36 | Sector Focus: Panel Products
◄ At a time when we also know we must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and other finite resource-based materials, wood is the ultimate in natural renewability. When curbing and mitigating climate change is our prime imperative, trees absorb the main greenhouse gas, CO2
, and wood
stores it through its lifetime. It is low energy to process, light, strong and versatile. In construction, new products such as more advanced wood-based sheet materials, modified timber, and engineered timber products, including glulam and cross- laminated timber, are also enabling us to build bigger, taller, and more technically ambitiously in wood.
Above: HONEXT panels production pilot plant in Vacarisses, Spain PHOTO: MARTA RIERA
So, dealing in a material with an increasingly technical, but positive story behind it, that is being used in ever more advanced, higher specification applications, new technologies and new products are emerging that are appropriate to our time. Realising and valuing this potential and delivering the sector’s messages to specifiers, end users and ultimately consumers will be an evolving and fresh dynamic for historically a most traditional of industries.
PULP AND PAPER INDUSTRY WASTE Through long term research things are really changing so now let us enter the world and terminologies within the pulp and paper industry with its waste, its paper sludge, OCC and the vocabulary of up-cycling and enzymes!
Sludge is a generic term for the residue that results from pulp and paper-making. To better understand its properties, it is necessary to review how it is formed. Generally, it is the solid residue recovered from the wastewater stream of the pulping and paper-making process. Water treatment facilities for the paper industry produce a significant amount of filtration residue and ways of disposing of the industrial paper sludge generated in the production process need to be found. If we look at the global pulp and paper industry in 2021, it is estimated that more than 7 million tons of paper sludge must be disposed of, with the majority of this currently going to landfill. OCC (old corrugated cardboard) paper
are box materials that are commonly used for packing electronic and all sorts of consumer goods and typically after buying, the consumer disposes of the material for recycling. With the move towards ever increasing online shopping, the volumes of OCC are growing exponentially across Europe and elsewhere. It is a huge resource too. Within the MDF sector the challenge has been for many years the question of ‘what else can we do with the fibre?’ and ‘how can we add value?’ With fundamental technology developments and long-term research into adhesives and additives, boards of various densities evolved and with varying technical properties such as, for example, moisture resistant, flame retardant, exterior and formaldehyde free. And, of course, with these developments came multiple market opportunities internationally and a widely extended range of applications and end uses.
Above: Outside of the pilot plant PHOTO: MARTA RIERA UPC RESEARCH
Enter now UPC Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona. The UPC is a public university that carries out research and provides higher education in the fields of architecture, engineering, sciences, and technology. The university claims to be for people who want to imagine the future and move the world (
https://www.upc.edu/en). After more than 10 years research there since 2011, HONEXT – a spin out company emerged from the University – brings with it a revolutionary waste reclaiming process that turns cellulose residue from the pulp and paper industry into a fully recyclable, construction ready material.
Above: HONEXT panels ready to be installed as wall cladding and acoustic panelling PHOTO: ENRIC BADRINAS TTJ | November/December 2021 |
www.ttjonline.com
By analysing, sorting and classifying waste, based on its composition, it has proved possible to achieve a standard product. Depending on its quality, HONEXT uses
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