Helsinki to host Nordic biorefinery talks
Three days of talks, workshops, networking and presentations are set to take place in Helsinki between October 25 and 27, as part of the tenth Nordic Wood Biorefinery Conference.
Complementary events such as pitching training sessions and a visit to organiser VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT)’s Bioruukki pilot centre will also run on October 24.
Notably, joint winners of this year’s Marcus Wallenberg Prize, professors Ilkka Kilpeläinen and Herbert Sixta, will each deliver keynote addresses on different days. Professor Kilpeläinen, from the University of Helsinki, will speak on using organic superbase salts for cellulose dissolution and biomass processing on October 26, while Professor Herbert Sixta, from Aalto University, will present on ‘Novel cellulose fibres from steam-exploded birch wood as the main product in a new biorefinery concept’ on October 27.
This past May, Professor Sixta was announced as a founding partner of Ioncell Oy, a firm dedicated to scaling Ioncell fibre, which is manufactured from either wood or cellulosic textile waste. He won the Marcus Wallenberg Prize alongside Professor Kilpeläinen for their collaborative work on developing novel ionic liquids for processing wood biomass into textile fibres.
Wood-based textile fibres will be the focus of an 80-minute session on the final day, featuring perspectives from industry and academia alike. The industry speaker has not yet been announced.
However, Dr Taina Kamppuri from VTT is due to present on spinning regenerated fibres from paper-grade wood pulp, whereas Aalto’s Dr Guillermo Reyes will discuss ‘Spinning and additive manufacturer for multiscale cellulose structures on textiles and 3D-printed materials’. Finally, Dr Anna-Stiina Jääskeläinen from Helsinki-based chemicals company Kemira will deliver a talk on sustainable chemistries for tailoring cellulosic fibres for textiles.
Take a look at the complete conference agenda here.
Woodland near Suonenjoki in Finland. Credit: Miikka Luotio.
