Innventia announces new project within its PiiA strategic innovation programme

Photo: Innventia

Innventia’s new project within the Process Processing IT and Automation (PiiA) Strategic Innovation Programme will lead to reduced process and quality variations in paper and board production. A methodology based on visual and infrared camera technology will be developed within the RISE Bioeconomy division in cooperation with academia and industry.

In the production of paper and board, reducing process and quality variation is as important as increasing the quality of the product. Keeping variation low prevents unwanted production breaks and thus raises production efficiency. A significant reduction in energy and raw material consumption will be the consequence.

Unfortunately, using today’s measurement techniques, not more than 1% of the total produced area can be analysed. The project Online variability analysis of the total production of paper and board for process optimization will make it possible to analyze of the entire produced area.

The goal of the project is to develop, evaluate and implement a methodology based on visual and infrared imaging. These images will be converted into product property maps, which are then used to analyse the property variation. This allows for the identification of the origin of the variation.

“The methodology will also open up for new services, for example an individual “quality labelling” of the product, which will make printing, converting and packaging processes easier,” says Catherine Östlund, Senior Research Associate at RISE Bioeconomy division.

The methodology will be developed at RISE Bioeconomy. It will then be tested and optimized in approximately 12 case studies in paper and board mills.

The project runs for two years, starting 1 September, 2017, with SEK 4.3 million funding from Vinnova.