Jülich, December 1st 2022: In a postfossile, climate-neutral economy, the use of plant-based fibres is becoming increasingly important. The hygiene paper company WEPA from Arnsberg, the packaging company IP-Verpackungen from Aldenhoven and the Papierfabrik Zerkall from Hürtgenwald are pushing ahead with research into the industrial application of such fibres. Together with the coordination office BioeconomyREVIER at Forschungszentrum Jülich, they have drafted a concept for the realisation of a fibre innovation centre in the municipality of Hürtgenwald and want to implement it together with partners in the next few years.
Industrial production technologies are needed for the novel use of plant fibres, which have to be developed scientifically accordingly. "The special feature of the FaserInnovationsZentrum Zerkall (FIZZ) is its integrated and industry-driven research approach," emphasises Prof. Ulrich Schurr, Director of the Institute of Plant Sciences at Forschungszentrum Jülich (IBG-2) and initiator of BioökonomieREVIER. „In the context of a sustainable circular economy, the entire value chain is considered, starting with the cultivation of suitable plants or the use of waste stream, the digestion technology and fibre modification up to the engineering for the fibre application."
Other research partners involved are the Process Engineering Department at RWTH Aachen University (AVT), the Agricultural Teaching and Research Station Campus Klein-Altendorf at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn (UB) and the Institutes of Macromolecular and Paper Chemistry (MAP) and Paper Milling and Mechanical Process Engineering (PMV) at Darmstadt University of Technology. The first joint work packages have been distributed and will start in the first half of 2023.
The declared goal of the new innovation centre is to develop lignocellulosic fibres in an industry-oriented manner, starting from fibre raw materials and production for diverse areas of application. The portfolio initially includes applications in the paper, packaging, textile and composite industries through to new types of building materials. "At the new FaserInnovationsZentrum Zerkall, we think about the recyclability of fibres in terms of a sustainable bioeconomy right from the start," explains Gerhard Hochstein, Head of Production & Technology Transformation at WEPA in Arnsberg. "Here the CO2 footprint and all environmental services up to the provision of the fibres and the secondary uses of products are recorded, so that the marketing of the products can also be accompanied on a fact-based basis," Hochstein continues.
The financing of the new centre will initially be borne by the participating industrial companies in the coming year. A multi-year collaborative research project is then to be launched in the course of 2023. "By 2026, the new FaserInnovationsZentrum Zerkall should find a home in the new concept of the Papierfabrik Zerkall in the municipality of Hürtgenwald, where up to 50 new jobs are to be created," says Frank Féron, Managing Director of IP-Verpackungen in Aldenhoven and Papierfabrik Zerkall in Hürtgenwald.
The concept for the FaserInnovationsZentrum Zerkall was developed in the context of the Economic and Structural Programme for the Rhenish Future Region (WSP 1.1) and closes the gap between agriculture and the fibre processing industry in the region. It is an important building block for a bioeconomy model region for sustainable, biobased economic activity and works together with numerous sister projects in the region in the sense of a bioeconomy project and transformation landscape. The FIZZ is supported by the NRW Ministry for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Climate Protection and Energy (MWIKE) and the Zukunftsagentur Rheinisches Revier. It is to be set up on a non-profit basis and is open to further participation, especially by partners from the fibre processing industry, also beyond the region.
