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Agenda

Registration and welcome refreshments
Smithers welcome
Chair’s opening remarks
Session 1: Industry overview: business and market developments
Keynote: Paper requirements for FMCG Applications
In order for paper to be a substrate for the future for a broad range of packaging solutions for FMCG products, specific properties are needed. This presentation will outline the key challenges and requirements that need to be satisfied, especially for paper-based materials to gain a greater share of the future flexibles market.
Colin Kerr | Global Head Packaging Strategic Projects, Unilever
Competitive landscape and the impact of carbon in specialty papers
Session 2: PPWR update and implications for specialty papers and packaging
PPWR update and impact on fibre based packaging
Networking break
Panel session: PPWR and what this means for the paper and packaging industry

Moderator: Kelly Helein, Principal, Stratus Solutions, LLC
Panellists:
Sarah Price, Director Sustainability, Sappi & 4evergreen Chair
Ulrich Leberle, Raw Materials Director, Cepi  
Alena Maran, Director Strategy and Sustainability, Avery Dennison

Further panellists to be announced

Session 3: New developments in specialty papers
The Plastic Free issue for specialty papers: how to deal with environmental claims and release of polymeric contaminants and microplastics
Companies are asked to invest on technologies able to give safe and sustainable specialty papers with a proper performance. Often additives and polymeric dispersions are used to provide moisture and oil/grease resistance. In the presentation the regulatory situation will be clarified, and studies on the release of PFAS, microplastics and other contaminants will be shared and commented.
 
Dr. Marinella Vitulli | Owner & Director , Food Contact Center srl & Food Contact Services srl
Unlocking the Benefits of Low Cationic Starches in Surface Sizing
Low cationic surface sizing starches have emerged as a valuable solution in the paper manufacturing industry, offering benefits in terms of paper quality and sustainability. The presentation explores the advantages of using low cationic surface sizing starches including enhanced surface strength, improved print quality, cost reduction, and lower effluent load emissions. These starches have a unique molecular structure that allows for stronger bonding with cellulose fibers and fillers, resulting in improved surface strength and resistance to defects. They also exhibit exceptional ink absorption and immobilization properties, ensuring sharp and vibrant prints with minimal feathering or bleeding. By reducing starch losses and enabling the use of less expensive base papers, low cationic surface sizing starches contribute to cost reduction. By embracing low cationic surface sizing starches, paper manufacturers can enhance paper quality, reduce costs, and reduce effluent load emissions .
Dr. Diego Fort | Senior Specialist Industrial - PPD Renewables EMEA, Cargill
Networking lunch
Coating & Laminating– A Carbon Reduced Solution for Curl Control
Joonas Kääriäinen, QMS Product Manager, Coaters & Laminators, Valmet Automation   
Andrea Glawe | Regional Sales Director, KROENERT GmbH & Co KG
“Fiber coating” - a new dimension to create advanced paper-& board products
Introducing an innovative coating technology for paper and board surface treatment, enabling the application of a semi-solid paste with precision in both machine direction (MD) and cross direction (CD) at industrial speeds and optimal solids levels. Traditionally, the challenging rheology of advanced cellulosic fibers has hindered practical coating applications. However, this new fiber coating technique has overcome this obstacle, paving the way for sustainable packaging materials. Preliminary lab studies have shown that advanced cellulosic fibers enhance oxygen barrier properties and grease resistance when applied to paper webs. Pilot trials were conducted to evaluate the performance of the coating technique and assess the quality enhancements achieved through the application of Micro Crystalline Cellulose (MCC) and Micro Fibrillated Cellulose (MFC) in various combinations, ensuring compatibility with future commercial production speeds. This paper will present the physical, optical, oxygen, and barrier performance of base papers treated with advanced fibers. Additionally, insights will be shared on observations related to drying, particularly in the context of mitigating pinhole formation.
 
Magnus Nilsson | Sales Director, UMV Coating Systems AB
Session 4: Alternative fibers and new innovations
Cocoa husk as a fiber source for paper making
During cocoa processing a considerable residue of biomass with high economic potential is generated. The purpose of this research was to evaluate whether cocoa husk residue after cocoa harvesting has the potential to be used as a fibre source in papermaking applications for packaging. Cocoa husk was collected in West Africa and in Brazil, and different pulps were produced using different pulping and bleaching processes. Laboratory sheets with different blends of cocoa husk and commercial wood fibres were prepared and the impact on paper properties studied.
Kiril Dimitrov | Packaging Expert, Nestle
Tropical red seaweeds: feedstock for sustainable biobased coatings for paper/cardboard
Networking refreshment break
Unveiling Papkot RL, the industry’s first silicone-free release liner
Qwarzo®: the enhancing barrier, plastic & microplastic-free, for food packaging
Biocup: an ecofriendly solution for cups using chromatogeny
This presentation focuses on the ongoing industrial transfer of recyclable and home compostable paper cup by combining polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) coating and Chromatogeny grafting. The developed material fulfilled the requirements of barrier properties for Cups markets and great prospects are expected in 2024 regarding the status of food contact.
 
Claire Monot | Project Leader in the Functional Products Division, CTP, CTP
The next frontier of plastic and synthetic-free packaging: natural polymer coatings
Chair’s summary and end of day one
Networking drinks reception
Registration and welcome refreshments
Session 5: Brands – industry collaboration and future perspective
Keynote: Looking ahead - our future based packaging needs and innovation requirements
  • In many cases, fibre-based packages made from renewable raw materials are good alternatives to plastics or other materials.
  • Global manufacturers demonstrate how the necessary functions of packaging can be developed with innovative solutions while at the same time being recyclable.
  • But what are needed innovations for the coming years ? Some insights from a global brandowner.

Jürgen Dornheim | Director Corporate Packaging, Sustainability & Innovation, Procter & Gamble
Collaboration along the value chain to find barrier performance based on end-use requirements
Mika Uusikartano, Senior Manager, Product Portfolio Management, UPM Specialty Papers and Martin Hilgenstock, Senior Manager Business Development, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
Brand panel: A future perspective: Aligning brand owners and producers – what do brands want and when? Impact of PPWR – challenges for brands & is this an opportunity for specialty papers? What are consumers recyclability and sustainability expectat
Moderator Alexey Vishtal, Head of Novel Packaging Development, Mayr-Melnhof Group
Panellists:
William Connolly, Senior Principal Scientist, Diageo 
Jürgen Dornheim, Director Corporate Packaging, Sustainability & Innovation, Procter & Gamble 
Kiril Dimitrov, Packaging Expert, Nestlé
Colin Kerr, Global Head Packaging Strategic Projects, Unilever
 
Networking refreshment break
Session 6: Future recycling and sustainability needs for paper and packaging
Waste intelligence: using waste data to ensure packaging circularity with AI
Hear Greyparrot’s COO Gaspard Duthilleul share the packaging insights we’ve revealed by analysing over 25 billion waste objects a year. By accurately identifying the brand and stock-keeping unit (SKU) of products in global waste streams with AI, we’ve built some of the world’s largest datasets on packaging recyclability. Gaspard will share what we’ve learned about recyclable and non-recyclable materials, and the most common kind of packaging lost to landfills and incinerators. He’ll also explain how one of the world’s largest consumer packaged goods producers is using that insight to design more sustainable products, prepare for extended producer responsibility, and minimise their environmental impact.
Gaspard Duthilleul | COO, Greyparrot
Session 7: Barriers - new developments, coatings and performance
Approaches for dispersion coated flexible barrier paper for packaging applications
Flexible paper packaging solutions as an alternative to traditional plastic packaging are gaining more and more traction. For successful transition, barrier coatings are needed to improve the inherently poor barrier properties of paper against water, oil/grease, moisture, and oxygen. While the coating in principle provides the barrier, the impact of the paper used on the performance of the barrier coated paper is considered to be high. Smooth, high-density papers generally are preferred for high quality barrier papers, while papers with open structures are not considered to be viable to provide any barrier material. In this presentation different coating technologies will be discussed which allow the use of open papers for multiple barrier applications.

 
Bernhard Kainz | Global Application Development Leader Barrier Coatings, Dow
Synthetic and bio-based polymers in paper-based products
The talk will present the current researcher projects of the functional surfaces department of the PTS. This involves the development of alternatives to conventional petrol-based barrier coatings and the influence of bio-based coatings on paper recovery. There will also be an outlook on future projects on the microplastic generation of barrier-coated paper-based products during their use or the recycling process.

 
Tobias Pietsch | Project Manager, PTS
Networking lunch
Multi-functional barrier coating systems created by multi-layer curtain coating
In this presentation various studies, using multi-layer curtain coating, will be reviewed, which aim to optimize the barrier functionality of the final coating. The MLCC approach enables the application of consecutive layers of different polymer types/functional chemistry to be applied in one step to achieve the desired performance. The presentation will discuss different effects on the coating system, as well as current and future concepts.
 
Benjamin Benz | Sr. TS&D EMEA / Sustainable Packaging Technology Leader, Trinseo
Golden rules for effective non-contact coating of paper and molded fibre packages
  • The stakeholders: who they are and what they need
  • The technical gap: molded fibre packaging needs to have a moisture vapour barrier.
  • The importance of wetting and how to measure that your coating is wetting your substrate
  • The step-by-step approach to getting high quality coatings with no pin-holes at industrial scale

Guy Newcombe | CEO, Archipelago Technology
Super hydrophobic, multiphase polymer dispersion with improved barrier properties for food packaging paper
Chair’s closing remarks and end of conference
SPEU-24-agenda-17-4