Transcript Beyond 3/2013 - Innventia.com

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CU STOM E R M AGA ZI N E
I N NVE NTIA G RO U P # 3/ 2013
New lab confirms Innventia’s
focus on carbon fibre from lignin
Following a number of successful
research findings demonstrating the
possibility of producing carbon fibre
from lignin, Innventia is now building
a new carbon fibre laboratory,
including a new extruder and a
stabilisation unit, will open in late
autumn 2013.
Together with our existing equipment
for stabilising and carbonising, we will
now have an environment that includes
tailor-made solutions for evaluating the
production of lignin-based carbon fibre.
According to Peter Axegård, Director of
Business Area Biorefining, this is only
the beginning.
“We’ve been good at talking about
the possibility of producing carbon fibre
from lignin, and our expertise within the
field is widely acknowledged. However,
if we are to become a serious player
we need to provide proof. That’s why
we’re now investing in demonstration
facilities. Just look at what our facility
in Bäckhammar has done for LignoBoost
technology. Now we want to show that
lignin-based carbon fibre is both technically and financially viable.”
Elisabeth Sjöholm, principle scientist
in the research field, describes the process in general terms:
“The next step is to install a carbonisation oven so that that we can
produce good quality carbon fibre from
the spun threads. We’ll also be able to
produce larger quantities than is currently the case. In the longer term, we
want to carry out multi-filament spinning. Today, we can spin threads consisting of a single filament, but in order to
develop a larger composite demonstrator
we need a multi-filament facility. This is
a major investment. However, we have
Mårten Åkerström and Elisabeth Sjöholm will
demonstrate the new lab during Innventia’s
anniversary celebration in October.
high hopes that our current focus will
lead to increased interest and opportunities for financing the continued expansion of the carbon fibre lab.”
Peter and Elisabeth explain that there
has been significant growth in interest from industry recently, particularly
as a result of the LigniCarb project.
Alongside the big players within the
forest industry, they have also received
expressions of interest and commitment
from companies representing users of
advanced materials, often smaller, creative businesses that can see the possibilities that the new carbon fibre brings.
“Having these companies on board is
extremely valuable, and has shown us
new areas where the material would be
very useful,” says Peter. “Our immediate
goal is to create as strong a carbon fibre
as possible. The first commercial suc-
cesses might not necessarily come from
the top-performing carbon fibre matrices. Significant reductions in weight can
be achieved by replacing glass fibre composite or steel with lignin-based carbon
fibre composite. This means, for example, that the size of a wind turbine rotor
blade can be increased, fuel consumption within the transport sector can be
reduced and corrosion problems can be
eliminated.”
“In order to rise to the challenges,
we must be clear about what we can
do and what the limitations are,” adds
Elisabeth.
The conditions are promising if a
consortium of producers and users can
be established for further research and
development, and if a test bed can be
created for producing carbon fibre from
lignin. It is also important to include
other research players within the value
chain. Here, Innventia views Swerea
SICOMP as a natural partner and an
extension of its own expertise within
the field of materials. contact:
[email protected]
Proven technology in a new guise
Efter flera framgångsrika forsk­
ningsresultat som visat på möjligheten att
göra kolfiber av lignin bygger Innventia
nu en miljö som på sikt ska demonstrera
detta i större skala. Under hösten invigs
ett kolfiberlaboratorium med bland annat
en ny extruder och efterbehandlingsenhet.
Tillsammans med den befintliga utrustning­
en för stabilisering och karbonisering får
Innventia nu en miljö med skräddarsydda
lösningar för att utvärdera tillverkning av
ligninbaserad kolfiber. Nästa steg är att
installera nya ugnar för att kunna göra en
bra kolfiber av de spunna trådarna. Den
kommer också att göra det möjligt att ta
fram större mängder än idag.
On-site LignoBoost trials
Andritz hybrid forming: a versatile new tool at Innventia
Innovation support for nanocellulose products
Transport testing saves millions
Upscaling opportunities for barrier research
New lab confirms Innventia’s focus on carbon fibre from lignin
Beyond is published by INNVENTIA AB | Legally responsible for the publication: Birgitta Sundblad ([email protected])
Editor: Marianne Lockner ([email protected]) | ISSN: 1652-6503 | Print: SIB-Tryck, Norsborg
INNVENTIA AB
Box 5604, SE-114 86 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46 8 676 70 00, [email protected]
www.innventia.com
In October, we celebrate our tenth
anniversary at Innventia. At the same time,
we celebrate the opening of two brand new
facilities: the carbon fibre laboratory and
the new NIR spectrometer for e.g. wood and
fibre analysis. In addition to these facilities,
we have also invested in a new mobile
LignoBoost and new extrusion equipment.
Current studies are investigating the building
of a movable facility for nanocellulose
production. Being able to demonstrate
our research in conceptual products or in
demonstration plants is a crucial issue for us
as well as having access to advanced testing
and analysis instruments.
Subsidiaries:
LignoBoost Demo AB
www.innventia.com/lignoboost
Member of the
INNVENTIA group
PFI AS
www.pfi.no
Innventia UK Ltd.
www.innventia.com/edge
Boosting business with science
Current research
collaborations
The instrument automatically measures spectra in the NIR field from small squares across the entire
measurement surface. This could be millions of spectra for each object. These spectra include infor­
mation about factors such as chemical composition. If models exist for these relationships, maps can
be drawn of the variation in lignin content, density or wood species, for example. However, even
without models, it can be quickly seen whether there are spectral variations, and how they are struc­
tured across the surface. It might be possible to interpret these based on the sample itself, and to
determine whether there are opportunities that are worth working with further.
Proven technology
in a new guise
Innventia’s new NIR instrument is
a powerful tool that can measure
chemical variations across the
surface of virtually any sample
of fairly even height. It has been
specially designed for great flexibility
in terms of both use and for work
on different scales and resolutions.
During Innventia Days on 22-23
October, Innventia unveiled its new
instrument for imaging NIR spectroscopy. This investment was made possible
thanks to a grant from the Troëdsson
Foundation. The new instrument will
represent a powerful complement to the
important SilviScan instrument, which
is currently being used to map the properties of 6,000 Swedish spruces within
a genetics project. (See adjacent article.)
SilviScan is an excellent tool for measuring variations in the physical properties
of wood samples, such as density, wood
stiffness, fibre dimensions and microfibril angle. The new spectrometer will
make it possible to measure variations in
the chemical composition of wood materials. However, the flexible configuration also makes many other applications
possible. One example is measuring the
formation of different components in a
sheet of paper, such as the distribution
of fibres, filler and starch – an important
factor that was previously hard to study.
2 | Beyond #3/2013
Sven-Olof Lundqvist from the Innventia
Wood and Fibre Measurement Centre
explains:
“In principle, we can measure anything that is fairly even in height: wood
samples, boards, sheets, paper, reference
chemicals and various objects. Being
able to measure objects of different sizes
and with different degrees of detail was
important when designing the instrument, in view of the breadth of research
that we carry out here at Innventia. We
can measure across 1 cm at 30 micrometer resolution, but we can also adjust
the scale to measure across up to 32 cm
at millimetre scale. This will allow many
types of investigations, such as on details
of wood samples, print in relation to the
paper surface, on boards and packaging,
and on running paper webs in our pilot
facilities. Better surface characterisation
will bring new opportunities.”
Flexibility was therefore extremely important when designing the new
research instrument. This is proven
technology, since it is already used in
other fields such as remote aerial analysis, dairy product inspections and forensic applications.
“It’s interesting that we have identified an existing, proven technology with
good software and modified this to give
a powerful research instrument for our
own purposes,” says Sven-Olof.
contact:
[email protected]
SilviScan is an instrument for the
efficient measurement of variations in
many wood and fibre properties that
are significant to both research and
industry, such as wood density, wood
stiffness, fibre dimensions and microfibril angle. Within the Bio4Energy
project, Innventia has used SilviScan
to analyse many properties of samples from 6,000 spruces, for entire
samples, annual rings and their sections. Innventia has structured all the
data in a database that will be used
to develop genetic markers for these
properties, for use in fields such as
tree improvement. The data is also
being used in other research projects.
In addition, Innventia will measure
all these samples using the new NIR
instrument and will develop models
to estimate variations in chemical
composition (lignin, cellulose, etc.).
The intention is to add chemical
information to the database, so that
genetic markers can also be developed
for these properties.
“Designing Trees
for the Future”,
Trees4Future, is
an EU project that
aims to strengthen
European research within forestry
and genetics by integrating and developing existing databases, models,
decision-support systems and measurement environments. These are also
being made available to other research
teams within the TransNational
Access programme. Innventia’s role
is to develop efficient new measuring methods based on SilviScan and
imaging NIR measurements, and to
enable selected researchers to carry
out SilviScan measurements.
I oktober invigs det nya instru­
mentet för avbildande NIR-spektroskopi,
en investering som möjliggjorts tack
vare ett bidrag från Troëdsson­
fonden.
Det blir ett kraftfullt komplement till
SilviScaninstrumentet som bland annat
nu används för att kartlägga egenskaper
hos 6 000 svenska granar inom projektet
Bio4Energy. SilviScan är utmärkt för att
mäta variationer i fysiska egenskaper hos
träprover. Den nya spektrometern kom­
mer att möjliggöra mätning av variationer
i kemisk sammansättning, och inte enbart
hos trämaterial. Tack vare att man iden­
tifierade en befintlig fungerande teknik
med bra programvara och modifierat den,
har Innventia nu ett kraftfullt forsknings­
instrument för flera användningsområden.
Current awareness from the Innventia Group
On-site
LignoBoost
trials
Innventia’s movable LignoBoost
pilot equipment is a valuable tool
for product development or design
studies prior to investment.
Even before Innventia sold the LignoBoost
technology to Metso, Innventia invested
in pilot equipment that could be transported around to carry out on-site trials at mills. An updated and refined
version of this type of equipment has
been built and the unit is jointly owned
by Innventia and Metso. It has been
stationed in the US for customer commissions in North America for some
time now. These commissions could
involve design studies prior to investing in a full-size facility, or producing
lignin samples when a company needs to
carry out its own product development
or find a buyer for a lignin raw material.
The equipment was also used during the
commissioning of the first commercial
facility at Domtar’s factory, to gain even
more knowledge about the process.
“We can create a valuable simulation of the facility, although there are
of course differences with the small
equipment with its one filtration cham-
Lars-Erik Åkerlund spends a lot of time at
North American pulp mills carrying out
on-site trials in co-operation with Metso.
ber compared with the large filter’s 46
chambers,” explains Lars-Erik Åkerlund,
who has extensive experience of carrying
out on-site evaluations of the LignoBoost
process at various pulp mills.
Since commissioning Domtar’s facility, a number of companies have expressed
their interest to Innventia in working
with lignin as a raw material. Stora Enso
also announced in mid-July that a commercial facility will be brought into use
in Sunila Mill in Finland in 2015.
Innventia has now invested in new
pilot equipment, primarily for the
European market. The idea is to be able
to move it between Innventia and the
demonstration facility in Bäckhammar,
and interested mills.
“Ever since we started to obtain positive results within the FRAM programme and the entire concept was
designed, companies began to express
an interest in evaluating their black liquors in lignin removal processes such as
LignoBoost,” says Per Tomani. “Mobile
equipment was therefore needed. The
demonstration facility has always been
one of our most important tools, but it’s
often easier to transport equipment than
black liquor, since it’s subject to so many
restrictions. Besides, it’s always best to
use fresh liquor, to avoid storage effects.”
Per Tomani and Peter Axegård have
been involved throughout the entire
LignoBoost journey, ever since the initial process design ideas came about in
partnership with Chalmers University
of Technology between the KAM and
FRAM programmes, through to today’s
commercial facilities.
“It’s fantastic that a full-scale
LignoBoost installation has been carried
out! Someone said to me recently that
this could be the only new pulp mill
biorefinery process so far to have gone
all the way from concept to installation
on a full commercial scale. If that’s the
case, then that’s another reason to be
pleased, and it’s great that Innventia
and Chalmers have made such a strong
contribution. It’s also worth remembering that the important upscaling to
full-scale installation – an extremely
significant and difficult step – has been
carried out well by Metso and is in many
respects crucial to make this happen.”
contact:
[email protected]
Med Innventia’s nya mobila
pilotutrustning kommer fler kunder att
kunna arbeta med LignoBoost på plats
på det egna bruket. Redan idag finns en
utrustning stationerad i USA för uppdrag
i Nordamerika. Uppdragen kan handla om
designstudier inför investering i en fullstor
anläggning eller för produktion av lignin­
prover när företagen behöver göra egen
produktutveckling eller hitta köpare av en
ligninråvara. Den nya mobila utrustningen
blir ett bra komplement till demofabriken i
Bäckhammar, ett av de viktigaste verktygen
i utvecklingen kring LignoBoost och lignin­
applikationer. Tanken är att kunna flytta
den nya utrustningen mellan Innventia och
demofabriken i Bäckhammar samt intres­
serade bruk.
Large-scale demonstration in
Bäckhammar
The LignoBoost demonstration plant in
Bäckhammar opened in 2007 with the
aim of proving the LignoBoost process
concept on a near-commercial scale.
There is a daily production of high quality lignin in the plant. Innventia carries
out assignments for clients wishing to
evaluate their own black liquor or the
lignin product from it. It is also possible
to perform large-scale product and process development here.
The demonstration plant can produce
up to 8,000 tonnes of lignin per year,
which is used for large scale trials. For
example, the lignin fuel has been used
Current awareness from the Innventia Group
in long-term trials to replace coal at the
Fortum combined cycle heat and power
plant in Stockholm, to replace fuel oil
in the lime kiln at Södra’s Mönsterås
mill, and as a combustion additive in
bark boilers to reduce problems with
deposits.
Today, the demonstration plant is
used for continuous development of the
LignoBoost process, including testing
of equipment and operating strategies.
Lignin production is focused on obtaining very pure raw materials for conversion to chemicals and materials, e.g. as a
precursor to carbon fibre.
Stefan Andersson at Innventia’s
demonstration plant in Bäckhammar.
Beyond #3/2013
|3
Pilot plant for
nanocellulose
production
Magnus Björkman, researcher at Innventia, worked closely with Andritz during the installation of the new top former at Innventia.
Andritz hybrid forming: a
versatile new tool at Innventia
Hybrid forming using a top former
and a traditional Fourdrinier unit is a
relatively simple installation if a paper
mill wants to expand or enhance its
product range. Andritz’s new top
former at Innventia’s FEX pilot paper
machine is a configurable tool that
can be adapted to suit the mill’s own
product development.
As part of the recently concluded EU
BoostEff project, machine supplier
Andritz developed a new entirely modular flow box, which was installed at
Innventia’s FEX pilot paper machine.
The concept is simple: the parts are
assembled according to the quality of
paper to be produced. Andritz has now
taken the next step, offering its customers product development opportunities
by implementing hybrid forming. This
is also a natural part of the research and
expertise offered by Innventia.
“Very few completely new paper
machines are being built today,” says
Daniel Söderberg, Deputy Director
of Business Area Material Processes.
“However, there is a constant need to
reinvest every 15 to 20 years. At the
same time, we’ve seen a growing desire
to simplify machines in recent years,
instead of making them faster and larger.
From that perspective, the new equipment represents an interesting tool.
With this kind of top former, existing
equipment can be upgraded with twinwire technology to create better products or brand new ones.”
4 | Beyond #3/2013
The new former has the versatility of
Lego: there are rollers, hangings, frames,
etc., but the actual design, with its
geometries and dewatering conditions,
is easy to configure. And, as Daniel
explains, everything is integrated with
the rest of the equipment in the pilot
facility.
“We can simulate many mills’ own
forming principles at FEX, which some
people might not be aware of. If you
adapt the new flow box so that it looks
like it would back at the mill and take
advantage of the opportunities offered
by the hybrid former for changing the
geometries, you can actually use the
pilot facilities to develop new products
based on other fibre raw materials, for
example, or a modified chemical system.”
contact:
[email protected]
Hybridformning är en relativt
enkel installation för pappersbruket att
bredda eller förbättra sitt produktsorti­
ment. Andritz nya toppformer på Innventias
pilotpappersmaskin FEX är ett viktigt kom­
plement till den modulära inloppslådan
som installerades på FEX inom ramen för
EU-projektet BoostEff. Själva utformningen
av formern med geometrier och avvatt­
ningsförhållande är lätt att ändra. Genom
att anpassa inloppslådan så att den ser
ut som den gör hemma på bruket och
utnyttjar hybridformerns möjligheter att
ändra geometrierna kan pilotanläggningen
användas till utveckling av nya eller bättre
produkter.
FEX – a
complete pilot
plant
Pilot scale studies are a key step in
improving the success rate of your
innovation efforts. By testing and
optimising processes at FEX before
upscaling to industrial production,
you can improve the cost efficiency
of your investments in research and
development.
The flexible pilot plant can be
used to test new materials such as
nanocellulose, which can now be produced on-site. FEX is a facility where
theories, materials, equipment and
processes can be tested under realistic
conditions. Experiments carried out
at FEX are reliable. One reason for
this is the closed circulation system.
Another important factor is that practically all equipment is full-scale, yet
as compact as possible.
The FEX system is more than an
advanced paper machine and it is
continually updated with the latest
technology. It offers a complete system of equipment, including stock
storage, pulp preparation, a chemical
preparation unit, a system for low
consistency refining, fractionating
hydroclones and pressure screens and
one long circulation with a disc filter.
read more:
www.innventia.com/FEX
Current awareness from the Innventia Group
Innovation support
for nanocellulose
products
“Our vision is a movable
facility that could support
companies locally”
Over the course of the past decade,
Innventia has developed processes for
energy-efficient nanocellulose production. For example, energy consumption
has been reduced by a full 98 percent,
and in 2010 Innventia built a pilot plant
for nanocellulose production. This facility (see text on this page) has made it
possible to carry out pilot runs using
nanocellulose as a paper strengthening
additive in Innventia’s FEX pilot paper
machine. There has been a great deal of
industrial interest in the pilot facility,
which since commissioning has been
followed by similar initiatives in France,
Finland and the US. However, these are
all still pilot facilities with limited scope
for helping the industry as a whole to
carry out full-scale nanocellulose test-
Torgny Persson
Current awareness from the Innventia Group
ing, due to the large quantities involved
and difficulties with transportation and
storage. The need for local large-scale
production poses a significant obstacle to
innovation, which most companies find
it hard to overcome.
Thanks
to
co-funding
from
VINNOVA, Innventia is now investigating the possibility of facilitating the
industrialisation of the nanocellulose
process by building a demonstration
facility for nanocellulose production as a
complement to the existing pilot facility.
“Such a demonstration facility would
enable companies to produce nanocellulose on a large scale for use in full-scale
trials of paper and board machines. Our
vision is a movable facility that could
support companies locally,” says Torgny
Persson, Vice President business area
Material Processes.
“It would also permit full-scale testing of critical process equipment for
nanocellulose production, such as various types of homogenisator, and serve as
a demonstrator for machine deliveries”.
The preliminary study runs until the
end of 2013, and includes technical preplanning as well as planning for how
the demonstration facility will be used
– and by whom – on completion. One
important activity is to describe how
innovation support can be provided for
small and medium-sized businesses and
other users who need this support. In
other words, this involves establishing
how test run results can lead to full-scale
implementation.
contact:
[email protected]
In 2011, Innventia opened the world’s
first pilot plant for the production of
nanocellulose, which has a capacity
of 100 kg/day. The facility makes it
possible to produce nanocellulose on
a large scale for the first time and
is an important step towards the
industrialisation of this technology.
Having the capability to produce larger volumes means it is now possible
to study the use of nanocellulose in
applications that demand significant
amounts of material.
The pilot facility’s connection
to the existing pilot-scale processing equipment at Innventia, which
includes screens, refiners, fractionation equipment, not to mention a
paper machine, makes it a unique
testing and production unit. It provides us with exceptional resources
to work with you towards the commercialisation of your nanocellulose
applications.
Alltsedan uppstarten 2010 har
Innventias pilotfabrik för tillverkning av
nanocellulosa mötts av stort industriellt
intresse och följts av andra liknande sats­
ningar. Alla dessa är dock av pilotkaraktär
med begränsade möjligheter att hjälpa
industrin att testa nanocellulosa i full­
skala p.g.a. av de stora kvantiteterna och
svårigheter med transporter och lagring.
Innventia undersöker nu möjligheterna för
hur en industrialisering kan underlättas
genom byggnation av en demonstrations­
fabrik som skulle ge företag möjlighet att
producera nanocellulosa i stor skala för
användning i fullskaleförsök. Förhoppningen
är att göra denna fabrik flyttbar för använd­
ning lokalt hos bruken.
Beyond #3/2013
|5
Upscaling opportunities
for barrier research
On our mind
Do you ever find damaged products
on the shelf in-store? If so, you can
be sure that there are many more
products that never reach the shelf,
having been discarded or returned
at various earlier stages of the
distribution chain. Estimates of the
value of goods damaged in transit
vary, but the latest figure I saw was
EUR 3 billion each year in the EU
alone! The precise figure may not
be particularly relevant, but one
thing is certain: the cost is significant,
and we all end up paying for this
damage in one way or another.
Investing in a new extruder at
Innventia has made it easier to take
the next step up from basic lab
studies to industrial pilot runs. The
flexibility of this new equipment also
means that it can be used within
a number of seemingly diverse
research fields.
Olof Tillander
Senior Packaging Consultant,
Packaging development and product
testing
Ask me about: Transport packaging specialist with 35 year’s experience
Hidden talent: Member of a male
voice choir
By Olof Tillander
Transport testing saves millions
Every day, goods are transported to
Swedish consumers from producers and
manufacturers, both within our immediate surroundings and from around the
world. Many of these goods are inadequately packaged, resulting in many
goods being damaged and having to be
discarded. Regardless of the arguments
about locally produced goods versus
cheaper alternatives from low-cost countries such as those in Asia, with the
resulting long transportation distances,
the biggest environmental villain – and
the greatest cost – in this context is not
the transportation itself but the damaged products.
Almost everything that is produced
or manufactured requires some kind of
packaging, whether the product comes
from our own country or from overseas.
And everything needs to be transported
from the manufacturer to a shop or
directly to the consumer. But did you
realise that it is during this transit stage
that the product is exposed to the greatest stresses of its entire lifecycle?
We often say that packaging has three
tasks to fulfil. Firstly, it must protect the
product. Secondly, it has to make it easy
to transport. Finally, it has to inform.
When it comes to product protection,
and particularly the transport packaging, here is a great deal to be achieved.
Manufacturers spend enormous sums on
creating, developing and refining their
products, and they invest significant
resources in testing and verification. But
6 | Beyond #3/2013
this is not always true of the packaging,
with very little being spent on developing good packaging. There are still a lot
of manual packing although it is easy
to mechanise. Many companies do not
have any dedicated packaging development resources to devise effective solutions, in terms of materials, design or
enclosing. Often, the only thing that
counts is a low cost. Of course, trying to
keep costs down is a good thing, but in
many cases it results in packaging that is
unable to protect the product throughout the distribution system, all the way
to the consumer.
In our work, my colleagues and I see
many examples of poor packaging and
damaged goods. As experts within our
field, we are the resource that many
companies lack: packaging development
and testing specialists. We also see what
a difference it makes if the fact that the
product should be packaged and transported in a rational manner – and in
packaging that can protect the product
against damage until it reaches the consumer – is taken into consideration at an
early stage of product development.
It is clear that many companies have
a clear packaging strategy and package their products satisfactorily, develop
well considered, effective packaging and
carry out the necessary testing to check
and verify the solution. However, there
are too many companies that fail to take
this responsibility. And in many cases
it is those companies that do the right
thing that attract the most criticism for
causing environmental damage through
the use of excessive packaging.
The fact remains that good product
protection means products can be delivered undamaged to consumers. This
results in lower prices for goods, as well
as a better environment. So in actual
fact, packaging is not the real environmental villain at all. Quite the opposite:
it protects the environment and saves
money. At the end of the day, it is always
we, the consumers, who pay the price! contact:
[email protected]
Varje dag transporteras varor
till svenska konsumenter från producenter
och tillverkare. Många av dessa är förpack­
ade i undermåliga förpackningar vilket gör
att en stor mängd skadas och måste kas­
seras. Det är under transporten som pro­
dukten utsätts för de största påkänningarna
under hela sin livslängd. Tillverkarna satsar
mycket på att utveckla, förädla och testa
sina produkter men tyvärr läggs endast
begränsade resurser på att ta fram bra för­
packningar. Som experter inom området
är vi den resurs som många företag saknar,
specialister på förpackningsutveckling och
test. Vi ser också vilken skillnad det gör om
man i ett tidigt skede i sin produktutveck­
ling tar med aspekten att produkten skall
kunna packas och transporteras på ett
rationellt sätt i en förpackning som klarar
av att skydda produkten från skador hela
vägen ut till konsument.
Current awareness from the Innventia Group
Until now, Innventia’s extrusion
equipment has consisted of a laboratory extruder, used for purposes such
as extruding lignin fibres or chitosan
plastics from prawn shells, and a large
pilot facility for industrial research such
as testing various board coatings. Spring
2013 saw the addition of a mediumsized extruder that will shorten the step
from lab to pilot production. The new
extruder serves both the Nanocellulose
process and New wood fibre-based
materials research clusters, and brings
significant opportunities for knowledgebuilding studies and degree projects. An
additional extruder has also been purchased, for the specific use of the carbon
fibre lab (see last page).
“The new extruder is extremely useful, as we can reconfigure the screws
according to the material we want to
work with and what we want to achieve,”
says Therese Johansson, who is responsible for the extrusion equipment. “For
example, we can produce both strips
and pellets.”
Mikael Gällstedt leads the Bio-based
barriers for packaging materials research
cluster. He believes that this is a key
factor when it comes to trying out new
recipes.
“The ability to reconfigure the extruder means that we can create our own
master batch,” he explains. “During the
spring we had a student here, Hannah
Rasel, who tested all the possible mixtures and succeeded in creating a barrier
from waste material.
“Trying out different recipes in the
lab and cleaning the equipment is easy.
However, the next step up to the large
pilot facility has been too great. We’ve
now succeeded in shortening this step,
and we’ve made it easier to predict
what will happen when upscaling. This
is a milestone on the road towards our
vision: creating food packaging with a
bio-based barrier.”
contact: [email protected],
[email protected]
Investeringen i en ny mellanstor
extruder på Innventia innebär större möj­
ligheter till uppskalning för barriärforsk­
ningen. Utrustning finns nu i tre nivåer vil­
ket minskat glappet mellan grundläggande
studier på labbet och industrinära pilot­
körningar. Det gör det lättare förutse vad
som kommer att vid uppskalning. Den nya
extrudern är mycket användbar eftersom
skruvarna kan byggas om beroende på
material och syfte. Det går till exempel att
göra både band och pellets. Flexibiliteten
gör den därmed användbar inom många
forskningskluster samtidigt som den ger
stora möjligheter till kunskapsuppbyggande
studier.
coming events
1-4 october
IUFRO MeMoWood, Nancy
8-9 october
Avancell Conference, Gothenburg
8-10 october
ABTCP 2013, São Paulo
15-16 october
Pack & Emballage 2013, Stockholm
22 october
Innventia 10th anniversary celebrations,
Stockholm
22-23 october
Innventia Days, Stockholm
23-24 october
Top Packaging Summit, Lund
24-27 november
6th International Colloquium on Eucalyptus Pulp (ICEP), Colonia del
Sacramento
For further information on coming events,
see www.innventia.com
NWBC 2014
Welcome to the 5th Nordic Wood
Biorefinery Conference
25-27 March, 2014
Stockholm Waterfront Congress
Centre
www.innventia.com/nwbc2014
Order your free copy
of Innventia Global Outlook Report
Packaging 2020 on
www.innventia.com/packaging2020
Therese Johansson is responsible for the extrusion facilities at Innventia.
Current awareness from the Innventia Group
Watch out for our next Innventia
Global Outlook Report on
papermaking towards the future!
Project to be launched autumn 2013.
Beyond #3/2013
|7
B
Have you changed
address?
Let us know by sending an
e-mail to [email protected].
CU STOM E R M AGA ZI N E
I N NVE NTIA G RO U P # 3/ 2013
New lab confirms Innventia’s
focus on carbon fibre from lignin
Following a number of successful
research findings demonstrating the
possibility of producing carbon fibre
from lignin, Innventia is now building
a new carbon fibre laboratory,
including a new extruder and a
stabilisation unit, will open in late
autumn 2013.
Together with our existing equipment
for stabilising and carbonising, we will
now have an environment that includes
tailor-made solutions for evaluating the
production of lignin-based carbon fibre.
According to Peter Axegård, Director of
Business Area Biorefining, this is only
the beginning.
“We’ve been good at talking about
the possibility of producing carbon fibre
from lignin, and our expertise within the
field is widely acknowledged. However,
if we are to become a serious player
we need to provide proof. That’s why
we’re now investing in demonstration
facilities. Just look at what our facility
in Bäckhammar has done for LignoBoost
technology. Now we want to show that
lignin-based carbon fibre is both technically and financially viable.”
Elisabeth Sjöholm, principle scientist
in the research field, describes the process in general terms:
“The next step is to install a carbonisation oven so that that we can
produce good quality carbon fibre from
the spun threads. We’ll also be able to
produce larger quantities than is currently the case. In the longer term, we
want to carry out multi-filament spinning. Today, we can spin threads consisting of a single filament, but in order to
develop a larger composite demonstrator
we need a multi-filament facility. This is
a major investment. However, we have
Mårten Åkerström and Elisabeth Sjöholm will
demonstrate the new lab during Innventia’s
anniversary celebration in October.
high hopes that our current focus will
lead to increased interest and opportunities for financing the continued expansion of the carbon fibre lab.”
Peter and Elisabeth explain that there
has been significant growth in interest from industry recently, particularly
as a result of the LigniCarb project.
Alongside the big players within the
forest industry, they have also received
expressions of interest and commitment
from companies representing users of
advanced materials, often smaller, creative businesses that can see the possibilities that the new carbon fibre brings.
“Having these companies on board is
extremely valuable, and has shown us
new areas where the material would be
very useful,” says Peter. “Our immediate
goal is to create as strong a carbon fibre
as possible. The first commercial suc-
cesses might not necessarily come from
the top-performing carbon fibre matrices. Significant reductions in weight can
be achieved by replacing glass fibre composite or steel with lignin-based carbon
fibre composite. This means, for example, that the size of a wind turbine rotor
blade can be increased, fuel consumption within the transport sector can be
reduced and corrosion problems can be
eliminated.”
“In order to rise to the challenges,
we must be clear about what we can
do and what the limitations are,” adds
Elisabeth.
The conditions are promising if a
consortium of producers and users can
be established for further research and
development, and if a test bed can be
created for producing carbon fibre from
lignin. It is also important to include
other research players within the value
chain. Here, Innventia views Swerea
SICOMP as a natural partner and an
extension of its own expertise within
the field of materials. contact:
[email protected]
Proven technology in a new guise
Efter flera framgångsrika forsk­
ningsresultat som visat på möjligheten att
göra kolfiber av lignin bygger Innventia
nu en miljö som på sikt ska demonstrera
detta i större skala. Under hösten invigs
ett kolfiberlaboratorium med bland annat
en ny extruder och efterbehandlingsenhet.
Tillsammans med den befintliga utrustning­
en för stabilisering och karbonisering får
Innventia nu en miljö med skräddarsydda
lösningar för att utvärdera tillverkning av
ligninbaserad kolfiber. Nästa steg är att
installera nya ugnar för att kunna göra en
bra kolfiber av de spunna trådarna. Den
kommer också att göra det möjligt att ta
fram större mängder än idag.
On-site LignoBoost trials
Andritz hybrid forming: a versatile new tool at Innventia
Innovation support for nanocellulose products
Transport testing saves millions
Upscaling opportunities for barrier research
New lab confirms Innventia’s focus on carbon fibre from lignin
Beyond is published by INNVENTIA AB | Legally responsible for the publication: Birgitta Sundblad ([email protected])
Editor: Marianne Lockner ([email protected]) | ISSN: 1652-6503 | Print: SIB-Tryck, Norsborg
INNVENTIA AB
Box 5604, SE-114 86 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46 8 676 70 00, [email protected]
www.innventia.com
In October, we celebrate our tenth
anniversary at Innventia. At the same time,
we celebrate the opening of two brand new
facilities: the carbon fibre laboratory and
the new NIR spectrometer for e.g. wood and
fibre analysis. In addition to these facilities,
we have also invested in a new mobile
LignoBoost and new extrusion equipment.
Current studies are investigating the building
of a movable facility for nanocellulose
production. Being able to demonstrate
our research in conceptual products or in
demonstration plants is a crucial issue for us
as well as having access to advanced testing
and analysis instruments.
Subsidiaries:
LignoBoost Demo AB
www.innventia.com/lignoboost
Member of the
INNVENTIA group
PFI AS
www.pfi.no
Innventia UK Ltd.
www.innventia.com/edge
Boosting business with science