ATLANTA, Georgia (March 22, 2001) - The Vortigen^TM System, a new technology developed at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) with funding through the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the American Forest and Paper Association, recently surpassed all expectations in a commercial trial at the Smurfit-Stone plant in Florence, South Carolina. This technology yields stronger paper and improves uniformity and surface properties, while using less fiber and energy, which translates into to lower cost for paper manufacturers.

The technology, implemented as a retrofit to the forming section of the paper machine, improves sheet properties by changing the fluid dynamics of fiber suspension during forming. Improvements in the forming fluid dynamics result in general enhancement of uniformity in fiber mass and fiber orientation distribution. A sheet of paper is a network of bonded fibers which will fail under stress at the weakest link and direction. Therefore, a more uniform sheet of paper has superior mechanical strength, as well as better surface properties.

Professor Cyrus K. Aidun, the inventor and principal investigator of the project says, "The hydrodynamic forces involved in the forming process tend to orient the fibers in the stream-wise direction, that is the direction that the paper machine runs. By changing the flow characteristics, it becomes possible to improve fiber dispersion and to control fiber orientation. This improves fiber mass distribution and fiber orientation isotropy in the sheet to make a stronger sheet of paper with less fiber.

In developing this technology, we had to understand the physics of fiber dispersion in the forming process. Relatively minor changes in the design of the forming device significantly improves the flow characteristics in a way to disperse fibers uniformly in all directions."

The Vortigen^TM system is the only available technology that can commercially produce a sheet of paper with fibers oriented equally in all in-plane directions. Vortigen^TM is being commercialized by Fluidix Microforming Systems, a start-up company housed in the Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech. The recent trials demonstrate that the Vortigen^TM system makes it possible to use 10 - 20% less fiber to make the same strength of paper with better uniformity and surface properties.

If you can reduce the amount of fiber that you need in the product, this translates into substantial energy savings in the amount of energy that is needed to pulp the fiber from wood, refine the fiber, pump the fiber through the mill, and the final product. In addition to these energy savings, reducing the basis-weight of the sheet by only 5% in a 300,000 ton per year high performance linerboard machine would give an annual savings of over $3.0 million in fiber costs.

E. J. "Woody" Rice, Vice President of IPST says, "This technology will rank among the top advances in the papermaking industry over the last 25 years and should continue to be cutting-edge into the 21st century. This product offers the pulp and paper industry a ready-now technology that can give a return on investment in less than three months."

When asked what is next, Dr. Aidun answers, "The next step is to use sensors on the paper machine in concert with a Vortigen^TM system so that you can control the paper machine in real time. Practically any variation in paper properties should be detected and controlled automatically." In addition to board and tissue products, this has tremendous implications for fine paper and printing papers that need specific physical properties. Dr. Aidun's work could lead to fewer web breaks on newsprint machines, less twist-warp in packaging grades, and fewer paper jams in photocopiers.