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SP PROCESSUM

Activity Report 2015

2 SP Processum Activity Report 2015

SP Processum’s development since the start of 2003 has been nothing short of fantastic. Over the last eight years we have increased in size sixfold and cur-rently have 19 employees. In coopera-tion with industry, academia, incuba-tors and other regional stakeholders in the innovation system, our region has now firmly established itself as a lead-ing national hub for forest biorefinery development.

We have acquired a brand and have an appeal that enables us to recruit the sharp-est research minds and project managers within our field, and our infrastructure for scaling up biorefinery processes con-tinues to evolve. In 2016, we will build the world’s first pilot plant for produc-ing nanocrystalline cellulose, alongside MoRe, Holmen and the Israeli company Melodea. The technology behind the pilot plant comes courtesy of the He-brew University in Jerusalem. The fact that the first pilot of its kind is being built here at the Domsjö Development Area site is a real feather in the cap for the environment that we have created together. As SP Processum’s new man-aging director, I am very excited to have been entrusted with the task of taking on and leading this operation and its development, and look forward to the challenge.

The pre-conditions for shifting up another gear in 2016 appear extremely positive. The Swedish government has declared that Sweden aims to be one of the world’s first fossil-free welfare countries, and it is with pride and pleas-ure that we now hear our old motto of ‘Anything made from oil can be made better from wood’ being trumpeted by both the forest industry and the chem-ical industry, as well as he Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Mikael Damberg and Minister for Rural Affairs Sven-Erik Bucht. Over the past year, we (and I include our former MD Clas Engström in that) have worked hard to try to help decision-makers create op-portunities for industry in its work to promote the transition of our society to a bioeconomy, drawing on the forest as a resource. Ministerial visits, a suc-cessful Innovation Race, organised in partnership with the Swedish Forest In-dustries Federation and BioInnovation, and a contribution to the government’s Research and Innovation bill, which we submitted at the government’s request, are just a few examples of relevant ac-

tivities. We see the results of this work in the strategies that are now being produced and in the government’s con-tinuing efforts to develop action plans for the bioeconomy.

Our Vinnväxt project, the Biorefinery of the Future, which has provided the foundation for both our own develop-ment and that of the region in the last eight years, concludes in September 2016. As Vinnova has seen what im-portant growth engines these region-

al initiatives are, we now have the chance to apply to extend the project by three years. This provides us with a fantastic opportunity

to achieve our objective and realise a number of biorefinery processes and products which we have developed together with member companies and other partners.

We hope that the next few years will see the construction of industrial facil-ities for the production of for example protein and ethanol/bioplastic and for refining stripper methanol. In order to be able to contribute fully to realising this goal, our focus in 2015 has been on rallying support for continued finan-cial support among member compa-nies and regional financial backers. We feel certain that we have the support of both member companies and local financial backers. That is why we are now confidently shifting up a gear and preparing to make the transition. To-gether with the other elements of our regional innovation system, we want to see our region move from being a lead-ing national environment for biorefin-ery development to becoming a leading international player.

Magnus HallbergMD, SP Processum AB

We are shifting up a gear and moving forward!

Anything made from oil can be made

better from wood

Innovation Race

Pilot plant for forest methanol

Green liquor sludge and mine waste

Single cell grows

Locally Grown Plastic draws to a close

International projects

International projects

New projects

NanoSelect has been concluded

Forest Chemistry provides good foundation

Bioraff Botnia – a Finnish-Swedish project

Facility for chemical synthesis

Demonstration plant for nanocellulose

New pilot equipment

A biorefinery partner

Multiple ministerial visits

Green business development

Environmental award from County Council

PhD and degree projects

SP Processum in the media

SP Processum’s expansion continues

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The Swedish forest and chemical industries are working hard to develop tomorrow’s new forest products, such as bioplastics, biomaterials, new textile materials, biofuels, etc. One initiative being pursued is the Biorefinery of the Future in which brand new value chains based on raw ma-terials sourced from Swedish forests have been identified and developed, predomi-nantly from a techni-cal perspective.

In order to stimulate the innovation process, BioInnovation, the Swedish Forest Industries Federation and SP Pro-cessum, assisted by Innovation Plant, organised a 54-hour Innovation Race in Umeå that attracted 70 or so key deci-sion-makers from the authorities, mu-nicipalities, universities, institutions and companies. The starting point for the race was some examples of interesting value chains, and the participants set

out to investigate how these could be realised and what changes are needed in the Swedish innovation system to en-able a bioeconomy to become reality.

The aim was to find a roadmap for complete value chains in order to see

how research results can be turned into profitable innovations. The race resulted in nine different propos-als for the continuation of development and ways in which various policies and platforms

can pave the way for a bioeconomy in Sweden.

The results illustrate the challenges and opportunities facing the relevant Swedish industries once the bioecono-my becomes a reality, and how political means should be used to facilitate a breakthrough. These results will con-tinue to be studied within the BioIn-novation platform and other forums. The Minister for Enterprise and Inno-

vation, Mikael Damberg, was present when the results were reported and expressed great interest in them. The same report was presented a week lat-er in Stockholm to a forum comprising directors-general and decision-makers.

helps to realise a bioeconomyINNOVATION RACE

Swedish bioeconomy – a strategy for bio-based services and products

Bioeconomy – global challenges and Swedish solutions

Green VAT shift – a wonderful opportunity

Lignin refinery – converting lignin to biofuels and chemicals

The small chemical factory – re-industrialisation

Wood to thread

Open bio plant – entrepreneur-ship in bio-based development

Forest fish – a new feed source with twice the environmental benefit

Biosmart – labelling bio-based content contributes to a bioeconomy

S E L E C T E D I N N O VAT I O N S

The innovation race gave nine

different proposals

“The bioeconomy of-fers an opportunity to re-industrialise Sweden and is in line with the idea of an innovation council,” says Mikael Damberg.


The Forest Methanol project is now entering the next phase with a pi-lot plant for refining so-called stripper methanol being built at Metsä Board in Husum. The story of forest methanol is the story of a researcher hitting on an interesting idea, a large player jumping at it, and a partnership between com-panies from different industries creat-ing a process that is now being tested on a larger scale.

Methanol is a versatile chemical that is a raw material for a long list of products, including formaldehyde, acetic acid, dimethyl ether, fuels, etc. Normally, methanol is manufactured in very large-scale processes and the raw materials are natural gas or coal and steam. However, methanol also forms in digesters at sulphate plants, togeth-er with a number of other compounds, and is collected at the top of the digest-ers. Stripper methanol also contains a number of sulphur compounds, ammo-nia, turpentine, water and a number of unidentified substances.

In the mid-2000s Valmet (then Metso Power) analysed methanol lev-

els in a number of process streams at a sulphate plant. Having analysed the streams, someone hit upon the idea of oxidising the sulphur components in the gas in order to purify the strip-per methanol. A joint venture between Valmet and Processum enabled pure methanol to be produced from the stripper gas, which led to a larger pro-ject, which in turn resulted in a patent for the method being granted in 2009.

The project later gained momentum through the broad Forest Chemistry pro-ject that was initiated by Processum and fi-nanced by the parties involved (the Swedish chemical and forest industries and research institutes) and Vinnova. A laboratory was built at Iggesund Mill and the Forest Methanol project is now moving forward with the construction of a pilot plant in Husum.

An important component in the puri-fication of stripper methanol is Valmet’s PuriMeth system and an extension of the existing methanol system at a sul-phate pulp mill. The stripper gases are fed into the PuriMeth system and puri-fied in a two-step process. The meth-anol is collected in the methanol tank for subsequent use/supply. Ammonium sulphate is formed during the process, which is fed with the waste liquid to the biological treatment plant. The sul-phurous residual gases are burned.

“The method will be tested at the planned pilot plant for refining a sub-stream in the existing methanol system at Metsä Board Husum,” says David Blomberg Saitton of SP Processum. “The project is a joint venture involv-ing Valmet AB, Metsä Board Husum, Perstorp AB, Holmen AB, SP Process Development and SP Processum, with funding from the parties involved,

as well as from the Kempe Foundations and Vinnova. We now have an opportunity to test the process during continuous operation with industrial stripper methanol, which will provide valuable infor-

mation ahead of any future upscaling activities.”

“The system is housed in a ten-me-tre high rig and will process a subflow of approx. 30 kg per hour. Valmet is principally responsible for building the plant, with the parties involved in the Forest Methanol project helping to evaluate it. If everything goes to plan, it should be commissioned in April 2016. If the technology delivers in line with the results so far, the process will be an excellent example of how a problem in a process can be transformed into an opportunity, with methanol able to be used as a source of energy or sold as a chemical product.”

Pilot plant for refining

FOREST METHANOL built at Metsä Board Husum

Forest Methanol will provide valuable information ahead of any future upscaling

activities


Several years ago SP Processum in partnership with elements from aca-demia and industry began developing methods to use green liquor sludge in the post-treatment of mine waste. Suc-cessful research has taken the methods from concept and laboratory-scale to almost full-scale application.

Green liquor sludge is produced dur-ing the chemical recovery process at pulp mills. The sludge has so far been used on and off to cover individual dump sites, but is otherwise regard-ed as something of a disposal prob-lem. The mining industry, on the other hand, has problems finding safe and economic methods for covering mine waste from decommissioned mines. Research conducted at Luleå Universi-ty of Technology and Örebro University has shown that green liquor sludge is useful for covering mine waste, as well as that an injection method also helps to prevent heavy metals and other con-taminants leaking out.

A two-stage project headed up by SP Processum, in cooperation with Boliden, Ragn-Sells, MTC, SCA Obbola, Domsjö Fabriker, Luleå University of Technology, Ecoloop and Ramböll, has led to the development of a method for covering mine waste on a large scale using a mixture of moraine and green liquor sludge.

“It seems that the addition of around ten per cent green liquor sludge is enough to take full advantage of the hydraulic properties of the sludge while

also ensuring a sufficiently compact sealing layer,” says Gunnar Westin, project manager for SP Processum’s projects in this field. “In the summer of 2014 mine waste was covered with a layer of mixture measuring 8x45x2 m3. The aim was to see whether the meth-od employed on a larger scale could de-liver in line with earlier research results, i.e. that the layer serves as a barrier to water and oxygen, which minimises ox-idation and the leakage of metals over time.”

The results are very promising

The infiltration of water through the sealing layer was monitored during 2015 and the results are very prom-ising. The layer will continue to be monitored for some years, providing researchers with valuable information. The promising results have led to stage two being initiated. Preparatory work is in full swing to be able to apply a sealing layer, comprising a mixture of moraine and green liquor sludge, to the mine waste at Näsliden during the spring/summer of 2016.

In 2015, the GLAD project (Green Liquor Sludge VS Acid Rock Drain-age) received SEK 5.9 million from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic En-vironmental Research to continue de-veloping methods to treat mine waste using green liquor sludge from the pulp industry. The principal applicants for the project are Örebro University and

Luleå University of Technology. SP Pro-cessum is also a contributing partner to the project.

“We are delighted by Mistra’s deci-sion to continue supporting universities and companies in efforts to develop methods to cover mine waste using green liquor sludge,” says Gunnar Wes-tin. “We already work closely in this field with both Örebro University and Luleå University of Technology, and I look forward to seeing the results from the GLAD project.”

“The forest and mining industries working together with waste manage-ment companies and aided by research have succeeded in delivering a win-win situation. Green liquor sludge may now become a raw material that the mining industry can use to cover increasing vol-umes of mine waste. Globally, this tech-nology has great potential.”

Mine waste successfully treated with green liquor sludge

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Gunnar Westin with dried green liquor sludge.

The waste is covered with a mixture of moraine and green liquor sludge.

Photo: Pär Odén, RagnSells


“It began as a concept to produce single cell protein, SCP, using fermen-tation of a residue stream from a bi-orefinery or pulp mill,” explains Björn Alriksson, a project manager at SP Pro-cessum. “It is now an established tech-nology that is attracting a great deal of interest and driving new projects with both Swedish and international part-ners.”

It all began on a laboratory scale in 2011 and continued with the Micro-Feed project – an EU/Eurostars project looking into production of sin-gle cell protein. The project’s main aim was to develop a replacement product for fishmeal. With SP Processum’s bio-reactor, BioBo, the method was able to go from Laboratory scale to pilot scale and it was then scaled up to demon-stration scale at the Biorefinery Demo Plant, which is run by SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden.

“Proof, that not only does the pro-cess work on a large scale, but also that the protein produced can be used in a

successful fish feed, came in the form of results from Tilapia fish studies. The fish were fed the protein and grew just as well as if they had been fed on tradi-tional fishmeal. In 2014 the project be-came the first Swedish research project to be awarded an EARTO Innovation Prize on account of the huge potential offered by commercialising the technol-ogy and product.”

We have considered other raw materials

“2015 saw the conclusion of the SCP from forest raw materials project that had been supported by SP Processum’s R&D council,” says Björn Alriksson. “During the project we looked at var-ious raw materials, including ones we had worked with previously and new ones that we hadn’t yet analysed. We have further developed the technology in question, which puts us on a much firmer footing. As the aim is eventually to produce human food, there are fac-tors other than purely technical ones that affect when and how production of single cell protein can be commer-cialised. Legislation and regulations are examples of such factors, which we have studied during the project. We have also looked at the sorts of stake-holders that exist along the value chain for production of fish feed, because it is important to have knowledge of the whole market.”

“Development has come so far that we can no longer talk about just one project, but rather a project tree,” continues Björn. “Single cell is thus no longer all that’s happening. The

ProffAqua project is a joint venture be-tween Matis in Iceland, SP Processum, and other Nordic stakeholders, which will test both fly larvae and cultivated single cell protein as a potential feed for salmon. The Swedish-Norwegian project Bioraff –More from wood will produce and use single cell protein for both fish feed and other food produc-tion. An economic and market analysis, as well as an LCA, will be carried out in close dialogue with stakeholders from the value chain, from the forest indus-try to the fish feed market.”

Single cell’s project tree is growing

“As the various projects have shown that the concept and the technology that has been developed are viable, the process has gathered momentum in the form of other parties showing an interest in the field and wanting to cooperate with us. Single cell’s project tree is therefore growing new branch-es, which are not just branches of re-search; we now also have an opportu-nity to conduct commissioned projects for individual stakeholders who want in on this interesting field for purely com-mercial purposes. Here in Örnsköldsvik we have a unique setup, with equip-ment that can cater for everything from laboratory scale to large demon-stration-scale studies, which combined with our expertise in the field attracts stakeholders interested in single cell protein for various purposes,” con-cludes Björn.

SINGLE CELL is no longer alone

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Photo:: Jonas Forsberg


Plastic is currently manufactured extensively from oil. Locally Grown Plastic is a project that has examined the conditions for developing a Euro-pean industry that utilises and converts by-products from forestry into bio-based plastic products. Biopolyethyl-ene, which has its origins in the forest, is not currently produced anywhere in the world.

“We have tied up the loose ends and concluded the Locally Grown Plastic pro-ject,” says Jonas Markusson of SEKAB and the project manager for Locally Grown Plastic. “The aim has been to identify technical challenges, to identify and evaluate the business models that offer the best conditions, and to con-duct a market study and analysis of the conditions for realising the value chain. I’m talking about both the end prod-uct – bio-based polyethylene – and the by-products from the process.”

“We have identified various value chains and now know where there is potential for realising production of forest-based bioplastic. The conditions differ depending on your geographi-cal location, which comes down to the distance you need to transport forest raw materials and where the various process stages are located. Today, all bioplastic is made from raw materials

from agriculture, but in the future raw materials could come from the forest, which would not compete with agricul-tural land.”

“Our analyses have included look-ing at financial risks for markets for both the main product and the various by-products. This has enabled us to confirm that the price for the forest raw materials is considerably less volatile than the traditional raw materials used by the European polyethylene market.”

“The stakeholders involved now have all the project information to hand, so the likelihood of our results being re-alised, and when, depends on factors such as companies’ investment plans, strategies and potential synergies. For forest raw materials there is already an efficient logistics flow from logging to industry, while corresponding cost-ef-fective logistics are absent for agricul-tural residues. Forest raw materials are also available all year round, while ac-cess to raw materials from agriculture varies throughout the year.”

“This project has created a network of Swedish companies from forestry through to the consumer. These include Sveaskog, Holmen, Södra, SEKAB, Borealis, Trioplast, NorgesGruppen, Tetra Pak, ICA, Polarbröd and SP Pro-cessum. The project has generated

knowledge transfer, with companies’ technological and commercial capabil-ities having contributed to the evalua-tion of the value chain being examined from forest to plastic. Moreover, there is also an immense future value in par-ties having come together in this way in a project of common interest,” con-cludes Jonas Markusson.

Locally grown plastic draws to a close

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That we could produce plastic in Sweden

based on domestic forest raw materials is undeniably a great

opportunity


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Photo: Trioplast


SP Processum is participating in the FiberJet project, alongside Paper Province, Fly Green Fund, SkyNRG and a number of parties interested in the value chain from forest to aviation fuel. The aim is to determine which system ‘from root to wing’ is most suitable for Sweden, given our climate and our forest raw materials, delivery systems, technology and conversion processes. In addition to the technical and logistics issues, the project will also study what conditions are needed to achieve the best economic outcome possible for a complete aviation fuel system based on forest raw materials and/or side streams from the forest industry.

MOBILE FLIP is a four-year EU pro-ject involving 12 organisations from Sweden, Finland, France, Greece and Estonia, including SP Processum. The aim is to develop and demonstrate mobile processes for the treatment of underexploited agro-based and forest-based biomass. The key pro-cesses being evaluated are pelletis-ing, torrefaction, slow pyrolysis and hydrothermal carbonisation and

pre-treatment. The products would partially be used for fuel in various forms, replenishing soil nutrients, chemicals for the wood panel indus-try, as well as intermediates for sugar platforms.

The objective for the project is to reduce transport costs for these processes, with the end product in many cases being used in the area where the mobile unit is located. In

cases where the end user is some-where else, processing the biomass on site can reduce transport vol-umes or the number of times you need to transport it. SP Processum is involved in the process for hydro-thermal pretreatment of biomass, as well as the purification and con-centration of the resulting product. www.mobileflip.eu

I N T E R N AT I O N A L P R O J E C T S

The fact that we are a resource hub for expertise, pilot plants and industrial partners has put SP Processum firmly on the map. When we summarise the projects we have participated in during 2015, we feel both humble and proud and are all set to welcome new project constellations in the future. The environment that is emerging, which enables us to go from laboratory scale to a demonstration scale for industrial implementation is unique, as well as competence and networks in key areas of refining forest raw materials have been enhanced by employing post-doctoral researchers.

International projects important for exchanging experiences

MOBILE FLIP – Mobile and Flexible Industrial Processing of Biomass

FiberJet – Aviation fuel from forests

AERTO’s project meeting at SP Processum

AERTO, , the Associated Euro-pean Research and Technology Organisations, held a project meeting at SP Processum in Örnsköldsvik in November. The project aims to develop green chemicals and materials from lignocellulose. A number of Eu-ropean research institutes sent representatives to the meeting, which discussed the results and future plans from the various subprojects.

http://www.mobileflip.eu


NordBIO holds network meeting at SP ProcessumNordBIO is a network in the bi-ochemical field, comprising Matis from Iceland, SINTEF from Nor-way, and Lund University and SP Processum from Sweden. The purpose of the network is to dis-cuss, identify and to prepare ap-plications within suitable fields of research.

“This meeting was the first in a series of three,” says Björn Al-riksson, SP Processum R&D and the meeting’s host. “The various parties introduced their activities, and as we were here in Örn-sköldsvik we took the opportu-nity to show our pilot equipment and the Biorefinery Demo Plant.”

I N T E R N AT I O N A L P R O J E C T S

Rewarding visit by Dutch Biorefinery ClusterThirteen representatives from the Dutch Biorefinery Cluster visited SP Pro-cessum and member companies based at the Domsjö Development Area in June for mutual presentations, discussions and study visits. The visit proved extremely rewarding for all parties and there is great potential for future cooperation. During the meeting, the visitors introduced their activities and set out their ambitions and strategies for a bioeconomy at national level and for the Dutch Biorefinery Cluster and the Dutch paper and chemical indus-tries. The event included study visits to Domsjö Fabriker and SP Processum’s pilot plants.

“It was an interesting and inspiring visit,” says Jonas Joelsson, Research Manager at SP Processum. “Other people’s ideas always give rise to new ideas, and I look forward to continued contact with the Cluster. As they focus on raw materials from agriculture, they thought it would be inter-esting to see what can be done with forest raw materials. Unlike Sweden, the Netherlands has a national strategy and coordination for a bioecono-my. There are certainly opportunities for developing a partnership with the Dutch Biorefinery Cluster focusing on a variety of areas and for participating together on a European joint venture.”

The application for the Erifore project within Horizon 2020 was approved in September. SP Processum is one of thir-teen participating organisations from a total of ten countries that make up the project consortium. The aim of the pro-ject is to map the infrastructure in the form of pilot and demonstration plants for processing different types of bio-mass, both within the consortium and in the rest of Europe.

“The aim of Erifore is to establish a globally competitive European research infrastructure in the field of forest based bioeconomy,” explains Karin Johnson, an R&D engineer with SP Processum and the person in charge of WP 4. “The project consists of eight subprojects,

so-called WP, with WP 4 comprising a survey of the infrastructure for availa-ble plants for downstream processing, separation and purification. Once this is complete, a gap analysis will be per-formed to define future requirements and to see what Europe needs to do to become a world leader in biorefin-ery fields of importance now and in the future.”

The entire Erifore project has a budget of EUR 2.6 million and will run for 25 months. Erifore will ultimately result in business models and a needs analysis and will set out how Europe can become a world leader in process-ing different types of biomass for mate-rials, products and services.

SP Processum leads WP 4 in the Horizon 2020 project Erifore

SP Processum is expanding its inter-national biorefinery

networks


A project has been launched to acquire process knowledge and to be able to carry out reactions under high pressure and high temperatures. The aim being to thermochemically convert wood raw materials to liquid fuels under safe conditions. Within the framework of the project, an experimental test-bed for HTL processes will be built to in-vestigate the technical potential of the method.

“From a technical and financial per-spective, hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is considered to be an interest-ing method for converting biomass to a liquid crude biooil,” explains Tomas

Gustafsson. “During the project a small room will be adapted for conducting this type of reaction. This will enable us to investigate various streams from the forest industry, e.g. hydrolysis lignin, bark and sawdust.”

If this project is successful, it could lead to a pilot plant being built by a consortium to further reduce the tech-nical risks. The next step would then be a demonstration plant on a scale of > 1 MW and the process could then well be integrated into a pulp and paper mill where the biooil produced would be used as fuel.

Optimised extraction and use of tall oil reaches goal

Thirteen sulphate pulp mills and other companies in the processing chain, including SP Processum and SunPine, have discussed and exchanged ex-periences on how extraction of tall oil can be increased by im-proving the extraction process as part of a joint venture led by Håkan Envall.

“The project aimed to im-prove the mills’ process knowl-edge and opportunities for im-proving quality and increasing extraction of tall oil,” says David Blomberg Saitton. “We have compared the mills’ process equipment for extracting tall oil, as well as yield and composi-tion. Spent liqours, soap, tall oil and aqueous extract from vari-ous mills have been analysed to better improve our understand-ing of the process.”

The mills have studied one another’s results, problem areas and improvements, and have discussed the problems they face in terms of their tall oil processes, which has resulted in suggestions for improvements.

In a three-year collaborative project, +Project, worth SEK 35 million, re-searchers will work alongside external partners to develop technology aimed at reducing the environmental impact of house-building using lignocellulose materials, with an added focus on sus-tainability. There is an environmental impact from house-building, especially when concrete is used in construction. SP Processum is heading up the subpro-ject 3D Wood.

“The objective of 3D Wood is to identify new materials suitable for addi-tive digital fabrication using 3D printing to produce large and small structural elements. Digital fabrication methods offer a new angle of approach and

may enable production of structures that can be difficult to visualise and manufacture in a conventional sense,” explains Tomas Gustafsson of SP Pro-cessum. “Our subproject includes pro-ducing prototype materials that must be innovative and lightweight. As a first step we are looking at the types of materials needed and their requirement specifications and what materials SP Processum can contribute to.”

The main project is being run by Sliperiet at Umeå University and par-ticipants, in addition to SP Processum, include representatives of SP Samhälls-byggnad and Umeå School of Architec-ture.

The Optifuran project is studying ways to produce a platform chemical called hy-droxymethylfurfural (HMF) from fructose and glucose using suitable catalysts. As a platform chemical in continued synthesis, HMF can serve as a building block for polymers, fuels or solvents. The focus has so far been on achieving this in a contin-uous system that even early on resembles a real process. In order to continuously analyse the experimental results, an analytical instrument for high-performance liq-uid chromatography (H

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Optifuran – a project utilising HMF as a platform chemical

Process knowledge of HTL processes

New materials for digital fabrication


Nanocrystalline cellulose (CNC) and cellulose nanofibres (CNF) have been produced from raw materials such as wood chips and fibre sludge. Water treatment filters made from both these nanocellulose materials have been suc-cessfully developed and tested during the NanoSelect project.

NanoSelect is a four-year project that has been conducted by an internation-al consortium led by Luleå University of Technology in partnership with VTT, Imperial College London, EMPA, Uni-verza v Mariboru, Cemitec, Acon- daqua, Alfa Laval and SP Processum. The aim of the project has been to pro-duce porous membranes and foams from two types of nanocellulose for purifying water by means of selective absorption, and then to test these.

“Our role in the project has been to produce the material for manufac-turing nanocellulose,” explains Björn Alriksson, who is responsible for SP Processum’s contribution to the project. “We have been aided in this work by MoRe Research and SEKAB. Membrane

prototypes have been produced using MoRe’s experimental paper machine.”

“The membrane material produced can, in addition to having good water purification properties, be produced at low cost and will be recyclable and fully degradable,” explains Zoheb Karim, a PhD student at Luleå University of Tech-nology. “We have spent three and a half years developing membranes that worked well in the lab and on a pilot scale, and we are now scaling up to be able to manufacture them for large-scale testing.”

Membranes for water purification

MoRe’s experimental paper machine produced membranes containing dif-ferent amounts of nanocellulose with different functionalities, as well as dif-ferent membrane configurations. The prototype membranes’ ability to purify water has been assessed by the water purification company Acondaqua in Spain.

“It is great to now be able to produce a number of prototype filters after four years of research within the NanoSelect project,” says Björn Alriksson. “The re-sults of the assessment in Spain were very positive and as a consortium we are now focusing on an application for funding for a new project to make the excellent results from the pilot-scale test a reality. If everything goes well, we hope in time to be able to turn these results into filter products for water pu-rification, for which there is great de-mand in many parts of the world where access to safe water is lacking.

“As a result of this and other pro-jects, fibre sludge, which has so far only been deemed to have an energy value in the pulp process when it is de-watered and burned, may prove to be a valuable raw material for useful prod-ucts,” concludes Björn Alriksson.

More information is available on the project’s website: www.nanoselect.eu.

THE NANOSELECT PROJECT reaches a successful conclusion

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Photo: NanoSelect

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Forest Chemistry, a project involv-ing the forest and chemical industries, as well as academia and institutes – has been concluded and the final report prepared. The project ran for three years and involved detailed studies of three value chains, with the aim being to use Swedish forests to produce drop-in chemicals for the chemical industry. Detailed technical process studies have been conducted during the project, which have resulted in a number of firm recommendations and in contin-ued investment in production of meth-anol from the sulphate pulp process and plastic from cellulosic ethanol.

Two important Swedish clusters took part in this project: the chemistry clus-ter in Stenungsund and SP Processum’s biorefinery cluster. Three value chains based on forest raw materials were studied – butanol, methanol from sul-phate pulp mills and olefins. Each of

these can be scaled up to demonstra-tors in Sweden.

“We have concluded that the tech-nology for producing butanol and ole-fins from ethanol and methanol has ma-tured, and that construction of suitable facilities could begin today,” says Lena Heuts of Chalmers Industriteknik and the project manager for Forest Chem-istry. “Methanol and butanol could be used both for chemical purposes and as fuels. The financial analysis shows that these value chains have the potential to be economically viable if the prod-uct can be sold as biofuel with support similar to the tax exemption available for the energy and carbon dioxide tax.

“Since there are not the same poli-cy incentives for the chemicals market, there is no economic benefit to sell the products for making chemicals. There are important synergies between the fuel and chemical markets for renewa-ble products, however it is also appar-ent that it will be difficult to justify pro-duction for the chemicals market unless this is given the same opportunities as for the production of fuel,” says Lena Heuts.

“There has been a positive and open discussion climate, with contributions coming from committed high-level rep-resentatives of the various companies

involved,” stresses Jonas Joelsson of SP Processum. “This is the first time in modern times that both industries have really worked closely with one anoth-er to examine the conditions for joint ventures involving products based on forest raw materials. This collabora-tion has also resulted in us pursuing a project to produce methanol from the sulphate pulp process, but it has also inspired other projects, such as Locally Grown Plastic from cellulose-based eth-anol.”

Around 300 people from a large number of companies took part in the project’s seminars. The results of the project are presented in the Vinnova report VR 2015:02 From green forest to green commodity chemicals.

lays foundation for future initiatives

FOREST CHEMISTRY

P R O J E C T S

Skogskemi was part of Vinnova’s Challenge-Driven Innovation programme. The participants were AkzoNobel, Bio4Energy, Borealis, Chalmers, Domsjö Fabriker, Holmen, Ineos, MoRe Research, Perstorp, SCA, SEKAB, SP Processum, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Sveaskog and Umeå University. The project was financed by Vin-nova and the various participants.

S K O G S K E M I


Photo:: Jonas Forsberg


Bioraff Botnia is a three-year pro-ject for developing biorefinery solutions that began in 2015. New products in the form of new processes, services, chemicals and materials will be devel-oped using residual products from the forest industry and forestry. The project partners are University of Jyväskylä/Kok-kola University Consortium Chydenius, Centria University of Applied Sciences in Finland, and SP Processum.

“The scope for identifying new prod-ucts and processes based on forest raw materials increases with coopera-tion, not just between companies and universities in one region or country, but also across borders,” says Yvonne Söderström Nordin of SP Processum and the project manager for Bioraff Botnia. “By cooperating and supple-menting one another’s skills and tech-nical equipment, we can achieve results much faster.”

Bioraff Botnia is divided into four

subprojects: ‘Furans’, ‘Production of L-arginine from low-value fibre sludge’, ‘Lignin conversion to chemicals’ and ‘Forest to chemical industry’. The aim within the Furans project is to produce levulinic acid, a product that can in turn be used as a raw material in continued processing.

Fibre sludge from Swedish and Finn-ish pulp mills is processed as part of the L-arginine project, using enzymatic hydrolysis, which results in sugar-rich hydrolysates. The amino acid L-arginine is formed when these are fermented with L-arginine-producing microorgan-isms. As L-arginine is a building block in proteins, it is used as a dietary supple-ment for humans, in animal feed and in fertilisers.

In the lignin project SP Processum is studying various methods for manufac-turing biooil from lignin, for example, while our Finnish partners are examin-ing the scope for manufacturing active

charcoal and carbon fibre from the sol-id residue. Biooil is the environmentally sustainable version of crude oil, and by varying parameters such as pressure, temperature and rate of heating and cooling it is possible to control the split between gas, liquid and solid fractions. During the project SP Processum will examine how the liquid phase can be optimised.

The Forest to chemical industry pro-ject is exploring various product pos-sibilities for extractive matter, such as tannins, tall oil and turpentine. Tensides are present in, among other products, detergents and shampoos, and the possibility of swapping palm oil for tall oil in the manufacture of tensides is one area being looked at.

BIORAFF BOTNIA– a joint venture with Finnish and Swedish partners

P R O J E C T S

Bioraff Botnia is financed by Bot-nia-Atlantica 2014-2020 (an EU programme that finances collab-orative projects between regions in Sweden, Finland and Norway), the Kvarken Council, the Region-al Council of Ostrobothnia, the County Administrative Board of Västernorrland, Vinnova, Centria, Chydenius and SP Processum. The budget for the entire project for three years is approx. EUR 1.5 mil-lion.

B I O R A F F B O T N I A

Photo: Jonas Forsberg


SP Processum’s pilot plant For developing process solutions for chem-ical synthesis has during the year been improved with the addition of a 50-litre reactor and a batch system for a flow chemistry system that, for example can handle gases for hydrogenation.

“The entire facility is housed in an explosion-safe room that fulfils all re-quirements for an ATEX laboratory,” says Tomas Gustafsson of SP Proces-sum. “Everything is enclosed and there are no moving parts that can cause a spark, which in a worst case scenario could lead to ignition and an explosion if the composition of the air in the room was ever combustible. As we meet the necessary safety requirements, we can and are permitted to handle all types of solvents.”

The system includes batch reactors, a flow reactor, various columns, an oil-based heating system and a control system. During the year equipment has been added and modified that makes the plant very attractive to research and development projects involving exter-nal parties. Combining the various re-actors and systems enables a long list of processes to be developed and tested.

“We have also installed hydrogena-tion capacity and are therefore able to saturate various chemical compounds

with hydrogen gas in a reducing atmos-phere. With the aid of two distillation columns that have been installed, we can refine organic compounds and ex-tracts from forestry and agriculture raw materials. Synthesis of organic mole-cules is possible in the reactor systems, as is the extraction and fractionation of biomass. Depending on the type of project, the reactors can be combined with one or more of SP Processum’s other pilot plants. Tests can be carried out in the ATEX lab at pressures up to 15 bar and temperatures up to 230 °C. The resulting products, solutions, liq-uids or solid products can be handled.

“We can mimic a complete factory pro-cess on a small scale, enabling customers, and ourselves where our own projects are concerned, to test interesting concepts. An important addition to the pilot equipment in the ATEX room is our flow chemistry sys-tem, which enables us to narrow down important parameters for the chemical reaction before tests are conducted in the ATEX laboratory. This facility is unique in Sweden because it is open to anyone with a project to develop.

Establishing a similar facility elsewhere would be a huge investment, and so it is considerably cheaper for universities and companies to ask us to test inter-esting processes and product concepts, which we do confidentially.

“The plant is designed to aid in the development of continuous process-es. By conducting longer-term trials at our pilot plant, valuable process data is generated about the process and vari-ous process parameters. The results can be used for scaling up to demonstra-tors and eventually used on an indus-trial scale. The ATEX laboratory and the

equipment it contains is therefore a cost-ef-fective resource for industry in developing processes and produc-ing materials for prod-uct testing.”

“This venture has proved to be a great

success and capacity utilisation has vastly exceeded our expectations. As the plant is both flexible and satisfies the most stringent safety standards, both large and small companies, as well as universities, have conducted numer-ous projects here,” concludes Tomas Gustafsson.

UNIQUE PILOT PLANTS for chemical synthesis

P I L O T P L A N T S

The plant is unique in Sweden and

open to all

Cost-effective develop-ment of processes and products is possible in

the ATEX lab.




During 2015 the decision was tak-en to locate a unique pilot plant for nanocrystalline cellulose at our site in Örnsköldsvik. The plant is the first of its kind in Europe and is an important step for companies interested in developing nanocrystalline cellulose from cellu-lose-based material on a large scale.

Nanocrystalline cel-lulose has many inter-esting properties as a material and can be used, for example, as a building material, in biocomposites, printed electronics and paint additives. The production process at the new pilot plant is based on tech-nology developed by the Israeli start-up company Melodea.

Nanocellulose of various kinds is a very hot topic and laboratory-scale re-search is being done all over the world. In order to be able to investigate the market potential of nanocellulose ma-terials, it is vital for there to be suffi-

cient quantities to enable larger appli-cation trials to be conducted, which has so far been difficult. In addition to pure research and upscaling activities, the development of a plant is also im-portant from the point of view of being able to produce sufficient quantities of

nanocrystalline cellu-lose.

“The investment in nanocrystalline cellu-lose is important in or-der to provide sustain-able material solutions and advancement in

the bioeconomy field,” says Magnus Hallberg, MD of SP Processum. “The plant will provide our member com-panies with opportunities to develop new high-value products from residue streams. Our main owner, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, is active in many industries, which helps to pave the way for commercially interesting applications beyond the traditional boundaries for the forestry sector.

“In principle, this pilot plant could have been located anywhere in the world, especially as the technology was not developed in Sweden. The fact that they chose to locate the new pilot in Örnsköldsvik shows that there is a great deal of expertise here and that activities are of a high technological standard. This attracts international companies looking to invest in the biorefinery field. The site is already home to the Biore-finery Demo Plant for the development of biorefinery products from lignocellu-lose. There are also analysis resources at MoRe Research and there is scope for taking a new concept from laboratory right through to demonstration scale.”

The main owner is SP Processum. The other co-owners are Holmen, MoRe Re-search and Melodea. The plant is sup-ported financially by the County Ad-ministrative Board of Västernorrland, Holmen, the Kempe Foundations, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and the Önnesjö Foundation.

Boost to site with a large pilot plant for

NANOCELLULOSE


A unique pilot plant

The image shows na-nocrystalline cellulose produced using Melo-dea’s technology.

This building will house the pilot plant for nanocrystal-line cellulose.


In order to be able to take prom-ising ideas from laboratory scale to pilot scale, the decision was made in 2011 to invest SEK 11 million in 11 pi-lot equipment facilities in Örnsköldsvik and Umeå, with financial support from the EU’s regional development funds. These facilities aim to contribute to de-velopment in the biorefinery field.The venture was so successful that in 2014 a pretreatment reactor was added, followed in 2015 by a further five pilot equipment facilities, all of which can be found in Örnskölds-vik. As with our other reactors, these are intended for use by both SP Processum and companies and universities in research projects.

In order to be able to produce large quantities of material, for example, chemicals and single cell protein, we have invested in a new, larger fermen-tor system. This comprises a feedtank, a bioreactor and a storage tank, as well as control and measuring equipment for controlling various process parame-

ters, and the system is the largest of the five pilot investments.

“There is also the Biorefinery Demo Plant,” explains Björn Alriksson of SP Processum. “With the investment in a 600-litre fermentor system, the size gap between the bioreactor BioBo and the large demonstration plant has been filled. A fundamental rule in scaling up

is to employ volume steps of about 1:10 between each stage. We can now conduct full-scale tests, from a few hundred ml up to 5-10 m³ at BDP.”

A high-pressure re-actor that can cope with pressures up to

350 bar and a temperature of 350 °C has also been installed. The reactor is heated by means of a jacket and has been designed to work with various gases that can facilitate reactions at a higher pressure, as well as for example hydrogenation reactions. These ena-ble, among other things, biooil to be produced from lignocellulose and the reduction of unsaturated organic com-pounds.

A flow chemistry system has been built, with tube reactors and chip re-actors for homogeneous phase or bi-phase reactions and column reactors for solid phase synthesis. The system can withstand temperatures up to 260 °C and pressures up to 100 bar. The benefits offered by the system include the ability to test sensitive and/or dan-gerous reactions providing a fast track to scaling up.

A microwave reactor for rapidly heat-ing solvents has been procured, which means that a higher temperature than the boiling point of the medium in question can be achieved. The advan-tage of this is that you are not limited by the medium’s boiling point but can add more energy to reactions and so open up brand new reaction pathways that may lead to new products.

An evaporator for evaporating water, ethanol or other organic solvents has also been installed. The pilot plant of-fers considerable scope for increasing the sugar content in a process stream, removing solvents from a solution, dry-ing solid material, and simplifying dis-tillation.

New pilot equipment


A larger fermentor, a high-pressure reactor, a microwave reactor, a flow chemistry system

and a rotary evaporator were all acquired in 2015

The evaporator can operate continuously, concentrating a variety of streams.

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The new fermentor will be commissioned in spring 2016.


Many people are aware of SP Processum’s project activities in partner-ship with member companies, universi-ties and institutes, as well as other com-panies. However, SP Processum is able to offer more than that, and in 2015 has implemented various measures to demonstrate more clearly what we can offer, the expertise we possess and the resources at our disposal.

SP Processum is an internationally re-nowned biorefinery hub when it comes to pretreating, breaking down and con-verting lignocellulose, with specific ex-perience of domestic forest raw mate-rials. We have acquired this experience together with member companies, and the bank of knowledge and resources at our disposal is not just used for col-laborative research projects, but is also available to companies and universities in need of contract research.

In 2015 our pilot facilities were supp-lemented with five new pieces of pilot equipment. A more transparent or-ganisation has also been put in place for customer assignments, with Karin Johnson and Lisandro Bernardo as the contact persons. A new website is also due to be launched in 2016.

Confidentiality is always extremely important, and our research and de-velopment work is conducted in con-fidence with our partners. During the year we also re-cruited patent engineer Per Bjerndell, which further strengthens our position.

Strengthening the innovation system both nationally and regionally gives us

the opportunity to work with other stakeholders to offer more services to small and medium-sized companies, both regionally and nationally.

“The investment in a regional incu-bator from Åkroken Business Incuba-

tor, and Uminova Innovation’s invest-ment in a cleantech incubator, Clea-ner Growth, were important events during 2015, which will strengthen the region as a biore-finery hub,” says Jennie Söderström,

who is responsible for innovation and expertise at SP Processum.

SP Processum – a partner for biorefineries

As part of the SP Technical Research

Institute of Sweden we have access to expertise

within a number of different fields

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During the year, the Domsjö De-velopment Area site and SP Processum welcomed a number of interesting and interested visitors from the Swed-ish government and other authorities. The area is a popular destination for such visitors because of the number of local companies involved in large-scale production based on forest raw materials and companies conducting cutting-edge research and innovation within the biorefinery field.

The Minister for Enterprise and In-novation, Mikael Damberg, visited the area in March. Part of his visit was devoted to the biorefinery venture in Örnsköldsvik, for which SP Processum is the hub. Important issues for ensur-ing a green revolution were highlighted by representatives from SP Processum, Domsjö Fabriker and SEKAB. We also welcomed on separate occasions dur-ing the year the Minister for Strategic Development and Nordic Cooperation, Kristina Persson, and the Minister for Energy, Ibrahim Baylan.

Visits by ministers and other high-lev-el officials are important because they provide an opportunity to explain our activities and highlight key issues for continued biorefinery development and the transition to a greener society. We can usually get our message across bet-ter and discuss matters in more detail with smaller groups rather than large parties. There is also good understand-ing of the fact that political policies have an impact on the development of a bioeconomy in a variety of ways.

Each and every visit has taken into account the importance of there being a political vision and strategy for the Swedish bioeconomy. In many cases, the technology is already available, but political efforts are required to ensure sufficient long-term rules so that pro-jects can get off the ground. Once this happens, a lot of the developments within the Biorefinery of the Future cluster, and other projects we are in-volved in, can be realised in a practical sense and on a large scale, to the ben-efit of the necessary green revolution.

In 2015 SP Processum’s MD Magnus Hallberg was invited as a speaker at the national forest programme, led by the Minister for Rural Affairs Sven-Eric Bucht during the tour of Sweden..

The Swedish Energy Agency also visited the Domsjö Devel-opment Area site.

In August, the Swedish Energy Agency’s Sustainable Industry group arranged a study visit to the Domsjö Development Area site. The programme included presentations by SP Processum, MoRe Research, SP Energy and Bioeconomy, SEKAB and Domsjö Fabriker, as well as study visits to these companies.

“The fact that the Swedish Energy Agency’s Sustainable Industry group chose the Domsjö Development Area site as the destination for this year’s study visit speaks volumes,” says Jen-nie Söderström of SP Processum. “The Swedish Energy Agency was the main financial backer for the ethanol pilot project, now called Biorefinery Demo Plant, and is still an important sponsor of countless energy-related projects within our cluster.”

“Our job was to show off the pilot equipment that we have here at SP Pro-cessum,” says Emma Johansson, who, together with Lisandro Bernardo, took

the visitors on a tour of the pilot plants. “The tour also included the Biorefinery Demo Plant, with SP Energy and Bio- economy providing information on the activities conducted there. The visit was a great success, and those who took part appreciated seeing the results of investments made by the Swedish En-ergy Agency.”

Mikael Damberg was very interested in learn-ing more about the opportunities offered by a biorefinery.

SP Processum on the government’s agenda

Ministers Mikael Damberg, Kristina Persson and Ibrahim Baylan visited SP Processum’s

operations during the year.

Kristina Persson, the Minister for Strategic Development and Nordic Cooperation, at SP Processum.

Emma Johansson introduces the Swedish Energy Agency to the pretreatment reactor.


Another successful trainee programme concludedAn 18-month trainee programme for four trainees and involving four com-panies drew to a close in March 2015, with the last few weeks focusing on a business case study for Åkroken busi-ness incubator. All the trainees on the programme were offered jobs – in one case, even before completing the pro-gramme.

“This programme is unique and run-ning it with a number of other stake-holders at two different sites has had its challenges, but it has also had its re-wards in the form of added value,” says Jennie Söderström, project manager for competence at SP Processum.

The companies taking part this time around were SCA and Akzo Expancel

in Sundsvall, and Eurocon and Metsä Board in Örnsköldsvik. Åkroken Science Park has been the employer and project manager for the programme, while our role this time has been that of project coordinator, assisting Åkroken’s project manager and serving as a hub for train-ees and companies here in Örnskölds-vik.

“The development we’ve seen in these trainees is incredible. Our train-ees have developed unique networks, and we have seen them evolve from regarding themselves as specialists to becoming skilled managers and a much sought-after resource among our mem-ber companies.”.

Ami Karlsson, Maria Karlström and Tomas Gardfors were all offered jobs after the trainee programme.

During 2015 four workshops were held for representatives of companies involved in the Biore-finery of the Future. The aim of these was to describe the sustain-able added values we are helping to develop and how this is being done, as well as the importance of communicating these to custom-ers and other interested parties.

Increased knowledge of busi-ness opportunities linked to sus-tainable development leads to increased competitiveness and contributes to the work of building a brand for the region’s bio-based industry.

The workshops were led by the business and environmental consultant Love Lönnroth from Goodpoint AB and Jonas Joelsson, Research Manager SP Processum. There were 18 participants from SP Processum and the member com-panies Domsjö Fabriker, Holmen, MoRe, MTC, SCA Obbola, SEKAB, Uminova and Valmet.

The participants worked in groups on business development projects looking at dissolving pulp, bioethanol, green liquor sludge and cardboard packaging. The method for the business develop-ment programme involved both identifying green added value compared with competing prod-ucts and producing business mod-els and conducting a customer value analysis. The analysis of busi-ness models and customer value took the Business Model Design method as its starting point.

“The evaluation of the work-shops clearly showed that those taking part thought it was a re-warding process to work on a vari-ety of cases, and in doing so iden-tify concrete examples of ways to promote green added value,” says Jonas Joelsson. “The structured business development method in the form of Business Model De-sign proved very popular and can be used elsewhere. The end result was an increased understanding of the benefits of working on sus-tainability and green added value in business models, and of the im-portance of communicating these values. The event was certainly an eye-opener for the participants.”

Sweden will be one of the world’s first fossil-free welfare countries. To this end, the Swedish government has launched the Fossil-Free Sweden initiative, giving Swedish players an opportunity to showcase their contri-bution to climate change work. The initiative brings together stakeholders from trade and industry, municipalities, regions and organisations from across Sweden.

“SP Processum is one of around 150 organisations that have so far signed Fossil-Free Sweden’s declaration, an initiative that ties in brilliantly with our efforts to replace fossil products with

ones based on forest raw materials,” says Jonas Joelsson, Research Manager SP Processum.

The initiative began as a Swedish contribution to the Lima-Paris Action Agenda ahead of the COP21 climate change conference in Paris. The Agen-da will remain in place for some years and has a key role to play at the next climate change conference in Mar-rakesh. Within the framework of Fos-sil-Free Sweden, the government is bringing together local players who want to contribute to this international platform.

Successful workshop sessions on Green business development

SP Processum contributes to a Fossil-Free Sweden


At the beginning of 2015 SP Pro-cessum received Västernorrland County Council’s external environmental award for 2014, in recognition of the fact that we have successfully created a biorefinery hub in partnership with our member companies – a hub that aims to take a sustainable approach to deve-loping new products and solutions ba-sed on forest raw materials, while also promoting regional growth.

As well as confirming that our de-velopment work is appreciated from a regional perspective, the award also in-cludes a grant of SEK 25,000. We deci-ded to use the grant for activities aimed at children and young people.

Working with Umeå University, we discovered that many teachers from the northernmost counties of Sweden

lack the opportunity to participate in national continuing professional deve-lopment. Even though the courses are free, teachers themselves must bear the cost of travelling to and from the course.

A campaign aimed at secondary school teachers offered an opportunity to apply for a travel grant for a cour-se on experimental chemistry during spring 2015. At the beginning of June, two teachers from Västernorrland were each awarded a travel grant and also spent a day receiving information about and visiting companies at the Domsjö Development Area site.

“The tour of SP Processum’s opera-tion was something of an eye-opener. I never realised how important it is that each industry conducts its own deve-

lopment work,” says Peter Ramström, a teacher at Ådalsskolan in Kramfors and a recipient of the grant.

“It is incredibly satisfying to read the comments of teachers who have had the opportunity to attend a course that can help them to teach chemistry,” says Jennie Söderström, who is responsible for competence at SP Processum. “We are concerned about the future and how few people are applying to train as chemistry teachers and that interest in nature and technology-related subjects is continuing to wane in schools.

We hope that this small venture can contribute to a positive change, and we will continue to award grants during 2016.”

Environmental award helps to inspire secondary school teachers

Clas Engström and Jennie Söderström from SP Proces-sum accepting the County Council’s external environ-mental award.

Marcus Sjöberg and Peter Ramström received travel grants which enabled them to attend the ‘Experimental chemistry’ course organised by the Royal Swedish Acade-my of Sciences, among others.


PhD and degree projects provide IMPORTANT KNOWLEDGE Degree project on biogas-treated ash

Stina Kristoffersson`s degree pro-ject involved analysing ash that has been used to upgrade biogas to see whether the ash can be returned to the forest.

“Biogas contains, among other sub-stances, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sul-phide and methane, so to increase its fuel value we want to remove the car-bon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide,” explains Stina. Passing the biogas through a bed of wood pellet ash in-creases the methane content because the ash absorbs carbon dioxide and hy-drogen sulphide. The aim of Stina’s de-gree project was to analyse treated ash after it had been used to upgrade bio-gas. This process has an effect on the ash that is similar to accelerated car-bonation, which normally takes up to a year. Upgrading the ash with biogas takes considerably less time, meaning the ash can be returned to the forest more quickly. The results show that the ash is within the content limit values for nutrients and trace elements for spreadable ash.

SP Processum is one of five parties involved in an industrial PhD project that aims to evaluate the potential for a newly developed drum wood chip-per. Jessica Gard Timmerfors is an industrial PhD student at Umeå University and is based in Örnskölds-vik.

Multi-Channel Sweden has develo-ped a new type of wood chipper in which the knives are attached to a drum. The project involves creating chips of various sizes and for various purposes and processes using both a traditional disc chipper and the newly developed drum chipper. The

different types of chips are digested in MoRe Research’s pilot digester or treated at SP Processum’s biorefinery pilot plants.“The aim of the project is to further research into the importance of chip quality for both pulp production and biorefinery processes,” says Leif Jöns-son Professor at Umeå University. “The project also aims to make the commercialisation of this technolo-gy for chipping wood using a drum chipper easier, while also promoting industry and academia in the region as a centre for research within wood-based biorefinery technology.”

Degree project on recovering phosphorus from the forest industry

The aim of Ylva Carlborg`s degree project was to investigate how ash chemistry was affected during co-combustion of biosludge with wood fuel and wheat straw and to obtain ash containing specific phosphorus com-pounds that can be returned to the forest. By analysing the ash from co-combustion experiments, the poten-tial for recovering phosphorus could be studied. Emissions and slag formation were also analysed.

Phosphorus is present in wood raw materials at pulp mills and in additives at biological treatment plants. A large proportion ends up in the biosludge that is burned with other residual pro-ducts, and the resulting ash is often used to improve soil or to cover landfill sites.

There were promising results from the project in terms of recovering phosphorus from residue streams from the pulp industry. It was also apparent that biosludge has the potential to re-duce problems with slag formation.

PhD project on new chipping technology

Degree project on extracting antimicrobial substances from bark and their applications

Jonna Almqvist at Umeå University has completed her degree project enti-tled ‘Extracting antimicrobial substanc-es from bark and their applications’. This project aimed to extract antimicro-bial substances in an efficient manner and then use them in paint, for exam-ple, to protect against mould.

“Trees do not go mouldy as they grow because the bark not only pro-tects them from moisture and the weather, but also from insect attack and microbial organisms,” says Jonna Almqvist. “Therefore, the bark contains antimicrobial substances, and I have extracted these components from bark from coniferous and deciduous trees using a variety of solvents and meth-ods.

“A test platform was set up to as-certain what effect the extracted sub-stances have when tested on a specific dry-rot fungus. It may eventually be possible to develop paints containing these extractive substances to better protect wooden buildings.”



With the media landscape he way it is today, media coverage can never be complete. Sometimes news is only pub-lished on the Internet, sometimes on the Internet and in the papers, some-times only on subscription websites, and so on. In 2015 SP Processum ap-peared in articles and in radio and tel-evision features on around 80 different occasions and in a variety of contexts. This is more than in any previous year.

Over the last few years we have ac-tively tried to communicate activities and developments within the cluster through press releases and newsletters, as well as on Facebook and LinkedIn. We have been aided in this by project partners who are increasingly commu-nicating information about projects in-volving SP Processum, be it as a signifi-cant partner or a financial backer.

Fish feed on TV4 news

SP Processum’s acclaimed project to produce single cell protein for use in fish feed from residue streams from a pulp mill attracted a great deal of at-tention, and on 24 September TV4 news broadcast a feature as part of its ‘Framtidens mat’ series about the po-tential of single cell protein, which was introduced by Björn Alriksson of SP Pro-

cessum. This project was one of three ground-breaking projects to receive an EARTO Award in 2014.

On 10 September Magnus Hallberg and Björn Alriksson were interviewed about SP Processum’s activities by local radio programme ‘Morgon i P4 Väster-norrland’.

Media outlet NRK in Oslo commis-sioned Sebra Film to produce a tele-vision programme on developments within the bioeconomy/bioenergy field in the Nordic region. Pieces were recorded at a number of sites in Nor-way, Sweden and Finland, including in Örnsköldsvik on 17-18 August, featur-ing interviews with, among others, SP Processum’s MD at the time Clas Eng-ström. The programme was broadcast ahead of the COP21 climate confer-ence in Paris in December and has been distributed to international television channels, universities and schools, etc.

SVT’s regional news programme for Västernorrland also broadcast a series of features ahead of the Paris climate conference on various regional initia-tives to replace oil with renewable raw materials. One such feature included an interview with Magnus Hallberg, MD of SP Processum. The interview was con-ducted while the bioreactor was run-ning.

Björn Alriksson and Magnus Hallberg being interviewed for the ‘Morgon i P4 Västernorrland’ programme.


More frequent media exposure than ever


Operations are expanding, leading to demand for additional expertise. In 2015 Karin Johnson was appointed as an R&D engineer by the organic chemistry group and Per Bjerndell as a patent engineer.

Karin Johnson joins us from a chemistry consultancy company, and prior to that worked for nine years at AstraZeneca’s research department in Södertälje. Karin has a solid back-ground in chemistry, having attended several British universities. She studied for a Master’s at University of Manches-ter Institute of Science and Technology, which was followed by a four-year PhD at University of Southampton. She then moved to London to take up a postdoc-toral position at the School of Pharma-cy. She joined AstraZeneca’s research department in Södertälje in 2004 as a medicinal chemist and worked there until the department closed in 2013.

Per Bjerndell is an authorised Euro-pean patent attorney with 24 years’ experience of patents and brands, who joined SP Processum as a patent engi-

neer on 1 October. Per’s position invol-ves managing the patent portfolio for both SP Processum and five member companies. Per can also be employed on commission by other parties to look into patent matters. Per has an MSc in Chemical Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology and over the years has worked in the patent depart-ments at firms such as EKA Chemicals and AstraZeneca, as well as at Albihns, Zacco and Bergenstråhle & Partners as a patent attorney.

“I am extremely proud of the fact that we have been able to recruit such experienced and knowledgeable indivi-duals,” says Magnus Hallberg, MD of SP Processum. “The addition of Karin to the organic chemistry group me-ans that it now has three postdoctoral chemists. Per is one of Sweden’s most experienced patent consultants and his recruitment means that we can further expand our patent activities and pro-vide both the SP Processum group and member companies with first-rate ex-pertise and competence.”

SP Processum’s expansion continues

K a r i n J o h n s o n , R & D E n g i n e e r

P e r B j e r n d e l l , P a t e n t E n g i n e e r




SP Processum AB, Box 70, SE-891 22 Örnsköldsvik, SwedenTel. +46 10 516 67 50 [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.processum.se

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