12 AALTO UNIVERSITY


Pulp Paper & Logistics


Managing the change to a bio-economy


Professor Herbert Sixta from Aalto University predicts a promising future for forest-based bioproducts. He was talking to Vesa Puoskari


fight against global warming, says Professor Herbert Sixta from Aalto University in Finland. However, the gradual change towards the bio- economy will take decades. “We cannot continue along this


R


track any further, but replacing oil- based production completely will be a difficult task as it has brought our societies a lot of wealth. It’s also a very efficient and highly optimized industry, as basically all crude oil is converted into end products.” “So, we also need pressure


from society and legislation to increase the use of renewable materials in different industrial


processes,” he adds. Sixta believes there are two


methods for improving the exploitation of bio raw materials. “One option is to utilize


renewables all the way down to


eplacing our current oil-based economy with renewables is an essential step in the


the final product. The other manner is to convert renewables into intermediate platform chemicals that can be refined further at existing plants. We will only discover later which one is the most successful approach,” he adds. It is highly likely that both options will play a role in the future. Fortunately, there is a lot of room


for development, even in current processes. For example, only 40-50 per cent of pulp production is currently converted into end products. “We are far away from complete


usage of our raw materials. Of course, the rest is currently used as an energy source, but we want to exploit it more efficiently and convert the remaining share to high-added-value products as well.”


Developing the biorefinery concept Herbert Sixta’s background is in physical chemistry. Before starting his work at Aalto University in 2007,


Professor Herbert Sixta from Aalto University


September/October 2015


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36