The road to a sustainable bio economy

In order to preserve our natural resources, it's essential that we use them as efficiently as possible. Opening up new markets and finding many new sustainable materials is an important part of our effort to use our resources with the utmost efficiency.

When we think of using natural resources for products and applications, we often imagine a commonly used material: wood. But what if you could save money, go easy on the environment, and increase the value and yield of wood as a raw material for a broad variety of both "old-fashioned" and new products? There are a lot materials that might serve as our main fiber resources in the future. Think of plants like grasses, straw, banana peels, and eucalyptus, all of which are fast-growing and natural raw materials from which cellulose can be obtained thanks to new technologies.

Or how about producing items like clothes, compounds, insulating and composite materials, papers, and packaging using former waste products like hops extract residues, pomace, tomato stalks, or nutshells? That's not far-fetched: For example, the Netherlands alone produces a wet mass of 70,000 tons of tomato stalks each year. These stalks can already be introduced, inter alia, into solid board packaging. Using new materials like biogenic waste materials and by-products from other industries doesn't just pay off financially and environmentally, it can also deliver new properties like greater stability or a special feel for paper, tissue, and board products.

And the future holds even more possibilities – from highly profitable biorefineries to bio-based chemicals and consumer products.

Fiber products are conquering more and more industrial and consumer fields – and not just for environmental reasons. In the food and beverage industry, for example, sustainable materials can replace plastic wrapping, increasing food safety with improved properties for food preservation. In the textile industry, replacing cotton with fiber products opens up more acreage for food crops. The automotive industry has started using plant fibers for manufacturing lightweight car bodies. And there's more to come.

Backed by more than 100 years of expertise and experience in the pulp and paper industry, Siemens Energy accompanies this industry's transition to the fiber business and takes it even further, to new applications and markets. We provide indispensable support to the fiber industry with a comprehensive portfolio and long-term partnerships.

Stay in touch! We keep you in the loop about new trends, collaborations, events, publications, and useful information for your fiber business.