19 / 40
17
Chemical Technology • April 2016
up commercialisation of such solutions in conjunction with
other enterprises.
From idea to production through piloting
Valmet is a prime example of a business partner that has
successfully utilised its partnership with VTT in its technol-
ogy development.
Piloting is a necessary stage in any development project
to proceed from ideas and laboratory research to demon-
stration trials and industrial-scale commercial production.
Along the route, piloting equipment and installations of
various sizes are required to validate the newly created
technologies, describes Director, Technology and R&D Jussi
Mäntyniemi of Valmet Sellu’s energy business line.
According to Mäntyniemi, Valmet’s current business
operations provide a solid foundation for the development
and production of products and solutions for bioeconomy.
At Valmet, the starting point for development work is always
based on customer needs, such as generation of new
revenue flows or products from existing processes, further
development of production plants already in operation, or
commercialisation of entirely new solutions.
The prerequisites of any successful commercialisation
process comprise the assessment of the business potential
afforded by new products and solutions, and extensive and
open collaboration with various actors, such as customers,
other equipment manufacturers and research facilities,
which, in turn, enables full utilisation of synergy benefits, as
well as allocation of risks between the parties concerned.
Public sector support also plays a significant role, in the form
of laws and regulations, education and funding, for example.
A network of piloting environment in
bioeconomy
VTT makes available to its customers and partners a
comprehensive network of research environments of bio-
economy, circular economy and cleantech technologies. In
the initial stages, VTT focuses on gasification and pyrolysis.
In addition, VTT will transfer its pilot plants for biomass
processing, cellulose fibre spinning and process chemistry
to Bioruukki in the years 2017-2018. At Otaniemi, there
is also a piloting environment for biotechnology and food
technology, complete with fermentation and extraction
installations, bioreactors and high-throughput screening
robotics equipment. The process equipment for polymeric
materials is located at Tampere and the piloting environ-
ment for fibre products at Jyväskylä.
VTT’s own resources are supplemented by the resources
provided by the partners. The shared research environment
for bioeconomy of VTT and Aalto University form the Finn-
ish national-level research infrastructure whose activities
comprise education and both fundamental and applied
DESIGN & MATERIALS