remaining in the filter press mud is then separted out using solvents. The wax obtained is similar in character to most natural waxes.

 

Alternatively, dermax produced by the Tilby System allows for the efficient recovery of near 100% of the valuable cane wax in a clean and relatively pure state. There is interest in cane dermax fiber for cancer research, anti-aging creams for the cosmetic industry and pharmaceuticals. In addition, the extraction of the various bio-active compounds contained within the dermax fiber is a relatively new and exciting high value-added opportunity. An opportunity not available to the conventional sugar industry.

 

LEAVES & TOPS

Tilby Technologies goal of ‘Total Cane Utilization’ is realized with the integration of the Tilby System with Anaerobic Fermentation (AD). The AD technology is  a sound and environmentally clean way to dispose of organic waste and biomass. AD can be effectively used to produce bio-fuel from the leaves & tops from the sugarcane harvest.

 

The leaves and tops from field cane are typically left in the field. The common practice of burning cane tops and leaves, cause significant quantities of carbon dioxide and methane gas to be dispersed into the environment. The fermentation of such biomass generates a biogas that can be fired in a dedicated cogeneration facility to generate the electric power to support the energy requirements of the Tilby System.

 

Tilby proposes to explore methods for the efficient retrieval of the field cane leaves at a density that will allow economical loading and transport to a central anaerobic digester for processing into biogas.