EcoSys – Eco-effective processes and systems
Treesearch research themes:
- 1-wood components
Project partners:
- Holmen, IMT Materialteknik, Mittuniversitetet, SCA, Stora Enso, Valmet
Funding:
- EU:s regionala fonder, Region Västernorrland
Status:
- Ended
“The main purpose of EcoSys is to develop and implement energy-saving technologies at production units producing mechanical pulp with high wood yield (> 90%) and thus also demonstrate and further improve the environmental and sustainability aspects of mechanical pulp manufacturing.Mechanical pulp is durable and resource efficient since it is manufactured with a very high yield of raw material (over 95%) which means that a ton of wood becomes about one ton of product. Products made of mechanical pulp are sustainable, resource efficient, easy to recycle, rot or even burn when they almost only consists of wood. In chemical pulping one usually achieves only half the yield, i.e. the two tons of wood are needed to produce one ton of paper. Moreover, the chemical manufacturing process is significantly more complicated and several different chemicals need to be used and recycled. The world’s bioresources will in the future need to be used in a smarter and more sustainable way especially since we would probably, in addition to the biomaterials that are produced today, like to replace fossil-based materials, chemicals and fuels with bio-based alternatives. A high yield when manufacturing different products will likely be more important than today. At present, mechanical pulp is used primarily in different printing paper grades.”The purpose of our research project is to develop process modeling and visualization of pulp manufacturing so that we can better understand what happens to wood particles and fibers as they go through production processes,” says Birgitta Engberg, project Manager for EcoSys. The use of modern digital tools in research and development can be important for attracting more young people to the forest industry.”
Project leader:
- Birgitta Engberg
- , Miun
Project period:
- 2017-01-09
- – 2020-12-31