Break­through tech­no­lo­gies set to revolu­tion­ise paper and pulp industry and provide cli­mate solution

The European pulp and paper industry has searched for, and now found, break­through tech­no­logy con­cepts which can enable a com­pet­it­ive future in Europe. The example is a fas­cin­at­ing case study from one of Europe’s energy intens­ive industries. The European paper industry sup­plies a quarter of the glob­al mar­ket, employs 185,000 people in 520 com­pan­ies with a turnover of 75 bil­lion per year. At this year’s European Paper Week gath­er­ing in Brus­sels, the Con­fed­er­a­tion of European Paper Indus­tries (CEPI), unveiled eight con­cepts for break­through tech­no­lo­gies that provide solu­tions which can enable the future of the industry in Europe. Each solu­tion offers oppor­tun­ity to cre­ate value, reduce costs, improve mar­gins, rad­ic­ally change sec­tor oper­a­tions and allow massive decar­bon­isa­tion. In March 2011 the European Com­mis­sion set a chal­len­ging tar­get of ‑80% CO₂ reduc­tions by 2050. In Novem­ber 2011 the paper industry launched its own 2050 Roadmap that ana­lysed how to achieve this decar­bon­isa­tion tar­get while increas­ing value in the sec­tor by 50%. One year later, the industry fol­lowed up by launch­ing the Two Team Pro­ject which brought togeth­er the teams who have developed the eight con­cepts announced yes­ter­day. In this year-long com­pet­i­tion, two teams com­pris­ing of sci­ent­ists, com­pan­ies, sup­pli­ers and out­siders worked to identi­fy viable con­cepts that would help the industry achieve its object­ives. Cli­mate Action Com­mis­sion­er Con­nie Hede­gaard announced the win­ning team and win­ning concept from among the eight final­ists. She praised the efforts of the sec­tor: ​“Glob­al mar­kets for resource and energy effi­cient solu­tions will grow. CEPI Roadmap 2050 and the ideas pre­pared in the Two Team Pro­ject show that the European pulp and paper industry is ​‘tech­no­logy con­scious’ and ready for the future chal­lenges. It’s an example to be fol­lowed by oth­er sectors.” The win­ning concept is known as ​“deep eutect­ic solvents”. It is a brand new tech­no­logy which, at low tem­per­at­ures, breaks bio­mass down into con­stitu­ent parts which can then be used in the paper and pulp indus­tries. If util­ised at scale this tech­no­logy could rad­ic­ally change pulp and paper pro­duc­tion around the world and replace some of the most energy intens­ive parts of the cur­rent pro­cess. Deep eutect­ic solvents have seen remark­able res­ults at the labor­at­ory scale. In the com­ing months and years, they will need to be fur­ther stud­ied and developed. Com­ment­ing on the out­come of the com­pet­i­tion, Teresa Pre­s­as, CEPI Dir­ect­or Gen­er­al, said: ​“The res­ults are bey­ond expect­a­tions. While we have announced a win­ner, we are con­fid­ent that all the short­l­is­ted con­cepts have an import­ant role to play. We believe the teams have found the key to the largest indus­tri­al break­throughs in dec­ades in our industry. Now policy must be developed to sup­port the devel­op­ment of these tech­no­lo­gies.” Teresa Pre­s­as, CEPI Dir­ect­or Gen­er­al, went on to say: ​“Poli­cy­makers once thought tar­gets could be met with exist­ing tech­no­logy and beha­vi­our­al change. That is wrong. Break­through tech­no­lo­gies are needed to meet low car­bon tar­gets. Invest­ments in innov­a­tion need to focus on break­throughs, not on incre­ment­al growth. CEPI’s Two Team Pro­ject per­fectly illus­trates this” The Two Team Pro­ject went as far as any industry sec­tor can go in organ­ising an open innov­a­tion pro­cess and provid­ing pre-com­pet­it­ive leads. It is now up to indi­vidu­al com­pan­ies to take the next step and devel­op the con­cepts. This will need new forms of cooper­a­tion, and the sup­port of European and nation­al policy makers. The right con­di­tions must be put in place to enable research, pilot, demon­stra­tion and invest­ments. Source: Biobased Indus­tries Con­sor­ti­um (BIC)