TU/e signs agreement with paper industry for research into revolutionary solvent

27 February 2014

The Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) has signed an agreement with 14 European paper producers for the further development of a breakthrough new solvent. This new solvent, developed by TU/e professor Maaike Kroon, will potentially enable the paper industry to make big energy savings in production and to use raw materials more efficiently. Kroon discovered that wood fibers easily dissolve in specific ‘deep eutectic solvents’ (DES). In the production of paper, the basic vegetable material (lignocellulose) has to be separated into lignine and cellulose. Dissolving wood chips has up to now not been an option, but the new solvent makes this possible (Press Release TU/e, 6 February 2014).
Click here for the press release.

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