MALICS

Development of innovative lignocellulosic packaging

Developing innovative solutions for the packaging of the future!

The MALICS project, headed by the Centre Technique du Papier, was selected by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
regional council to receive financial support in the context of its second call for proposals launched in June 2016 for its “IRICE” scheme to support research and innovation facilities in businesses. The project began officially on 22 September 2016.

Objectives of the platform

The platform can currently be used to perform all the stages of converting a raw lignocellulosic material into a finished product:

Preparing the lignocellulosic material on a custom basis, taking advantage of its potential for green chemistry applications
Using this material to produce structured lignocellulosic materials by deploying specific treatments, fractionating the material and arranging the fractions in an organised manner in order to minimise resource use and maximise material performance
Shaping these materials by using conventional or new technologies to obtain a paper or by using wet shaping techniques for new 3D uses
Functionalising 3D objects, in particular to guarantee barrier properties.

With the MALICS platform, the CTP is capable of assisting all the players in the value chain.

The MALICS platform is a unique set of pilot facilities covering all the steps from concept to demonstration:

For using new lignocellulosic resources and creating value from them
For fibre/microfibrillated cellulose structures with barrier properties
For moulded or thermoformed 3D lignocellulosic structures with enhanced mechanical and barrier properties

Thanks to the support the platform has received from the Axelera and Techtera competitiveness clusters and the financial backing of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes regional authority, the CTP is capable of helping industrial firms develop innovative solutions for the packaging of the future.

The platform is composed of:

An extraction pilot for carrying out the usual cooking processes, extracting molecules or producing fibres using innovative methods
Complete equipment for fractionating/screening fibrous suspensions in order to obtain custom fractions
A twin-screw extruder for processing fibres, annual plants or wood chips in order to prepare the material for future uses.
A mixer to develop fibre properties using a new treatment technique at atmospheric pressure
Laboratory and pilot wet lamination equipment in order to demonstrate this new patented technology for producing 100% cellulose barriers
A moulded cellulose pilot for validating specific developments using moulded cellulose on 3D objects
Thermoforming equipment for validating extensible paper developments
A gluing bench for laboratory simulations of industrial gluing conditions during material shaping
A 3D spray coating robot using innovative technologies to give the surfaces of 3D objects barrier properties.