Awarded computer models for energy efficient tissue production

	Valmet’s Tissue Technology Award 2018 goes to Björn Sjöstrand, for his research and development of computer models for energy efficient tissue production. The winner was announced by His Royal Highness Prince Carl Philip, at the Tissue Making Conference in Karlstad, Sweden, May 17.
Björn Sjöstrand winner of Valmet Tissue Technolgy Award 2018.

 “A fine example of how the business sector can contribute to the greater good of society”, His Royal Highness stated when handing over the 25,000 dollar reward. “I’m glad that Valmet awards the development of innovative solutions for a more sustainable future. It’s a pleasure for me to be here today and hand out this award”. 

The awarded innovation goes hand in hand with Valmet’s ambition to develop environmental sound innovations for the paper making industry. When completed, Björn Sjöstrand’ s innovation will provide the industry with better understanding of the tissue production process, and his work will contribute to a more sustainable tisssue technology in terms of energy consumption and utilizing of raw materials. 

Björn Sjöstrand is a Ph.D. student in chemical engineering at Karlstad University, Sweden. His research is mainly about dewatering – a very important step when producing paper. His interest lies in understanding the dewatering mechanisms, with the aim to find improvents that can make the paper making process more efficient and facilitate the introduction of new smart materials to the pulp. 

The awarded models developed by Björn Sjöstrand are easy to use and don’t require any special equipment besides a regular computer. They are a most welcome piece to the puzzle of understanding the tissue process. Thanks to his work, tissue producers and alike can now simulate the whole process before going in to actual production trials. That means you can find the most energy and raw material effective settings on forehand and being able to experiment without affecting the environment. His models will be public in late 2018. 

“I believe this will be a great stepping stone towards environmental sustainability and cost efficient tissue production,” Björn Sjöstrand says. “Because in my opinion, true sustainability will only be obtained if we also make the product or processes better and cheaper at the same time. Otherwise no one will use them.”