EcoTarget: New and innovative processes for radical changes in the European pulp & paper industry

The overall objective of this project is to provide the pulp & paper industry and its allied industries with radical changes in its production processes in order to enhance competitiveness along with improved sustainability. This means that improvements in production efficiency and product quality shall go hand in hand with environmental and societal considerations. The leading idea is making more and better products with less use of raw materials, energy and water and at the same time reduce residues, waste and emissions.

Breakthroughs are, based on a selection of ideas, expected mainly in the following areas: new and energy efficient mechanical pulping processes, new ways of creating separated fibre flows, new processes for producing stratified (layered) paper sheets, reduction of bottlenecks for increased use of recycled fibres and clean process waters for papermaking.

Within Wageningen UR, the research focus is the improvement of the properties of recycled fibres (or their fractions) by means of an enzymatic treatment. Their use in the production of high quality printing papers can consequently be increased. A new innovative enzymatic treatments and fractionation methods will be developed. In the later phase, the most promising treatments will be further developed and their optimal integration to existing processes will be carried out.

The Dutch Competence Centre Paper and Board is also partner in this project. Research in co-operation with the Dutch paper and board industry is focussed on new technologies for re-use of recycling rejects (a.o. production of fuel and re-use of plastics from coarse rejects).

The official website can be found on www.ecotarget.com.

Contact: Gülden Yilmaz or Henry van der Valk