Paul Olof Meinander will be awarded the 2004 Prize of 2 million Swedish Crowns for his path breaking development of the paper machine’s wet end.
The Marcus Wallenberg Prize for 2004 of 2 million Swedish Crowns will be awarded to the Finnish engineer, Paul Olof Meinander. He developed a significant modification of the design of the paper machine that improves both the efficiency of the economic and the environmental performance. The new design is called the POM Wet End Concept.
The Prize- winner developed the idea and then designed and built machinery that proved the concept. During paper making, fibres are fed to the machine in a water slurry in which the fibre component normally makes up less than one per cent. On the so-called wet end of the paper machine by far the greatest part of the water is drained off and simultaneously the fibres form the paper sheet. The water thus removed contains a certain amount of fibres and fragments of fibres.
It is brought back to the slurry system to be re- used for the transportation of fibres. Consequently, very large amounts of water are circulated. With the new POM-Technology applied the water flow is handled in another way than before which leads to a considerable reduction of the size of the wet end of paper machine systems. There are significant savings in capital costs and reduction of energy required for the process. Control of the process is improved and this improves the paper quality.
Other achievements provided by the new technology are increased cleanliness in the system and the paper web that leads to reduced stoppages of the machine and to reduced use of chemicals. In addition, paper grade changes are faster which results in less lost time on the paper machine.
Overall the POM concept improves the efficiency of the paper-making process with a great impact on the process economy and it is a step towards sustainability. The concept has proved its significance to the industry; approximately 20 installations were in full commercial operation in mid-2003.
Mr. Paul Olof Meinander, MSc, born 1941, is Founder and President, POM Technology Oy Ab. He graduated from Helsinki University of Technology in 1966 and served for 25 years in various positions in Finland, Italy and Germany for the Ahlström Corporation before founding the company in 1993 to commercialize the POM Concept.
For further information please contact:
Dr. Hansjoerg Kessler, Secretary of the Marcus Wallenberg Prize Selection Committee.
Telephone +49-2132 4703,
Mobile +49-172 211 3418,
Fax +49-2132 4326.
The Marcus Wallenberg Prize The international Marcus Wallenberg Prize was established in 1980 by Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags AB, today merged with the Finnish company Enso to form the Stora Enso Group. The Prize is awarded through the auspices of the Marcus Wallenberg Foundation for the Promotion of Scientific Research in the Forest Products Industry. The 2004 Marcus Wallenberg Prize will be presented to the Prize-winner by H. M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a special ceremony to be held in Stockholm this autumn. This will be the 21st occasion the MWP has been awarded.
For more information about the Marcus Wallenberg Prize, please visit www.mwp.org
