Energy 1st Fiber Product Forming

The forest sector is very important to Finland. In 2021, forest industry products were exported from Finland for EUR 13.2 billion, which was equivalent to 17.5% of the value of Finland's exports of goods, the sector employs approximately 40,000 people directly and indirectly almost 78,000 people. Over the past fifteen years, the forest industry has undergone a strong renewal and systematic research has resulted in several significant openings in the fields of materials that can e.g. replace plastics and wood-based textile materials that replace cotton. In 2014-2023, a number of new companies emerged to commercialize them, employing hundreds of people in total. Despite the investments, the forest industry is currently facing a new challenge, namely the price of energy and partly also the availability of fiberwood, which have raised the cost of manufacturing products, mainly due to the war in Ukraine. In order for the forest sector to remain competitive in the future, it must renew itself and, on the other hand, improve the competitiveness of its products, for example, by increasing the use of raw materials and reducing the energy and water consumption of processes.

The most significant goal of this project is the development of a product manufacturing process with a very small amount of water. With the advent of new technologies, the water and energy intensity of the manufacturing process is significantly reduced. The development work is carried out in close cooperation with a large industrial consortium, which ensures that the solutions to be developed have industrial relevance and that the parties involved in the commercialization of the developed technologies are committed to development at an early stage. To realize the objectives, the project focuses on five work packages, WP1: Maximizing the performance of the fiber products manufacturing process, WP2: Performance of 3D fiber products, WP3: Strength solutions for fiber products, WP, 4: New durable nonwoven materials, and WP5: Towards waterless paper manufacturing. In all work packages, the main focus is on piloting solutions with pilot machines from VTT's Jyväskylä unit. Before piloting, the development work begins with a laboratory study, on the basis of which the most potential solutions are selected, the operation of which is verified on a pilot scale. The project partners are actively involved in the design of the experiments.
The project has been prepared in close cooperation with the companies involved in the project. This has ensured the companies' commitment to the project and the industrial relevance of the research. During the project preparation, VTT held discussions with about 100 companies to deepen their understanding of the needs of the industry and consumers in the future. Based on feedback and discussions with the companies, a final research plan was written, which is attached to this funding application.

The project significantly complements the already existing competence centre for piloting fibre products in Jyväskylä. After the project, the research equipment located in Jyväskylä will be expanded to serve research and product development in the sector. The project strengthens Central Finland's concentration of expertise with regard to fibre-based products and the bioeconomy, and enables research continuity in the subject area, as well as laying the groundwork for spin-off companies, which, thanks to technologies developed by VTT in ERDF projects, have created five new companies in the last eight years.

The results of the project are published in scientific journals and conferences. The researchers' accumulated experience and VTT's extensive competence in various sectors make it possible to use research results in sectors other than those focused on during the project. The results of the project are public.