FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki

New Cellulose Products and

Process Technologies

FIBIC annual seminar 20.11.2013

Anna Suurnäkki, VTT, FuBio Cellulose program manager

Kristiina Poppius-Levlin, VTT

Marja Rissanen, TUT

Jaakko Hiltunen, VTT

Jonni Ahlgren, Kemira

Katja Salmenkivi, Pöyry

FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki

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Forest industry searches for new products

FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki

FuBio Products from Dissolving Cellulose

Main objective

To develop novel, sustainable, and feasible

processes for production of

regenerated cellulose staple fibres

novel functional materials based on

cellulose beads, nonwovens or

thermoformable structures

water soluble cellulose chemicals

FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki

FuBio Products from Dissolved Cellulose

Target: value chains novel to forest industry

Water management

chemicals

Garments Technical

textiles

Hygienic products

Plastic like packaging

www.suominen.fi

FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki 5

Cellulose

beads to

e.g.medical

tableting

drying

washing collecting

Regenerated cellulose fibres for

textiles and nonwovens

Cellulose

absorbents for

hygiene products

Thermoplastic

cellulose to

fibres

Chemical

synthesis

Fibre spinning

Beads manufacturing

FuBio Products from Dissolving Cellulose

Approach

Water soluble

cellulose

chemicals

FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki

o

FuBio Products from Dissolving Cellulose

Foreseen impacts

Finnish knowledge platform fortified with world class research

and inventions in focus areas

Business and economy

Existing value chains equipped with breakthrough technical

tools

Potential new value chains based on wood cellulose

introduced

Novel business opportunities for value chain players:

pulp and paper companies, chemical suppliers, engineering

and machinery suppliers, and material converting companies

Environment, sustainability and safety

From oil based polymers and unsustainable cellulose sources

to wood cellulose in focus areas

Future process sustainability and workers safety by replacing

harmful process chemicals (e.g. in staple fibre production)

FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki

FuBio Cellulose – Result examples

FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki

Result example

Synthesis routes for cationic cellulose chemicals

Motivation: Cationic water soluble polymers is a growing market with key application

areas in water treatment, pulp & paper, oil, mining, cosmetics and textile industries

Target: A feasible synthesis route for cationic, water-soluble, cellulose-based flocculant

for paper and water treatment applications Effect of charge on polymer solubility

Qualitative and quantitative

opportunities evaluated

Activation

Cationization

Neutralization

Separation & Purification

Drying

Cellulose

Cationic cellulose

Process concept

Effect of polymer charge on performance

Results:

Extensive cationization chemistry mapping carried out

Techno-economic modelling of process concept carried out

FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki

Result example

Cellulose beads for medical applications

Results

New method for producing

cellulose beads developed to kg

scale

Beads can enable precise,

accurate and individualized dosing

of pharmaceuticals

Drugs were immersed in wet beads and dried

FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki

Dissolving grade pulp

Regeneration

Filtration, degas

No emissions

MERCERISATION, 18wt% naoh Combined mechanical and enzymatic

treatment

Aging Sulphurisation

Ripening

Dissolving, NaOH Alkaline slurry is frozen

and thawed

Finnish invention Biocelsol process as a basis

Process more lean and less polluting than viscose

Machinery the same as in viscose process - enhance

industrial take up of the technology

Process challenge: Pretreatment time and up-scaling

Result example

Water based regenerated fibre production process

Before

project

After project

Mechanical shredding 5h

combined

treatment

for 45min

at 30%

consistency,

up-scalable

Pulp consistency 20%

Batch size 0.5 kg

Enzymatic treatment 3h

Pulp consistency 5%

Batch size 0.5-5kg

Enzyme dosage, relative 1 0.25

Results

Feasible, up-scalable

pretreatment process

Fibres with excellent

water absorption

FuBio Cellulose Anna Suurnäkki

Result example

Novel solvent based regenerated fibre production process

Novel fibre spinning process based on ionic liquid dissolution of

wood cellulose

Example of the material demonstration