Beyond 1, 2011 - Innventia.com

current awareness
from the INNVENTIA group
#1/2011
Demonstrating
– a vital part of the
innovation process
Close to reality in Bäckhammar
From idea to innovation with FEX
photo: beatrice johansson
Nanocellulose – for the first time on a large scale
Boosting business with science

Demonstrating – a vital part of
the innovation process
Nowadays, the term R&D&I is often used instead of the
traditional R&D. The added ‘I’ naturally stands for innovation.
The reason for using R&D&I is to place emphasis on the
fact that research and development will lead to some form
of income. This might be by means of a new product, a
new process or a reduction in a load on the environment,
for instance. What does an investment in R&D&I imply, in
relationship to simply R&D
When there is satisfaction in showing new possibilities and
theoretical potential with R&D, it is necessary to prove that a
new possibility is realisable, in effect, by putting the innovation
concept into practice. This is an extra thing that can certainly
be costly, yet it is often a prerequisite for a company to dare to
make further investment. This is why, in addition to research
and development, more and more public research financiers
see that they also should be supporting the demonstration
stage in the innovation chain.
A complete innovation partner, which Innventia strives to
be, has to be able to offer the possibility of demonstrating and
verifying new techniques, new technologies and new ideas,
in practice. Innventia ensures this in various ways, depending
on customer needs. This can include test beds for everything
from material testing to consumer perception, pilot plants
for demonstrating or it can be networks of companies with
experience in different parts of a new value chain. Innventia
is constantly developing, even in this area. Very recently, a
pilot plant was inaugurated for demonstrating a revolutionary
production method for nanocellulose.
Another example of a demonstrator is the LignoBoost Plant
at Bäckhammar. This has paved the way, since the Swedish
Energy Agency, with approval from the EU Commission,
is now prepared to give financial support to a pulp mill to
implement this new technology. There is more to read about
this in the following pages of this issue of Beyond, along with
an article on the new extensions made to FEX, which is a
full-scale test bed for paper production.
At FEX, an EU Project is currently in
progress to verify a process at Stora
Enso, concerning the production of a raw
material- and energy-saving paper, using
the Aq-Vane technique.
Helena Vollmer
Marketing Director, Innventia
Close to reality
in Bäckhammar
For the past four years, Innventia
has been operating a demonstration
plant in Bäckhammar, near
Kristinehamn in Sweden. The plant
is an important cornerstone in
Innventia biorefinery operations.
Among other things, the plant
produces lignin, which can be used
to produce carbon fibre in future.
Stefan Andersson at the Metso press filter used for washing of the lignin.
Niklas Berglin, who is responsible for
the technical operations at Bäckhammar
says, “It’s possible to produce large
amounts in the demonstration plant to
the exact quality required for research
and development work. When it comes
to what we call carbon fibre lignin, its
purity is the most essential thing. We
are currently carrying out tests with
improved washing to obtain as clean a
lignin as possible.”
The industrial environment is important.
The Bäckhammar plant has got
all necessary infrastructure, with tanks,
pumps, steam, cooling water and, not
least, employees that possess the right
expertise. The plant utilises black liquor
from several mills and the production
can be adapted to requirements. This
means that it is possible to produce
large amounts of the material with a
2 | Beyond #1/2011 Current awareness from the Innventia Group

Niklas Berglin is responsible for the technical operations at Bäckhammar.
Black liquors from all over the world can be tested in the
LignoBoost Demo plant.
particular purity for a certain project in
a few weeks and then, the next moment,
reorganise production.
However, the purpose of the demonstration
plant is not only to produce
material for further research and development.
An equally significant task for
the plant is to convince end customers
that a process actually works under
industrial conditions.
“A demonstration plant is as close
to industrial reality as you can get. It
doesn’t just offer the possibility of scaling
up from the laboratory or a pilot
plant. We can operate continuously over
long periods and, as a result, have time
to discover problems, if any, that might
arise on an industrial level. This gives
us the opportunity to optimise a process.
For us, who work in R & D, it’s very
interesting to be faced with more production
related matters, such as staffing
and the working environment.”
Although Niklas is involved in planning
and coordination of the work together
with the site manager Jan Emilsson,
most of the project work is initiated and
carried out by project managers and engineers
from Innventia, often doubling the
work force during trials. The production
of high purity lignin is just one example
of what can be done now. Niklas mentions
several other assignments, such as
washing and filtering trials, the testing of
conveyors, drying various kinds of biofuels,
producing low-lignin black liquor for
industrial trials, as well as producing a
pumpable product by combining lignin
with liquid fuels. Many of the projects
are linked to the on-going LignoFuel
Programme and the “Energy & Biofuels”
Cluster at Innventia.
Niklas continues, “One on-going
project is to set up a portable system
that can be taken around to different
mills to test the mixture of liquid fuel
in a lime sludge kiln, for instance. You
learn about handling and transporting,
when working with large amounts of a
product. If lignin fuel is going to be a
commercial product, it’s vital to find a
way that works, when it comes to handling
it, even for companies that are not
pulp and paper mills. Pellets and powder
are just two examples of the forms that
are suitable for handling refined biofuels.
We focus on both of these, when u
Quantity, Flexibility
& Collaboration – a
recipe for successful
development work
One person who has been to Bäckhammar
several times is Maria Björk, who works
at the Stora Enso Pulp Competence
Centre in Karlstad, Sweden.
“Today, there’s no full size plant.
Through Bäckhammar, we’ve got a picture
of what it’s going to look like and we
have the opportunity of learning about
the process. But the production, itself,
is important too, especially the possibility
of producing large amounts of the
product.”
As an example of this, she mentions
the LignoFuel Programme, in which
lignin, in the form of fuel, is being evaluated
in various applications. One of the
variations is to mix lignin with another
biofuel and burn it in existing biofuel
boilers.
“We see lignin as a possible means
of replacing fossil fuels. Lignin is a new
product and a new fuel, which we don’t
really yet know how to handle. It’s very
important to find out all the effects that
occur at our mill, when the process is
implemented. Lignin production is going
to have a direct influence on energy and
chemical balances at the mill.”
Flexibility is vital for a demonstration
plant. Possibilities must exist for testing
different ideas and process concepts.
Maria sees one of the advantages of a
demonstration plant as providing the
opportunity of visiting it and testing
black liquor from a Stora Enso mill on a
large scale and, from that, learning what
happens when producing lignin from
black liquor that comes from a particular
mill.
It has been very interesting for Maria
to collaborate in and follow the development
of lignin from close quarters
in the past years. She is now on the so
called Advisory Board of the LignoFuel
Programme. She emphasises the importance
of collaboration work of this kind.
“It’s the joint efforts in a research programme
that produce results. To guarantee
the future of the pulp and paper
industry, I feel that it’s important to find
new supplementary products.”
Current awareness from the Innventia Group Beyond #1/2011 | 3

we’re dealing with lignin and other solid
fuels.”
“The infrastructure that exists at
Bäckhammar offers great opportunities
for extending its operations.” continues
Niklas. “One approach is the utilisation
of sulphur-free pre-treatment to separate
the carbohydrates from the lignin
and then further refine the carbohydrates
into basic sugars. This opens the
door to several possibilities for producing
various specialty products, such as
ethanol and lactic acid that can be used
for making Polylactic Acid (PLA). Then
you also have access to a very pure,
sulphur-free lignin.”
Another interesting route involves the
purification of methanol, which could be
used as a fuel or a chemical.
“The studies being carried out
today are on a laboratory scale but, at
Bäckhammar, we can leave behind the
test tube and work on a significantly
larger scale.”
A flexible plant
makes demands
on creativity
and problem
solving
Every day presents new challenges. When
the employees arrive in the morning,
there might be a couple of boxes with
equipment, waiting to be assembled for
a trial on the following day. Instructions
or diagrams do not always accompany
them, so it is a question of the employees
being inventive and coming up with
solutions of their own.
“Due to the fact that new processes
are constantly being developed and different
equipment is being tested, you
always have to learn new things. But,
Leif Swärd and Jan Bernhardsson.
Carina Nordberg, Jan Emilsson and Stefan Andersson in the control room.
we have a green light for our own ideas.
We are given a task that has to be solved
some way or another. An example of
this is the Metso press filter used for
washing of the lignin. You can’t find
one in this application anywhere else,
just here. So we simply had to teach
ourselves,” explain Leif Swärd and Jan
Bernhardsson, two of the operators at
Bäckhammar.
Working as an operator in the industry
usually means being responsible for
a particular step in a process and no
more. At the Bäckhammar demonstration
plant, such a job looks different. It
involves a more comprehensive responsibility
for everything, from loading and
unloading to working in a laboratory.
“This means that our work has more
variety and we’re independent. You feel
more responsible when you’re part of
things and plan everything,” comment
Carina Nordberg and Stefan Andersson
in the control room.
The manager of the plant at
Bäckhammar is Jan Emilsson. He directs
all the different assignments that come
from Project Managers at Innventia and
from the industry.
“This kind of industrial collaboration
is very important. Many of the
assignments are really exciting ones, for
instance, the collaboration we have with
Akzo Nobel on the continuous production
of a liquid lignin product.”
All of the operators have been there
since the start, when LignoTech began
producing lignin at Bäckhammar in
1994. Per Tomani, who was the Project
Manager and responsible for the investment
project, when the old “LignoTech
Process” was expanded into the
LignoBoost Process (a demonstration on
a large scale, which could be said to have
been most unusual for an R&D company,
such as Innventia), says that this has
been a great source of assurance.
“The people here are so terrifically
gifted and skilled. They know the Plant
inside and out. It’s such a wonderful
experience working with them.”
c o n t a c t: niklas.berglin@innventia.com
Innventias demonstrationsfabrik
i Bäckhammar är så nära den
industriella verkligheten man kan komma.
Här finns all nödvändig infrastruktur med
tankar, pumpar, ånga, kylvatten. Genom
att köra kontinuerligt under längre perioder
får man tid att upptäcka eventuella fel
som kan uppstå i industrin. Produktionen
kan anpassas enligt önskemål och man
utnyttjar svartlut från flera bruk. Många
av de pågående projekten är knutna till
det pågående LignoFuel-programmet och
till Innventias kluster ”Energy & Biofuels”.
Här produceras också det lignin med hög
renhet som används i forskningen för att
framställa kolfiber.
Fabriken sysselsätter fem personer. Att
arbeta som operatör i industrin innebär
vanligen att ha ansvar inom ett begränsat
processteg. På fabriken i Bäckhammar ser
rollen annorlunda ut, mer övergripande
med ansvar för allt, från in- och utlastning
till arbete i labb.
4 | Beyond #1/2011 Current awareness from the Innventia Group

Profile
Per
Tomani
c o m i n g eve n t s
m a r c h
21 Workshop: Prospects for lignin-based carbon fibres
22-24 Nordic Wood Biorefinery Conference 2011
24 AFORE Workshop
a p r i l
5-7 Course: Product oriented wood supply and fibre processing
13 Defense of dissertation “Packaging Logistics Performance” by Chris Dominic
m ay
4-5 Packaging training
17-19 Meet Innventia at SPCI
For further information on coming events, see www.innventia.com
Perhaps it was a result of his driving
force to bring ideas to fruition that Per
Tomani took up the responsibility of
building up the Innventia Lignin Plant
in Bäckhammar. Building up operations
from a concept is something that has
always engaged him.
When Per first started to work at
Innventia in 1991, he worked on matters
concerning thepulp mill system closure
– bleaching, non-process elements, separation
technologies and chemical recovery.
Eventually, he was given the role of
business coordinator. This job included,
among other things, developing business
models and being responsible for managing
the Institute’s applications to the EU,
together with sales activities that led to
many interfaces for the company and for
the team carrying out these activities.
One of the big research programmes
at the end of the 1990s was KAM (the
Ecocyclic Pulp Mill). Per was given
the responsibility of working more with
those applications in KAM, which were
considered as having the best potential
for being realised and to develop them
further in the FRAM (Future Resourceadapted
Pulp Mill) Programme.
“It was very enjoyable, because there
were so many possibilities. In FRAM,
we could together with very engaged
companies and universities show that
our ideas worked and we were given the
opportunity of taking concepts all the
way to pilot scale and full scale trials.”
Per is now leading the LignoFuel
Programme, which is more ‘hands on’, but
he is also in a state of expectation. The
first industrial installations in LignoBoost
involve an impatient waiting time.
“If there’s anything I’m enthusiastic
about, it’s to see it in reality. To see that
what we’re doing will be of use.”
Per’s leisure-time activities include a
great interest in cooking and good wines.
However, fly fishing, skiing, singing in
a choir with approx. 1000 singers also
manage to take up some of his time.
c o n t a c t: per.tomani@innventia.com
Birgitta Sundblad appointed
President of Innventia
Birgitta Sundblad has been
appointed the new President of
Innventia AB. She will take up her
position on 1 July 2011, when the
current President, Professor Gunnar
Svedberg, is retiring.
At present, Birgitta Sundblad is the
Global Director of AFH (Away from
Home) Tissue Product Development and
Innovation at SCA, where she has had
various appointments for a little more
than 12 years. Throughout her career,
Birgitta has worked with research and
development, in which she has had several
leading positions in the chemical
and forest industries.
“Birgitta Sundblad’s experience in
research and development work, with
its emphasis on the customer and consumer,
will strengthen the development
of Innventia in being a world-leading
innovation partner,” states Director Mats
Nordlander, Chairman of the Innventia
Board.
Birgitta Sundblad comments, “I feel
both proud and honoured to be given this
challenge. I believe that my experience
as manager of interdisciplinary teams
will be a very good foundation for building
a strong, well structured company,
together with everyone at Innventia, not
only to meet the challenges of today but
also of the future.”
Birgitta, 53 years old and a Master
of Science in Chemical Engineering
since 1981, has divided her professional
life between SCA and Eka Chemicals
(Akzo Nobel). During these years, she
has mainly worked with research and
development matters, but she has also
worked in the fields of production, sales
and marketing. She was on the Board of
EIRMA (European Industrial Research
Management Association) from 2007
to 2010 and was consequently the first
woman to be a Vice Chairperson of the
EIRMA Board.
Current awareness from the Innventia Group Beyond #1/2011 | 5

From concept
to innovation
with FEX
In the development of research
results into final products and
processes, pilot-scale trials play a
significant role. The Innventia pilot
plant for paper production, FEX, has
been assisting in bridging the gap
between laboratory and reality since
the 1980s. The plant has continually
been augmented with up-to-date
technologies. A new flexible stock
preparation department was
recently added to it.
“Our aim is to generate an
environment, where our customers
can come and develop their
processes and products in an
industrially relevant way,” states
Torgny Persson, Director of Material
Processes, one of the Business
Areas at Innventia.
Instead of interrupting production and
carrying out expensive tests and trials in
their own mills, paper and pulp producers
and suppliers are able to test new
concepts and processes in the FEX Pilot
Plant. Also many research projects utilise
the plant to verify their results and
produce demonstrators from a project.
For example, with the aid of FEX,
it is possible to show what a paper is
like in reality, when using the stratified
forming technology during paper
production. Innventia worked with this
in Ecotarget, a large EU Project that
finished in 2008.
“With the aid of full-scale trials, we
can prove that the research results work
in reality, which is worth a lot when it
comes to taking research results even
further. With our new plant for producing
nanocellulose on a large scale we can
prove it also there. Without doubt, this
has been of enormous interest to our
customers.”
In addition to a paper machine, the
pilot plant at Innventia includes, among
other things, refiners, hydrocyclones and
screens for fractionation. Practically all
the sections are full-scale machines, but
their size is as small as possible. This
means that, during pilot trials, the conditions
that exist are exactly the same as
those at a mill, viz. the same dynamics,
the same speeds and the same conditions.
Torgny continues, “Our knowledge,
expertise and experience in this field are
first rate. We know exactly what to do in
the laboratory and what can’t be tested
in the pilot plant.”
“We’re certain that the results from
our pilot plant are correct. Let’s say
that a parameter increases by fifteen
percent, we can’t guarantee that it will
increase by exactly fifteen percent in the
industrial process. But we can guarantee
that the trend is correct. If there’s an
improvement in a trial held in the pilot
plant, then there’ll be an improvement
in the actual situation in the mill.”
There are very few pilot paper
machines of the same calibre as FEX in
the world that can run at full speed. A
great many experts are attached to the
“With the aid of full-scale trials, we can prove
that the research results work in reality,” says
Torgny Persson.
6 | Beyond #1/2011 Current awareness from the Innventia Group

A matter of
proof
The day Beyond meets with Dr. Mario
Wiltsche from Andritz, he is attending
a meeting at Innventia with other
industry partners. This time, it concerns
a Research Cluster Board meeting
but, previously, his reason for coming
here was often FEX, the pilot paper
machine.
“Pilot trials are very important for our
business. When developing new products,
the concept needs to be proven and
optimized. Pilot trials provide the basis
for a successful market release,” says
Mario Wiltsche.
For him, one of the advantages at
Innventia is the perfect environment
for going from laboratory scale to pilot
scale. As an example, he mentions the
development of the Andritz gapformer
PrimeForm TW, for board grades, when
two major series of pilot trials were carried
out in order to optimize this novel
concept. During these trials, Andritz
brought its components to FEX, which
had been rebuilt for such work.
“Actually, we are planning a couple of
similar trials right now,” Mario Wiltsche
comments without, giving any further
details.
Pilot trials are also important for
Andritz customer relations. They meet
their customers for joint trials at FEX.
“For instance, we need to validate the
guaranteed production capacity and the
paper quality, achievable by means of a
particular machine concept, so we can
show our customers that their requirements
can be met.”
Mario Wiltsche knows Innventia and
its pilot facilities very well. He concludes,
“We are glad to have the opportunity
of making our trials here, not
only for the use of the machine but
also to have Innventia’s considerable
knowledge-base available, in the form
of experts, such as Bo Norman, Daniel
Söderberg and Lennart Hermansson,
some of the ‘giants’ in sheet forming.”
pilot plant, including researchers and
world-class specialists, together with the
knowledge and know-how for best preparing
and operating a paper machine.
“I see this as one of our greatest
strengths, the combination of scientific
and practical expertise. We cover everything
from the highest scientific level to
knowing how to operate the machines
In connection to FEX there are many lab
resources, such as this unit for measuring flocking.
These resources are also of great importance for
process and product development.
for obtaining the best results in a process.
The dialogue between the researchers
and those operating the machines are
extremely valuable for our operations
here.”
After the extensions made to FEX,
which were inaugurated a year ago, the
pilot plant is special in another way.
Thanks to the flexible extensions, it is
possible to imitate almost every stock
preparation system. It is very easy to
adapt the pilot plant to meet customer
requirements.
“The pilot plant can offer amazing
opportunities for testing different kinds
of refining in the refining loop. In our
new stock preparation plant, we are able
to look at fractionation and screening.
It’s possible to divide a stock for paper
into different fractions and treat these
fractions in various ways. The different
parts are put together with hoses instead
of pipes, which makes it easy to combine
them in a variety of ways. The latest
news is that we since a month ago also
have pilot plant for producing nanocellulose.”
In recent years, the trend has been
to increase the focus on cost-effective
products, such as an increased content
of fillers in paper products and energy
efficient processes.
“It also become more common for
companies to work together, Torgny concludes.
This means that a company and
its suppliers jointly carry out trials.”
c o n t a c t: torgny.persson@innventia.com
Istället för att avbryta produktionen
och göra kostsamma tester i
det egna bruket kan pappers- och massatillverkare
testa ut nya koncept och
processer på FEX, Innventias pilotanläggning
för papperstillverkning. Anläggningen
inkluderar bland annat malning, fraktionering
med hydrocykloner, silning och en
pappersmaskin. Vid pilotförsöken råder
exakt samma förutsättningar som man
har i verkligheten på ett bruk: samma
dynamik, samma hastigheter och man får
samma förlopp.
Även många forskningsprojekt använder
anläggningen för att verifiera sina
resultat och kanske ta fram en demonstrator
från projektet. Med hjälp av FEX
gick det t ex att visa hur papperet blir i
verkligheten när man använder stratifieringsteknik,
något som Innventia arbetade
med inom det stora EU-projektet
Ecotarget som avslutades 2008.
10 – 14 June, 2012
International Paper Physics
Conference
www.paperconferences2012.com
8th International
Paper and Coating Chemistry
Symposium
Current awareness from the Innventia Group Beyond #1/2011 | 7

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B
Nanocellulose – for the
first time on a large scale
The world’s first pilot plant for production
of nanocellulose inaugurated
Innventia’s pilot plant for the production of nanocellulose was
inaugurated on 22 February, 2011. For the first time, it is possible
to produced nanocellulose on a large scale and to study the use
of nanocellulose in applications that require more material.
“For a long time, there’s been a great
deal of interest from the industry in utilising
nanocellulose as a strengthening
component in other materials, such as
paper, composites and plastics. In order
to develop such applications, the raw
material produced in a lab is not sufficient.
The new pilot plant is designed
for a production at 100 kg per day,” says
Mikael Ankerfors at Innventia.
All sub-steps are now in place in the
process and last week the production
began.
“As the only company in the world,
we’re extremely proud to be able to offer
the industry real opportunities to participate
in this field, which is so important
for the future. Now we begin to work
towards the next step: the installation of
a full scale process with a partner in the
industry,” concludes Mikael.
The inauguration was attended by
representatives from the industry as well
as, public funders and participants in
research related to nanocellulose. Besides
looking at the new facility opportunity
was offered to take a closer look at samples
of nanocellulose and various examples
of applications such as barrier films,
textile fibres and nanofoams made from
nanocellulose.”
c o n t a c t: mikael.ankerfors@innventia.com
Mikael Ankerfors
Nanocellulose produced at Innventia.
The official inauguration was carried out by Torgny Persson.
Den 22 februari invigde Innventia
världens första pilotanläggning för produktion
av nanocellulosa. Anläggningen gör det
möjligt att för första gången arbeta med
nanocellulosa i stor skala.
– Under en lång tid har vi sett ett stort
intresse från industrin för att utnyttja nanocellulosa
som en förstärkningskomponent
i andra material, som papper, kompositer
och plast. För att kunna utveckla sådana
applikationer är den mängd råvara som
producerats i ett labb inte tillräcklig, berättar
Mikael Ankerfors, Innventia.
Den nya pilotanläggningen är dimensionerad
för en produktion på 100 kg/dag.
Beyond is published by INNVENTIA AB | Legally responsible for the publication: Gunnar Svedberg (gunnar.svedberg@innventia.com)
Editor: Marianne Lockner (marianne.lockner@innventia.com) | ISSN: 1652-6503 | Print: SIB-Tryck, Norsborg
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