Objective
The EU paper and paper chemicals' industries export goods with a 1994 value of 4,6 billion ECU to the rest of the world. The paper industry is Europe's leading user of waste materials, processing approximately 28 million tonnes/year. In order to improve their current performance, new approaches to enhance sustainable paper production are required. A major environmental challenge is water consumption which is still between 10 and 20 m3/tonne for mechanical filler and coated grades. The barrier to reducing this is Dissolved and Colloidal (DisCo) materials.
Accumulation of DisCo costs the EU industry over 2 billion ECU/year from lost production and increased water and chemical consumption. The problem is getting worse as more wastepaper is used and changes in pulp bleaching practices, with environmental benefits, increase the soluble content of papermaking raw materials.
This project's objective is to reduce water consumption to 5 m3/tonne by developing and applying new methods, chemicals and enzymes for controlling DisCo. Innovative on line measurement and control systems will also be developed. Implementation of the project's results has the potential to save the EU P&B industry over 1,3 billion ECU in energy, raw materials and chemicals.
This project is part of the coordinated research action of the SUSTECH program. The partners are 3 paper chemical and control companies, 3 papermaking companies, 2 IRO's and an HEI with the multidisciplinary skills needed to achieve success.
Funding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
21201 Raisio
Finland
Participants (8)
20500 Turku / Abo
3001 Heverlee
76530 Grand-couronne
8101 Gratkorn
90101 Oulu
1780 AM Den Helder
6870 AA Renkum
02044 Espoo
