Displaying items by tag: The Paper Province
Algae provides new fuel for pulp and paper mills
Culturing of algae could provide environmental benefits and new business opportunities for pulp and paper mills around the world. That's the idea behind a new swedish project coordinated by The Paper Province. Together with a number of stakeholders the cluster organisation recently conducted a feasibility study on how mircoalgae couls be used to make bio fuel from mill residues.
- This shows the strength found in The Paper Province, where nearly one hundred companies with different specialties interact with academia and public actors. This creates opportunities for innovative solutions and is one of the reasons that The Paper Province ranks as a world-class Clusters, says Maria Hollander, CEO at The Paper Province.
Waste converted into resources
The idea is that the algae use nutrients in the mills' warm wastewater and binds carbon dioxide from waste gas. Algaes could be used to produce bio-fuel, -oil or -gas. The new process will reduce eutrophication and carbon dioxide emissions and create new revenue streams for mills.
- A very exicting project that ties together a range of stakeholders. In time, the project will hopefully contribute to increased profiability for the mills, says Magnus Persson, head of The Paper Province's center for energy efficiency, Energy Square.
Reduces the environmental footprint
An initial feasibility study identified potential partners along the chain, from plant to end-users and outlined what process might look like. Now pilot studies are to be done at Nordic Paper Bäckhammer, a mill producing around 200 000 tonnes of unbleached pulp and 130 000 tonnes of unbleached Kraft paper a year.
-This could help to strengthen our revenues within the energy sectors, which makes us less sensitive to economic cycles. It would also help to reduce our environmental footprint significantly. said Tarjei Svensen, Lab and Environmental Manager at Nordic Paper Bäckhammer.
Apart from The Paper Province and Nordic Paper Bäckhammer the project involves a number of other actors; Head Engineering, Karlstad University, Nynas, Regional Energy Agency of Värmland, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Svanberg Bona Officia, Sweco and Tengbom. The project is supported by Vinnova, the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems.
At the beginning the project is primarily focused on the pulp and paper industry, but the process could eventually be interesting for other industries and users as well.
Algae can give new fuel to the mills.
New cluster leader at The Paper Province
Maria Hollander succeeds Mats Williams as CEO of The Paper Province. Maria, who has held management positions within Tieto
and own businesses, will assume the position on August 15.
“I’m excited to lead an organization that means so much to the pulp and paper industry. I hope to contribute to The Paper Province
continuing being a positive force for development and growth amongst our member companies," says Maria Hollander.
Between 1995 and 2010 Maria worked at Ericsson and Tieto, including ten years as Head of Department. She has also run a couple of own businesses.
“Maria is a talented leader with high social ability and strong regional commitment. Her personal experience running small business is an advantage as
there is great potential among our small and medium-sized member companies. Therefore, we are very pleased to welcome Maria to the Paper Province”
says Per Bjurbom, president of The Paper Province.
World-class cluster
The Paper Province was initiated in 1999 and is a cluster organisation for the pulp and paper industry in the Swedish region of Värmland and surrounding areas.
The cluster organisation is owned and managed by some 90 member companies active in more than 100 countries. The Paper Province supports the development of innovative forms of collaboration that improve competitive strength and increase growth within the pulp and paper industry.
The Paper Province is home to major machinery and process system suppliers such as Metso, Andritz, GL&V, Voith and BTG, as well as technology and IT consultants such as ÅF, Pöyry, Citec, Sogeti and Tieto. There are also paper mills and packaging production units operated by Stora Enso, Billerud, Rottneros, Nordic Paper, Tetra Pak and Mondi, alongside an extensive network of suppliers and contractors.
Recently the European Cluster Observatory, monitoring European cluster on behalf of the European Commission, identified The Paper Province as a world-class cluster.