Indian pulp and paper industry delegation visits Sweden

A delegation, representing the Indian pulp and paper industry, under the aegis of the Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA), visited Sweden from 27 to 30 September 2015. The delegation was invited by the Swedish Pulp & Paper Technology Group and Business Sweden, to discuss the potential areas for Indo-Swedish collaboration.

20 Oct 2015 | By Rahul Kumar

The 19-member team comprised of senior representatives from the member mills of the Indian Paper Manufacturers Association, including BILT, ITC, JK, Seshasayee, Star, TNPL and Yash. There were also representatives from other paper mills, such as Rama, Shreyans, Khanna and Sripathi.

According to Rohit Pandit, secretary general, IPMA, business meetings were held with Swedish companies with interests in paper and pulp. The companies which met the Indian delegation include Innventia, Elof Hansson, Clean Combustion, Alfa Laval, Lorentzen & Wettre, Andritz, MoRe Research, UMV, Angpanneforeningen (AF), Valmet Technologies, Akzo Nobel Pulp & Performance Chemicals, SWECO, and BTG Instruments, among others.

During discussions with their Swedish counterparts, the Indian representatives identified a number of avenues where both the countries can collaborate. These include new plant and equipment; rebuilding of paper machines; energy efficiency/conservation; environment-friendly green technologies; new technologies like nano-cellulose, biorefinery, carbon fibre from lignin, etc; collaborative R&D; plantation of high yielding, short maturity pulpable wood species; improved recovery; sorting and utilisation of waste paper; and CDM projects; among others.

“Sweden is a world leader in clean and green technologies and R&D for the pulp and paper industry. Indian manufacturers can learn a lot from Sweden,” said Pandit, adding that during the visit the Indian delegates learned about the latest technologies, R&D in areas like resource, fibre, water, energy, and environment conservation to optimise resource use and enhance production efficiency.