Tech Talk
5 questions to Jari Vähäpesola, president of the Paper Business Line at Valmet Jari Vähäpesola is the President of the Paper Business Line at Valmet. His extensive experience within Metso and Valmet makes him a veteran of the paper industry, and therefore a valuable witness of how papermaking technology has evolved in the past 20 years.
1. Jari, which technological breakthrough do you think has been a game changer for our industry in the past recent years? And in the future?
JARI VÄHÄPESOLA: Shoe press in my mind is one of the greatest game changers for all paper grades. t has significantly increased the dry content and runnability of the machines. Steel cylinders and steel Yankee dryers are the latest ones, which have also improved the drying capacity and increased the efficiency of machinery. n finishing area, automation has decreased the need of personnel in the area where the headcount has traditionally been the highest in operations. There is also number of bigger and smaller innovations improving the energy efficiency of the machines and paper strength properties. Already during the COVID-19 pandemic we have used many digital tools which in the future will change our way of working. Supporting customers remotely will be more common and new tools will help us to optimize operations both in mill as well as in production line level. Target and actions to reduce plastic usage ill bring ne fibre based products. ome of them are already under development, some not no n yet. nteresting is also the usage of micro fibrillated cellulose in different applications in near future. This is now in the focus of our customers and for us as well.
2. Would you say that papermakers in general are eager to try new technologies and processes, or rather conservative? I would say that we have papermakers in both groups. The biggest group is conservative who always wants to have only proofed technology with plenty of references. There are also papermakers who want to be one step or two ahead of competition and hence, willing to try something new which nobody else has.
3. Producing paper products with the lowest carbon footprint is now a major tren . hat in of so utions wou ou a ise first to a c ient tr ing to impro e his environmental impact? Number one might be lightweighting and minimizing energy consumption. The same strength properties with 10% lower gms will reduce CO2 emission almost 10%. Valmet has many components to improve strength properties and reduce energy consumption li e refiners, multilayer headbo , sleeve
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PAPERFIRST MAG Autumn 2020
