Money to save for paper industry after research break-through

Swedish research company Innventia has developed a new tachnology that will result in a stronger paper with lower production costs and reduced raw materials consumption.

The new Aq-Vane technique, developed by Stockholm-based Innventia, is derived from the aircraft industry. It deals with the separation of fiber layers before they are joined together to form the paper. The Aq-Vane technique has the potential to generate increased profits, based on the form of savings in the fiber raw materials and energy.

“This technique uses a thin layer of water to stabilise the fibre layers and consequently form an even flow while they are being joined together. This prevents the layers from blending with each other. This means that it is now possible to keep the layers separate as well as to control the precise properties that are wanted in a paper,” says Daniel Söderberg, Research Manager at Innventia and the person behind the development of the new technology.

As of June this year, Innventia is leading BoostEff, an EU project with a total budget of eleven million Euros, to demonstrate the industrial and economical potential of the new method. Using Aq-Vane, with its possibilities for advanced dosage, Innventia, in collaboration with Stora Enso is developing the kind of paper that is used in catalogues and magazines.

“For a paper mill that produces 450,000 tons of the new paper per year, this technology means an annual savings of approximately 120 million Kronor,” says Daniel Söderberg.

For a product such as the Ikea catalogue, of which approximately 200 million copies are distributed each year, this means enormous savings. For the papermaking industry as a whole, this implies a savings in billions of Kronor, Innventia writes in a press release.

Daniel Söderberg explains: “We’ve tailor-made a new kind of uncoated paper, which is the same type as that used in the Ikea catalogues. By putting finer fibers in the surface and coarse fibers in the middle of the paper we’re able to save up to ten percent in costs on fiber raw materials and energy.”