‘Energy First’ Supports New Technology for Fiber-based Products

In the face of growing demand for fiber-based packaging, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has created the Energy First initiative, designed to address the challenges of energy and resource consumption in the forestry and textile industry. Energy First will pioneer low-carbon, water-efficient technology with the potential to reduce water consumption by up to 90 percent and overall energy consumption by more than half.

Owned by the Finnish state, VTT is one of Europe’s leading research institutions and advances the use and commercialization of research and technology in commerce and society. VTT says that the goal of the initiative is to act as a starting point for an entirely new technology that creates the conditions for the manufacture of low-carbon, energy-efficient, and recyclable fiber-based products.

Fig. 1: Energy First seeks to develop a manufacturing process with minimal water and energy use.

With the continued growth of, for example, global e-commerce, the demand for various fiber-based packaging solutions is projected to grow 5-10 percent annually, according to data from Statista Market Insights and eMarketer. As such, there is a need to develop scalable, high-quality packaging that is easy to recycle while significantly reducing carbon footprint. Within non-wovens used in napkins and wipes, for example, VTT expects a strong shift from traditional products that contain plastic to cellulose-based products.

With a budget of around EUR20 million (about US$22 million) over the next four years, the Energy First initiative consists of several projects and will establish a new, innovative open-access pilot line (Fig. 2) in Jyväskylä, Finland. The collaborative research aims at developing and testing commercially viable, sustainable alternatives for cardboard packaging, hygiene products, and non-woven fabrics.

“This new initiative is a pivotal step toward more sustainable and competitive fiber-based products, and has the potential for great impact, thanks to more than 50 industrial partners. We are excited about the prospect of 1:1 commercial projects with companies, driving innovation in energy-efficient paper board production. VTT’s purpose is to bring together people, business, science and technology, paving the way to a sustainable future. The Energy First theme aims to do just that,” says Atte Virtanen, vice president, biomaterial processing and products at VTT.

MINIMIZING WATER AND ENERGY

The forest industry faces new challenges, including the rising cost of energy and fiberwood scarcity. Energy First seeks to overcome these hindrances to sustainable products by developing a manufacturing process with minimal water and energy usage. Preliminary estimates by VTT’s scientists suggest that the new manufacturing process will provide a potential reduction of up to 90 percent in water consumption and a significant decrease in carbon emissions (Fig. 1). Overall, the goal is to reduce energy consumption by up to 50 percent.

Products manufactured with the new process are designed to be compatible with existing recycling methods. Furthermore, fiber-based packaging is produced in a way that makes it a sustainable alternative to reusable packaging. The planned EU packaging and packaging waste directive requires that both the raw material and the manufacturing process are sustainable, and recyclable bio-based packaging solutions will need to undergo a sustainability assessment.

In addition to reducing water and energy consumption, the project seeks to redefine the forest industry’s environmental impact and enhance the competitiveness of fiber-based products. For example, by making the products lighter, more products could be produced for consumer use from the same amount of wood, which improves resource efficiency.

“The Energy First Consortium project has several captivating work packages that align closely with Valmet’s current research and development objectives. Energy efficiency, investing in novel 3D fiber-based structures, and the strength of fiber products are closely aligned with Valmet’s current research and development objectives. The program’s global collaboration network ensures that any intriguing project findings can be swiftly implemented in practice,” says Sampo Immonen, R&D director, Valmet.

Anpap Oy is a Finnish producer of airlaid machinery and a partner in Energy First. “We feel that the Energy First project is one of the first steps in unlocking the full potential of airlaid technology in sustainable single-use and durable product categories. Anpap has set the benchmark for the airlaid industry for the past 40 years, and we have a strong commitment to keep developing the technology to enable the transition to next-generation sustainable products. Compared to wetlaid, airlaid web forming is flexible and consumes dramatically fewer natural resources, such as water, which reduces the environmental impact of manufacturing while satisfying the needs of consumers,” says Tuukka Vihtakari, CTO, Anpap.

The initiative is funded by EU, ERDF, VTT and the collaborating companies. The consortium is also actively engaging in EU projects, such as EU SteamDry, with a total budget of EUR9.84 million (US$10.93 million) over three and a half years. VTT will actively continue developing new projects as a part of the initiative, including bilateral cooperation with industrial partners.