For example, the development path is ideal for a system supplier in the forest industry. In Valmet's Pulp and Energy business line, the director responsible for biomaterials Jussi Mäntyniemi points out that new applications enable more valuable uses for lignin than burning – the value of lignin is increasing.
"This creates opportunities for the mechanical engineering industry to develop and commercialize technologies that further utilize and refine renewable raw materials," says Mäntyniemi.
Valmet's current star product is LignoBoost technology, which was originally developed by the Swedish research institute Innventia and Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Metso acquired the technology in 2008 and continued to develop it. The technology is now a core competency of Valmet, which has been spun off from Metso.
Overall, LignoBoost is a lignin separation plant that, integrated into the side of a pulp mill, separates lignin from black liquor. The latest such plant has been delivered to Stora Enso's Sunila pulp mill in Kotka, Finland.
Bioeconomy brings new applications
Mäntyniemi emphasizes the importance of LignoBoost as an innovation, especially because it can create a significant renewable lignin-based raw material base for numerous applications. Potential lignin-based products include biochemicals, composites, transportation fuels, technical carbons, adhesives and carbon fibers.
However, according to Mäntyniemi, LignoBoost technology is not an actual tool for improving energy efficiency.
"Not directly, because the energy of lignin is already being utilized in the forest industry today as heat and electricity. Of course, the lignin separated from pine liquor obtained with LignoBoost technology is a very high-quality biofuel. This means that it can replace fossil fuels, for example, oil or natural gas from a pulp mill's lime kiln. As Stora Enso does at its Sunila mill."
However, LignoBoost is envisioned to play a larger role as an actor in the bioeconomy field. The demand for the raw material is starting to grow rapidly, as bioapplications for lignin are already being developed rapidly. This is how lignin is worth producing, and LignoBoost is a major contributor to this.
"In principle, all kraft pulp mills that produce chemical pulp could be equipped with LignoBoost. The lignin production potential would thus be tens of millions of tons per year," Mäntyniemi envisions.
Text: Jaakko Liikanen
Photo: Valmet
