The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland will present a free webinar on nanocelluloses May 27, 2015, at 3:00 p.m. London, U.K. (10 a.m. New York, N.Y., USA). The webinar is titled Profound Competence Boosting the Way from Manufacturing to Profitable Business.

More information about this special webinar, including how to register, is available online.

  

This Webinar is focused on how to utilize the full potential of the most abundant biopolymer that Mother Nature has to offer, how to combine the unique properties of cellulose with one of the "hottest" key enabling technologies—nanotechnology, and how science can help to overcome the hurdles.

Cellulose fibrils are already used in commercial products, such as in food, pharma and cosmetics, and self-evidently in paper and board. A key question this webinar addresses is how can cellulose nanofibrils be used to multiply the potential of cellulose in these applications and beyond?

This webinar reviews the status of cellulose nanofibril (CNF) research from industrial perspective and shows through a couple of examples how scientific understanding can lead to breakthroughs when tackling the challenges on the way from ideas to applications. The examples include how to:

• Make and modify the cellulose-based fibers for selected applications
• Manufacture films from cellulose nanofibrils
• Optimize retention and dewatering in paper and board making through piloting
• Utilize nanocelluloses as rheology modifiers.

Join this webinar to learn how you could speed up your development activities through a profound understanding of underlaying mechanisms.

 

The webinar will be presented by Dr. Heli Kangas and Pia Qvintus. Dr. Kangas currently works as a senior scientist at VTT. Her background is in chemistry of wood processing with more than 15 years of experience in the field. Her work has concentrated on cellulose nanomaterials, especially on their characteristics and potential applications as well as their safety assessment. She has also closely followed their market emergence and written a guide to cellulose nanomaterials http://www.foresttech.fi/news/news/1090-guide-to-cellulose-nanomaterials-has-been-updated#.VT_8FCFVhBd. She has some 15 scientific publications and has published more than 20 conference papers in the field.

Qvintus works currently as a head of research area for fibers and biomaterials research at VTT. Her background is in polymer technology and natural polymers. She has more than 25 years of experience in the field, and has been managing several large consortium projects for development of new applications based on natural polymers and biomaterials (including nanocellulose). In recent years, the main topics have been related to development of new product concepts for biomaterials, combining material technology with design and business expertise.

Key Learning Objectives:

• Hear where we stand on the way to commercialize cellulose nanofibrils
• Learn how to manufacture and functionalize cellulose fibrils cost-effectively from different raw materials
• Discover the potential of cellulose nanofibril films as barriers and membranes
• Find out the importance of selecting the right kind of cellulose fibrils for your applications.

Audience:

• R&D managers and directors
• Business development directors and managers
• Innovation directors and managers
• CTOs
• Directors and managers of strategy
• Heads of market operations
• Heads of packaging
• Operation managers
• Sales VPs.

Registration instructions and additional webinar program information are available online.