Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Innovative sustainable technologies for wood-to -textile value chain accelerate production of man-made cellulose fibres in Europe. GRETE, the Green chemicals and technologies for the wood-to-textile value chain project, has been granted EUR 2.6 million by the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU), this is a partnership between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium. The project is expected to enrich the existing wood-to-textile value chains by developing breakthrough technologies that can open up the identified bottlenecks and enable increased production of man-made cellulose fibres in Europe.
The GRETE project will tackle the bottlenecks of creating wood-to-textile value chains by developing innovative technologies for wood pulp modification, cellulose dissolution and fibre quality generation. The raw material base for the production of man-made cellulose fibres is limited as only dissolving grade wood pulps are generally used. The project will handle this by widening the sustainable raw material basis for man-made cellulose fibres.
“More sustainable textile fibres are in high demand. A route of great potential, in this respect, is wood-based textile fibres. With the GRETE project we aim to find improved technologies for the wood-to-textile fibre value chain“, opined CEO Niklas von Weymarn, Metsä Spring. The Executive Director for Innovation and Technological Development at Altri SA, Gabriel Sousa, described their motivation for taking part in the project, “By participating in the GRETE project, Celbi SA – a subsidiary of Altri SA – will gain understanding on the pulp-regenerated cellulose-textile value chain and technologies and also understand the key requirements and specs for pulp on future markets. Celbi also aims to gain a clear view on the viability of ionic liquids use for cellulosic textile fibres.”
The consortium is led by VTT, and is built around many of the most distinguished research centres and universities acting in this field. The project is coordinated by VTT. Partners: University of Helsinki, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Universidade de Aveiro, Metsä Fibre Oyj, Celbi SA, Material Connexion Italia SRL and Vertech Group.
Tags: Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU), CEO Niklas von Weymarn Metsä Spring, Green chemicals, VTT
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