Fibre Liberation First -concept: Research Highlight
- Nina Pulkkis
- May 7
- 1 min read
At VTT, doctoral researcher Angeliki Tzanakaki, under the supervision of Jari Sirviö, is working on a new pulping concept called Fibre Liberation First. The method focuses on improving fibre yield and reducing emissions while maintaining the material properties needed for end-use applications.
How it works:
1️⃣ Mechanical pre-treatment: Wood chips are softened and partially liberated at high temperature using a disc refiner, allowing high-yield pulp production with low energy input.
2️⃣ Oxygen delignification: A mild alkaline treatment (sodium carbonate + oxygen) removes some of the lignin, primarily from fibre surfaces to improve fibre to fibre bonding and to maintain some of the lignin in inner fibre walls for enabling higher pulp yield, without using sulfur-based chemicals.
The aim is to produce a high-yield pulp with good properties for use in different applications, while simplifying chemical recovery and reducing CO₂ emissions. The research also explores further improvement of raw material efficiency by recovering part of the soluble lignin for potential high value applications.
