The Arne Asplund Mechanical Pulping Award for 2020 has been granted to Mr Bengt Åkerblom, Vårby, Sweden, the owner and founder of Dametric AB.
The award is endowed every second year by The Arne Asplund Mechanical Pulping Award Foundation to promote the development of new technology for the manufacture of high-yield pulp.
Presentation of the award was planned for June 9, at the International Mechanical Pulping Conference, IMPC, which is hosted by The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada this year. This event has now been postponed and the prize will be presented on a later occasion.
Bengt Åkerblom has devoted his entire professional life to developing, constructing and providing the pulp market with equipment and solutions for process measurement and control, particularly for the mechanical and chemi-mechanical pulping industry. He is the principal owner and Chairman of the Board of the Dametric company, which produces and markets his various inventions.
The way in which Bengt Åkerblom has developed the True Disc Clearance (TDC) and Adjustable Gap Sensor (AGS) for chip and pulp refiners has enabled tremendous improvements to be made in both the availability and control of refiners, thereby increasing pulp quality and reducing specific energy consumption. These sensors are installed in the vast majority of high-consistency mechanical pulp refiners around the world. Lately, his work has enabled the development and usage of refining processes based on feeding refiner segments. Such systems, in which the very accurate control of extremely small refiner gaps is fundamental, allow significant specific energy reductions to be made.
The Arne Asplund Mechanical Pulping Award promotes the development of new technology for the manufacture of high-yield pulp. It is awarded to a person or persons in recognition of outstanding achievement in the research and development of mechanical pulping technology.
The Arne Asplund Mechanical Pulping Award Foundation was established in 1985 to commemorate the contributions made by Dr. Arne Asplund to the pulp and paper industry worldwide. The Award was made possible through a donation Valmet made to the foundation in 1985. The Chairman of the Foundation is Professor Göran Bengtsson.
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