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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
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Beyond 1, 2011 - Innventia.com

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