Fossil fuel-based plastics, composite materials and aluminium may soon be replaced by a new biomaterial developed by PaperShell in collaboration with RISE. The product is an excellent example of how to quickly take an innovation all the way from idea to industrialisation.
To overcome the climate challenges the world is facing, we need new solutions – and we need them quickly. This means that innovation processes must be speeded up and innovations must be given better conditions to go all the way from idea to market. One company that has quickly managed to do this with the help of RISE is the start-up PaperShell. The company has developed a bio-based material that is as strong as many fibre composites and as weather-resistant as some plastics. With different compression moulding methods, components can be customised and then used in vehicles, furniture, and sports equipment, for example.
“As a start-up, we have had a great need for help both in terms of knowledge and equipment,” says Anders Breitholtz, CEO and founder of PaperShell. “It has therefore been invaluable to be able to utilise RISE’s expertise and accumulated knowledge when it comes to fibre, toolmaking, and much more, as well as their equipment, which we could not have afforded to buy ourselves.”
After more than 20 years of experience as a technology scout with a focus on materials and manufacturing techniques, it was natural for him to take a step further and develop materials able to address the major environmental challenges we face.
“We have two large bio-streams that can replace fossil fuel-derived raw materials: agro-waste from food production, and raw materials and residual streams from the forestry process industry,” explains Breitholtz. “At present, we are neglecting valuable streams there, for example by burning lignin and hemicellulose. What we are now doing is taking cellulose fibre and reintroducing some constituents that are found in both trees and plants. This allows us to reconstruct wood and obtain a material that is extremely strong.”
Material test in dishwasher
Breitholtz and co-founder Mathieu Gustafsson began work on the new material in 2018. The results of early tests far exceeded expectations. Among other things, they discovered that it was possible to produce shapes that neither paper nor wood could achieve. A natural flame retardant in the material means that it does not burn. And despite the fact that natural fibre usually absorbs a lot of water, the new material absorbed minimal water.
“After making our first moulded piece, we ran it in the dishwasher 30 times,” says Breitholtz. “When we weighed it afterwards, I couldn’t detect any weight difference on my scale at home. That’s when I really got interested.”
The unique qualities of the material meant that the entrepreneurs were quickly supported by several well-known funders and industrial personalities.
“This was in 2020, and the following year we started the company,” says Breitholtz. “In connection with this, we raised five million kronor and started pilot production in Tibro. In that time, we also managed to establish a highly qualified board and start a close dialogue with potential customers. After that, we offered further issues and raised a total of SEK 114 million.”
Avoid the "valley of death"
Breitholtz says that the support provided by a good board, funders, and RISE has been invaluable to avoid getting stuck in a ‘death valley curve’, which is a common problem for many start-ups focusing on research and development:
“You usually talk about the Technology Readiness Level, where levels 1-3 relate to basic research and levels 4-6 involve applied research and development. When new technologies and innovations are demonstrated, it is typically at level 6. But many get stuck in the next stages, during levels 7-9 where industry takes over. For example, it may be due to a lack of capital, the inventor lacks industrialisation knowledge, or that the organisation is not in place. We don’t need more industrial designers; we need more industrialisation designers.”
There is no point in verifying the material with the customer if there is no possibility of upscaling at the level that is needed
External development department
RISE’s role in the project has been to contribute with expertise and equipment and to serve as the company’s development department.
“It’s been a very exciting and eventful project, with weekly meetings throughout the project and where we have continuously worked to press, test, and analyse the material from different aspects,” says Kenneth Strand, researcher and project manager at RISE. “With the results we achieved together, PaperShell has been able to build up a business and we have had the opportunity to carry out what is one of our most important assignments – helping Swedish industry.”
“At RISE we have experience helping companies from an idea for a new sustainable product, process or material, to verifying product properties or the cycle times of the intended process,” says David Engberg, RISE. In our test bed for sustainable composite manufacturing, we can evaluate manufacturing processes in conditions equal to the intended production process, which allows process parameters to be optimised, tools to be fine-tuned, and prototypes to be manufactured before the customer’s own production has begun. This minimises the risk to the customer when purchasing new production equipment or when developing new sustainable products.”
New factory
In addition to developing the material itself, RISE has helped PaperShell with the development and planning of the new factory that will be started in Lidköping during the third quarter of 2023. This represents a major step up in production capacity compared to the current pilot plant, from 600 to 4,000 square metres of production floor space.
“Right now we are in full swing with the work on the new factory and we are carrying out in-depth product development projects with companies both in Sweden and Europe,” says Breitholtz. “One of the companies we have signed an agreement with is the motorcycle manufacturer CAKE, with whom we share an ambition to have zero carbon dioxide emissions. At the new factory, we will be able to produce up to 700,000 components a year.”
The factory in Lidköping will operate as a factory but it will also serve as an industrialisation pilot for larger factories in the future.
“Because there is no point in verifying the material with the customer if there is no possibility of upscaling at the level that the automotive industry, for example, will need to achieve its environmental goals by 2030,” concludes Anders Breitholtz.
