New process delivers 40 percent energy savings for paper plant 13 February 2014

Eindhoven University of Technology has signed an agreement with 14 European paper producers to further develop a breakthrough solvent that promises massive plant energy savings.

Developed and patented by professor Maaike Kroon, it is also expected to improve the efficiency of raw materials usage.

"This is a game changer, and it means the paper industry will look very different 20 years from now," comments Henk van Houtum, chairman of VNP, the Royal Netherlands' paper and board association.

Kroon discovered that wood fibres dissolve in deep eutectic solvents (DES). He explains that in paper production, vegetable material (lignocellulose), such as wood chips or other biomass, has to be separated into lignine and cellulose.

The cellulose is then used to make paper. The problem is that the two components are difficult to separate – requiring high pressures and temperatures, and hence also energy cost.

The new solvent, which is vegetable-based and biodegradable, for the first time enables wood chips to be dissolved. Furthermore, the new process produces very pure lignine, which the paper industry can use to develop new applications and markets such as making biodegradable plastics.

DES were discovered in 2003 in the UK. They consist of a mix of two compounds which have a much lower melting point than that of the individual components.

Kroon believed that DES would make it possible to dissolve biomass, which formed the starting point for her present work.

Maaike Kroon has been professor of Separation Technology since 2010 in the Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. She was 29 on her appointment, making her the youngest professor in the Netherlands.

Brian Tinham

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