”The future for the paper industry lies in utilising the fibre raw material in a better way. This means being able to use the right fibres in the right places and to treat and modify the right fibres in the right way,” says Daniel Söderberg, manager of BoostEff, a new EU Project at Innventia.

Starting in 2010, BoostEff will focus on more efficient processes that will lead to a better product as well as lower energy and fibre costs. The technologies for this originated partly from ECOTARGET, the EU Project that finished in 2008, and partly from the Cluster Reseach Programme, through the TESS Project.
Daniel comments, “Now we´re going to show that it works on a large scale. For this, we´ve chosen thre mills to carry out this aim, namely a paper mill each from Stora Enso and Holmen Paper, together with a production unit at La Tarnaise des Panneaux, a producer of fibreboard for the building sector”.

Since it concerns large mills, the Project can show how close it is the commercialisation stage and exactly how big the savings potential is for energy and raw materials, in their particular case. If the Project works out, it will be the first foundation for being able to make an investment and start using the technology.

There will be 12 partners participating in this Project. There are also resources set aside for bringing in more partners in the case of particular problems. The Project has applied for € 10.8 million for its budget.

“The work that Innventia will do in the Project will mostly concern paper production, with fibreboard being to a lesser degree. Naturally, we´re hoping to find opportunities for a cross-pollination between these different areas. For instance, producers of building materials might see the possibility of using left-over materials from the paper sector in their products. In addition, there was an explicit demand in the project call that it shouldn´t address itself to one sector alone, but to several. And that´s a demand we plan to meet”.

 

It is the new opportunity that has been generated by the new extensions to FEX, the unique demonstration plant at Innventia, that makes it possible to demonstrate these technologies on a large scale.

Daniel concludes, “These possibilities suit BoostEff perfectly, since the Project is proceeding from a palette of technologies that will be tested in various combinations yet with one specific aim, which is distinct saving in both energy and raw materials at the mills selected.”