Keine Bilder? Webversion COMPETENCE IN PAPER NewsletterJanuary 2022 From the officeDear members and friends of ZELLCHEMING, We hope you have all had a good start to the new year, for which we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best once again! We are pleased to be able to start the year 2022 right away with good news: After we were able to register a very good response and lively interest from potential exhibitors recently, we are very pleased to be able to back up this development with the corresponding figures: At this point in time, 75 companies have already been won over as exhibitors for Expo 2022! The booking volume for exhibition stands is thus already more than 41% higher than in the same period in 2021, when we had still assumed that we would be able to offer a face-to-face event. We are very positive about this development, also because the number of occupied spaces is also significantly higher in comparison. We expect the trend to consolidate and will do our utmost to realize an optimal event for exhibitors and participants - live and on-site, as well as virtually, in the course of a digital reach extension via our ZELLCHEMING Virtual World! Best regards and stay healthy! Petra Hanke From the associationCall for Posters: ZELLCHEMING Conference Cellulose Based Materials - From Science to TechnologyWe invite poster presentations in all areas of polysaccharide chemistry, paper chemistry, paper physics and paper technology. Both science and industry contributions are welcome. The guidelines and template can be downloaded here. Note: All submissions accepted for the poster presentation at the conference will have the opportunity to present their posters in a poster introduction session prior to the poster show. Dates
From society & industryNew analysis on the greenhouse gas footprint of corrugated and reusable packagingAnyone who wants to evaluate the climate friendliness of different packaging solutions should look at specific cases as far as possible. A new analysis by the bifa Umweltinstitut in cooperation with the Papiertechnische Stiftung (PTS) has implemented this and has come to the conclusion when comparing different mail order packaging: corrugated cardboard boxes performed better than reusable plastic boxes due to their lower weight. In a comparison of shipping bags made of corrugated board base paper and reusable shipping bags, the fiber-based variant also had the advantage. In the overall view, product protection should also be given high priority from the point of view of climate protection, emphasizes the Verband der Wellpappen-Industrie e. V. (Association of the Corrugated Board Industry). (VDW), which commissioned the analysis together with the German Association of the Paper Industry (Die Papierindustrie e. V.). This is because the ecological footprint of the transported goods is usually many times greater than that of the packaging. Cepi: Commitment to support the transition to sustainable productsThe European paper industry fully supports the EU's goal to make Europe the world's first carbon-neutral continent by 2050 and to build a European circular economy. The carbon neutrality target requires the European pulp and paper industry to become even more sustainable, efficient and innovative. The commitment has been made by the entire industry and covers various products and materials produced by the sector. As the umbrella organization representing the industry at EU level, Cepi will also activate its existing networks with users of paper and wood fiber products for this purpose, which include many large global companies. This will ensure that the commitment has sufficient traction and a real impact on climate neutrality, resource efficiency and circular economy. The new commitment is based on three main pillars:
In total, sixteen commitments are included in these pillars, four of which are quantitative. Specifically: The industry commits to sourcing 80% of the wood, chips, and sawmill byproducts purchased by the industry from forests certified as sustainably managed by 2025. The industry is committed to providing fiber-based solutions to the market to replace at least 25% of current plastic packaging by 2025. As the current recycling champion, the industry is poised to raise the bar to achieve recycling rates of 76% for paper and 90% for fiber-based packaging by 2030. Adopt design guidelines that require paper-based products and packaging to be 100% recyclable and reusable by 2025, where practical and feasible. From the membershipEssity on CDP’s prestigious A List for sustainabilityThe hygiene and health company Essity has once again been recognized for its leadership in sustainability by the global non-profit environmental organization CDP. The company was awarded a place on CDP’s prestigious A List for its work in combating deforestation. Essity is also recognized for its environmental leadership in the index for climate change, achieving A- from CDP. With its ambitious efforts to prevent deforestation and promote responsible forestry, Essity is a leader in terms of its objectives, actions, and transparency in the environmental field. One of the ways Essity works to combat deforestation is through the Consumer Goods Forum and its Forest Positive Coalition of Action, in which Essity, together with other companies and organizations, systematically addresses deforestation and forest destruction and promotes biological diversity. In 2021, Essity has, for example, co-financed a project that aims to increase the uptake of sustainable forest management practices in north-western Russia, as well as engage communities and other local stakeholders in a landscape planning process. “Through our leading hygiene and health solutions, we improve well-being around the world. As part of our continuous work to reduce our environmental footprint, we have set clear sustainability goals. We have roadmaps in place for achieving these goals and an active agenda. CDP’s recognition demonstrates that we are making important progress, thereby yielding improvements for our customers, consumers and our planet”, says Magnus Groth, President and CEO of Essity. CDP’s annual environment-related data collection and assessment process is widely recognized as the leading benchmark when it comes to ensuring the transparency of companies’ environmental activities. Infinited Fiber selects AFRY as primary development partner for its new flagship factoryFinnish fashion and textile technology group Infinited Fiber Company has selected ZELLCHEMING member company AFRY as the key technical partner for its new flagship plant to produce regenerated textile fibers for the world's leading fashion and apparel brands. Each year, more than 92 million tons of textile waste are generated worldwide, much of which ends up in landfills or incinerators. At the same time, demand for textile fibers is growing rapidly. Infinited Fiber Company's unique technology transforms cellulose-based raw materials, such as cotton rich textile waste, into a high quality regenerated textile fiber called Infinna. The technology, which can be licensed for both new mills and retrofits to existing pulp or viscose production facilities, provides a solution to eliminate waste and reduce the burden of limited virgin resources on the textile industry. The phases of Infinited Fiber technology for regenerating textile waste into brand new Infinna textile fibers (from left): shredded textile waste, purified cellulose, cellulose carbamate powder, liquid cellulose, regenerated Infinna textile fiber Infinited Fiber Company currently operates pilot plants in Finland and has announced plans to build a flagship factory in Finland to meet strong demand from international apparel brands. The flagship plant will be the first of its kind in the world and will use textile waste as raw material. Production is scheduled to begin in 2024. The plant's annual production capacity is expected to be 30,000 tons of Infinna fiber, which is the amount of fiber needed for approximately 100 million T-shirts. AFRY's contract includes basic engineering for the new mill to support the final investment decision. Valmet supplies rebuild for production of recycled lightweight board at VPK's Alizay millZELLCHEMING member company Valmet will supply VPK's Alizay mill in France with a grade conversion rebuild. The project will rebuild the paper machine, which currently produces fine paper, to produce recycled light containerboard grades to support Alizay's plans for long-term sustainable development in the circular economy. Commissioning is scheduled for late 2022. "We have excellent relationships with VPK Group from previous projects, for example the grade conversion of Blue Paper in France. I had the impression that we were also able to adapt well to the customer's needs in this project: As we are familiar with the machine in question, we were able to offer proven and reliable technical solutions that met the requirements in a cost-effective way," says Markus Laitila, Director, Large Projects, Valmet. From the network25th Otto von Guericke Award for power distributor from the paper machineThe AiF Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen "Otto von Guericke" e.V. (German Federation of Industrial Research Associations) has been awarding the €10,000 prize since 1997, this year for the 25th time, to scientists for special innovative achievements in the field of precompetitive industrial collaborative research (IGF). The energy supply is facing a dramatic change. Green hydrogen is seen as a great source of hope. A research project that uses paper-based electricity distributors to effectively reduce the cost of the water electrolysis required to produce this hydrogen was awarded the Otto von Guericke Prize on December 1, 2021. The AiF Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen "Otto von Guericke" e.V. has been awarding the prize, which is endowed with 10,000 euros, since 1997, this year for the 25th time, to scientists for special innovative achievements in the field of precompetitive industrial collaborative research (IGF). In addition to the basic supply of electricity, all other sectors, such as mobility or the chemical industry, must also be converted step by step to renewable energies. "Here, hydrogen is recommended as an energy carrier produced by water electrolysis when there is a surplus of electricity - so-called green hydrogen," explained Dr. Ralf Hauser from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden at the award ceremony. However, the large-scale dissemination of this technology requires cost-effective electrolysis systems. "In the proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis cells required for this purpose, special current distributors consisting of fine metallic nonwovens, fabrics and sintered bodies made of titanium cause the outstanding share of costs," Vladimir Philippi from the Center for Fuel Cell Technology (ZBT) in Duisburg continued. This is why alternative materials and technological concepts are needed at this point in particular. left to right: Wladimir Philippi - Dr. Ralf Hauser - Sebastian Stypka In an IGF project, Hauser and Philippi, together with Franziska Bauer and Dr. Stefan Knohl from the Papiertechnische Stiftung (PTS) in Heidenau and Sebastian Stypka, formerly of ZBT Duisburg and now with AIR LIQUIDE Deutschland GmbH, have developed an innovative paper-based material for this task. "This will make it possible to produce functional flow distributors on highly productive paper machines in the future. Compared to the previous titanium sintered bodies, the new 'paper' saves one-fifth of the costs," says Bauer. Thanks to a considerable increase in efficiency also in the electrolysis process, Stypka says a decisive contribution has been made to a sustainable energy supply. Stay up-to-date and follow us! You can object to the delivery of our newsletter at any time. Please click on the "Unsubscribe" button. Verein ZELLCHEMING Phone: +49 (0) 6074 - 72860-45 Chairman: Dr.-Ing. Ernst-Ulrich Wittmann Twitter: @ZELLCHEMING |