ORNL launches national center to modernize US forest products manufacturing

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is leading a new national initiative aimed at revitalizing the U.S. pulp, paper and packaging industry through science and technology innovation. The Center for Research and Advancement of Forest Product Technologies, known as CRAFT, will be run in collaboration with DOE’s National Laboratory of the Rockies and will unite national laboratories, universities and industry partners to modernize mill operations, reduce costs, improve productivity and strengthen domestic manufacturing competitiveness across the forest products supply chain. The effort is funded by the Industrial Technologies Office in DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, with additional support from DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory as well as a network of industry partners.

Daniel Coughlin, executive director of CRAFT and a senior research and development staff member at ORNL, framed the center as a response to aging industrial infrastructure. He said the U.S. pulp and paper industry is critical to thousands of rural communities, but much of the existing infrastructure is decades old. According to Coughlin, CRAFT aims to unify, align and accelerate the nation’s leading centers of forest-products innovation, linking industry and the research community through a framework intended to support the growth of U.S. manufacturers. The announcement, made by ORNL on 22 October 2026, describes the center as a collaboration hub for technology commercialization and workforce development, with industry engagement and guidance described as critical to its success.

The initiative’s stated research agenda focuses on solutions that reduce cost, enhance productivity and increase the abundance of U.S. forest products. Named focus areas include next-generation pulping, chemical recovery, dewatering and drying, and the digital transformation of the industry. CRAFT plans to couple advanced materials research with smart manufacturing tools intended to accelerate the digital transformation of the sector. During its first phase, the center will work with industry to shape pilot-scale investments needed to de-risk innovation. To improve the global competitiveness of existing assets, CRAFT intends to provide industry access to automation, modeling and data analysis tools that allow manufacturers to extract process insights aimed at improving efficiency, increasing productivity, reducing downtime and reducing cost.

Gregg Beckham, a senior research fellow and the National Laboratory of the Rockies lead for CRAFT, said the center is eager to engage industry to identify critical bottlenecks and innovation opportunities. He described plans to apply molecular-to-process-scale modeling, AI-enabled discovery and integrated experimental validation to accelerate the translation of new technologies with real-world impact. Art Ragauskas, the University of Tennessee-ORNL Governor’s Chair in Biorefining and chief technology officer for CRAFT, called the center a gateway to innovation for the U.S. pulp and paper industry, saying that CRAFT and its partners will work to de-risk technologies to rapidly transition the most promising solutions from research to full commercial impact. These statements describe the center’s planned approach rather than demonstrated results, since the initiative is at the beginning of its first phase.

Robert Wagner, associate laboratory director for ORNL’s Energy Science and Technology Directorate, said ORNL is positioned to lead CRAFT because of its expertise in advanced manufacturing, materials science and data-driven process optimization, and that partnerships across DOE’s national laboratory system and with universities give industry access to technical capabilities. CRAFT will work through an industry and research guidance team alongside representatives from pulp, paper and packaging manufacturers, downstream customers, equipment suppliers and solution providers, with the stated aim of aligning the center’s work with real-world priorities and providing a pathway to commercialization of new technologies. Coughlin said DOE’s investment in CRAFT reflects the view that the nation’s economic security depends on efficient, competitive manufacturing, and that innovation developed in close partnership with industry is intended to strengthen U.S. manufacturing, help industry adapt to market shifts and secure high-value manufacturing jobs in communities across the country. UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science.

Subject of Research: Forest products manufacturing innovation; national laboratory collaboration for pulp, paper and packaging industry modernization

Article Title: ORNL launches national center to modernize US forest products manufacturing

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Keywords: ORNL, launches, national, center, modernize, forest, products, manufacturing, scientific research