Monday, April 20, 2026
The Pulp & Beyond Conference and Exhibition Week took place from April 14–17 in Helsinki, Finland, bringing together industry professionals and students from across the pulp, paper, and biomaterials sectors.
Valmet acted as a main sponsor the of conference that included several different tracks with a strong focus on future solutions. Valmet’s experts had four presentations in the program and additionally Valmet’s solutions were featured in several of their customers’ presentations including Stora Enso, UPM, Klabin and Circulose.
The conference explored a range of timely topics, including artificial intelligence. Mika Karala, Research Director from Valmet’s Automation business, opened and chaired the session “Artificial Intelligence as a Game Changer and Risk Factor.” The session featured presentations from various stakeholders in the field, including insights drawn from real-life implementations.
“AI in industry will meet real world use cases and the benefits will bring more safety and business value to the industry. The presented cases also covered managing losses and variations. Overall development has been rapid and will accelerate further as use of AI & agents become more common,” Karaila summarised.
The second Nordic Textile Fibre day was organised this time as part of Pulp&Beyond Conference. The program was planned by Valmet, VTT and Kemira and consisted of eight presentations under topics Accelerating growth in textile fibers and Driving responsible life-cycle management in textiles. Heli Kangas, Development Manager working with Valmet’s textile solutions, chaired one of the sessions: “The presentations provided perspectives on market opportunities, scaling of textile innovations, R&D, digital product passport and sustainable consumption, and updated the situation of several industrial textile projects.” The interest towards more sustainable textile solutions was proven with a large number of participants and the abundance of presentations of already ongoing projects.
In the session covering Future energy solutions enhancing efficiency and competitiveness Sampo Immonen, Senior R&D Manager for Valmet’s Packaging and Paper Business Area presented Valmet’s solutions for improving energy efficiency with state of art water dewatering technology.
“SleeveRoll introduces a unique new approach to forming‑area dewatering, combining excellent capacity with superior material and energy efficiency while delivering top‑class quality. The technology is highly flexible and can be applied to almost any forming section concept with relatively minor modifications, making it suitable for both new machines and rebuild projects.”
In the same session Lari-Matti Kuvaja, Director, Emission Control, Energy and Circularity, at Valmet presented Valmet’s solutions for reducing emissions and improving carbon capture efficiency with new pre-treatment technology. “Carbon capture efficiency starts already upstream of the capture unit. Advanced flue gas pre-treatment enables ultra‑low emissions and optimal gas conditions, improving reliability and economics of CCS and CCU solutions. Tailored integration of wet flue gas cleaning, cooling, and polishing technologies is a key enabler for scalable carbon capture, especially for biogenic CO₂ sources.”
At the exhibition, Valmet presented its new “Lead the Way” strategy, along with selected references, textile recycling solutions, and innovative wood-based textile developments. The event also provided valuable networking opportunities with industry professionals and potential future employees, with one exhibition day dedicated specifically to students.
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Tags: Finland, forest products, Forestry, pulp industry, sustainability, Valmet
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