ORNL launches AI research center to modernize aging US paper mills

America’s aging pulp, paper and packaging mills are getting a new route to national-laboratory expertise in AI, automation and materials research. The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has launched CRAFT, a center intended to help manufacturers improve existing operations, raise output and lower costs by bringing research closer to factory use.

The Center for Research and Advancement of Forest Product Technologies will unite national laboratories, universities and industry partners. Its remit extends across the forest-products supply chain, pairing advanced materials research with manufacturing tools. Higher productivity, better yield and lower manufacturing costs are the program’s goals—not results it has already demonstrated.

Getting more from decades-old equipment

Much of the industry’s infrastructure is decades old, according to CRAFT executive director Daniel Coughlin, a senior research and development staff member at ORNL. He described pulp and paper manufacturing as critical to thousands of rural communities. That makes the condition of existing mills a central concern for the initiative, rather than simply a backdrop to new technology development.

CRAFT plans to give industry access to automation, modeling and data-analysis tools that can reveal how production processes are working. ORNL says manufacturers would use those insights to improve efficiency and productivity, reduce downtime and cut costs. The emphasis is on making existing industrial assets more competitive through better information and process improvements.

AI is one part of that effort, alongside physical experiments and manufacturing research. Gregg Beckham, the National Laboratory of the Rockies lead for CRAFT, said researchers will combine AI-enabled discovery with modeling that spans molecules through full production processes. Experimental testing will help validate the work, with the stated aim of moving new technologies toward practical industrial use.

“Together with our partners, CRAFT will de-risk technologies to rapidly transition the most promising solutions from research to full commercial impact.”

Art Ragauskas, CRAFT chief technology officer

Manufacturers will help shape the pilots

In its first phase, CRAFT will work with industry to shape pilot-scale investments intended to reduce the risks of adopting new technologies. Beckham said the team wants manufacturers’ help identifying critical bottlenecks and opportunities for innovation. The starting point is therefore an industrial problem and a testable investment, rather than a promise of immediate mill-wide deployment.

The research agenda covers next-generation pulping, chemical recovery, dewatering and drying, as well as the industry’s digital transformation. Those focus areas put production methods alongside software and data tools in the same program. CRAFT’s mandate is to develop and commercialize manufacturing technologies, not just to introduce an AI system into a mill.

Industry participation will also extend beyond individual tests. An industry and research guidance team will bring together manufacturers, downstream customers, equipment suppliers and solution providers to align technology development with real-world priorities. ORNL describes that engagement as critical to the center’s success. CRAFT will also serve as a collaboration hub for commercialization and workforce development.

A shared national-laboratory effort

ORNL is leading the initiative in collaboration with DOE’s National Laboratory of the Rockies. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory are supporting it, alongside industry partners. Funding comes from the Industrial Technologies Office within DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, establishing CRAFT as a federally backed effort with participation across several laboratories.

Coughlin links the investment to helping manufacturers adapt to market shifts and securing high-value manufacturing jobs. Those ambitions give the center an economic purpose beyond research: supporting the companies and communities that depend on forest-products production.