VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland announces a new initiative, “Energy First”, to address the challenges of energy and resource consumption in the forestry and textile industry.
The Energy First initiative aims to act as a starting point for an entirely new technology, which creates the conditions for the manufacture of low-carbon, energy-efficient, and recyclable fiber-based products.
Energy First and textiles
Regarding textiles, the project seeks to redefine the forest industry’s environmental impact and enhance the competitiveness of fibre-based products. For example, by making the products lighter, more of them could be produced for consumer use from the same amount of wood, which improves resource efficiency.
The collaborative research aims to develop and test commercially viable, sustainable alternatives for cardboard packaging, hygiene products, and non-woven fabrics.
The initiative is funded by the EU, ERDF, VTT and the collaborating companies. The consortium is also actively engaging in EU projects, such as EU SteamDry (Superheated steam drying for sustainable and recyclable web-like materials), with a total budget of 9.84 million euros over 3.5 years.
VTT will actively continue developing new projects as part of the initiative, including bilateral cooperation with industrial partners.
