The oil industry meets the forest industry

A key part in the development towards a bio-economic society is strongly linked to the change from oil to the forest as raw material, and in the hinterland of Scandinavia, there are exceptional opportunities for this. The Bioeconomy Region aims to support small and medium-sized enterprises to speed up the development and commercialisation of new products, new technologies and services in the bio-economy.

The Bioeconomy Region is a Sweden-Norway project and is partly funded by the EU. In the project, Paper Province collaborates with the municipal association Region Värmland, who are responsible for the project, and four counties in Norway. Among other things, we want to get startup environments to coopeterate, highlight test beds in the region and act for development of wood mechanical value-chains.

Through our cooperation with Norway, we believe that the mix of experiences and knowledge will arouse new ideas. Ultimately, The bioeconomy Region is about facilitating the shift to a fossil-free society by stimulating the establishment of completely new types of products, services and businesses.

Development of a unique test bed

LignoCity is a unique platform based on environmental technology. The ambition is to bridge from research to commercialization of sustainable processes and products, with a specific focus on lignin as raw material. The project aims to develop LignoCity.

Pulp mills are the most important lignin sources, in Sweden and globally, as they generate a large amount of lignin as a byproduct. The test bed LignoCity is based on a unique Swedish technology that separates lignin from pulp mills, but also opens up for development of alternative technologies. This means a unique opportunity to develop new products and solutions with lignin as raw material.

The project is run by RISE, and aims to shorten the time from idea to commercialization. It is also expected to contribute to the establishment of new companies in Värmland. In addition, we are creating a node for the development of lignin in various new environmental (carbon-) smart solutions. A node with an international reputation expected to give a national advantage as the lignin value chains are still rather undeveloped. The project is also part of our region's Smart Specialisation Strategy.

Waste from mills become valuable, new products

Paper Province are one of twelve participants in the project MultiBio. The main goal is to develop a new concept – a multi-bio refinery – to produce three renewable bio-based products: Bio-hydrogen, bio-plastics and fish food.

Potentially, the project could meet some of the most important Swedish environmental objectives and contribute to the shift to a sustainable circular bio-economy.

Environmental effects of the products

The hydrogen can be used as an energy carrier and consequently replace fossil fuels, resulting in significant effects on carbon emissions, air quality and the reduction of acidification.

The bio-plastics could be used to replace fossil-based ones, which would reduce the carbon footprint. Being biodegradable, the material is also attractive for new, interesting adaptions, also in the paper industry.

Currently, protein for fish food is extracted from ocean fish or tropically cultivated soy. However, the fish food ingredient from the MultiBio refinery could contribute to reduced over-fishing and soy production if used as an alternative protein source.

Paper Province & The Global Goals

In 2015, world leaders agreed to 17 goals for a better world by 2030. These goals have the power to end poverty, fight inequality and stop climate change. Guided by the goals, it is now up to all of us, governments, businesses, civil society and the general public to work together to build a better future for everyone. We have chosen to focus on the targets where we can make the most difference.

Obvious aspects of our work are, i.e, to support technology development, research and innovation, to manage waste in an environmentally friendly way, and to encourage companies to put sustainable practices in place. We also focus on achieving sustainable economic growth and gender equality.

Within the Sustainable Paper Province project, we continue to identify relevant targets in order to integrate them in our basic work, as well as in our various projects.

These are the goals we have chosen to focus on:

• Goal 5: Gender equality
• Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth
• Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production

Everything created starts with someone's imagination

An important part of our work, is to help secure a qualified workforce. In order to continue being successful, our member companies depend on being able to recruit properly educated staff members. This is why we engage in Teknikcollege Värmland.

Teknikcollege is a network of competence centres where companies collaborate with municipalities and education providers, in order to secure the quality in technology oriented courses at different levels. Courses at Teknikcollege are quality assured on the basis of eight criteria. The companies of a region play a key role in shaping the structure of the courses, as well as designing their actual content.

For students, Teknikcollege offers attractive vocational education and training which can lead directly to a job on the completion of studies, or provide a good basis for further studies (e.g. various engineering courses). For companies, Teknikcollege help secure the needs of skilled workers within industrial companies. For society, the collaboration with other municipalities and different education and training providers, guarantees effective use of resources as far as municipalities are concerned.

Winners of Vinnväxt

In June 2013, Sweden's government agency for innovation Vinnova, appointed Paper Province winner of Vinnväxt. This means a record investment in the forest industry of Värmland. Vinnväxt is a 10-year funding from Vinnova granted from 2013-2023.

The project aims to build an internationally recognized innovation environment in the region, linked to the forest bio-economy. The funding will be used for research, development and commercialisation of new forest industry products and services, as well as to increase the efficiency of the basic industry and the innovation system in Värmland.