Exilva, cellulose fibrils by Borreggard -The bio-based problem solver
Country of application:
Norway
Scope of innovation
☐ Office work
☒ Production / Service supply process
Sector-specific
☒ Yes / please, specify sector(s): Agriculture, constructions, etc.
☐ No (relevant for all sectors)
Description of the needs
In today’s world, there’s a growing awareness of the impact we have on the environment. Many industries heavily rely on products derived from oil, which, although effective, come with significant environmental concerns. These petroleum-based products are often used to improve the quality and consistency of many goods, from packaging materials to cosmetics. However, these products are not renewable, and their production and use contribute to pollution and other environmental problems. As demand for these products increases, there are added challenges. These include running out of essential resources, managing waste, and dealing with the carbon emissions from factories. Because of these challenges, it is becoming more important to find alternative solutions that are both effective and kinder to the environment.
This is where Borregaard’s Exilva comes in. Made from renewable forest cellulose from Scandinavia, Exilva is an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional oil-based products. It can help improve the consistency, stability, and structure of various products, offering a more sustainable way to produce quality goods.
Description of the solution
Exilva, a revolutionary product by Borregaard, is a pioneer in the domain of sustainable solutions. This product, classified as cellulose fibrils or nanocellulose, is a robust additive derived from Scandinavian forest cellulose. It serves as a natural and sustainable replacement for traditional oil-based additives, enhancing the rheology, stability, and structure across a variety of product formulations.
Traditional oil-based additives are widely used in an array of products, including adhesives, coatings, agricultural chemicals, cosmetics, household cleaning products, packaging materials, and composites, to amplify their performance. However, since these additives are mostly petroleum-derived, manufacturers aiming to address challenges, improve product performance, or drive innovative cycles are increasingly seeking innovative, eco-friendly alternatives. In this context, Exilva emerges as an efficient solution. Its fibrils form a 3D network with a substantial surface area, thereby improving the performance of water-based and polar substances. This unique structure can retain a significant amount of water, exhibiting superior properties at both 10% and 2% dryness levels. Notably, Exilva offers exceptional liquid stabilization, ensuring consistent and steady results.
Exilva’s interaction with its environment is both physical and chemical, influencing substances through its fibrous network. One of Exilva’s noteworthy characteristics is its ability to alter from a dense to a thin consistency when a force is applied, such as during spraying. It promptly returns to its original viscosity once the force is withdrawn, a quality attributed to the fibrils’ ability to reconnect swiftly after separation. When dried, Exilva forms a robust, non-sticky layer that enables solvent evaporation, thereby strengthening the products it’s used in and facilitating improvements in product and process.
Exilva is a testament to Borregaard’s extensive experience and commitment to sustainability. With over 125 years of experience, Borregaard has introduced this innovative, eco-friendly technology to the market. Created using Norwegian energy sources and materials, Exilva presents a substantial sustainability footprint. With its superior performance attributes and environmentally friendly nature, Exilva has the potential to influence a diverse range of industries positively.
Cellulose fibrils
Cellulose fibrils exhibit extraordinary adaptability to changes in shear, pH, and temperature. In addition, they boost anti-settling and anti-sedimentation performance by increasing yield stress, thereby improving the sustainability profile of the products they’re incorporated into. These fibrils are characterized by a complex network of cellulose fibers that can interact both physically and chemically, due to their extensive surface area and hydrogen bonding capacity. This unique property provides the fibrils with rheological and mechanical functions, offering unique benefits to the final product systems when used as an additive. They maintain a high-water retention ability and retain their crystalline features post-production, ensuring a robust end product. Research on these micro fibrillated cellulose (MFC) began in the early 1980s and has frequently been mentioned in scientific literature. Previously, production was restricted to small labs and pilot plants. However, today, Borregaard, leveraging its proprietary technology, produces high-quality cellulose fibrils at its production plant in Sarpsborg, Norway.
Borregaard’s cellulose fibrils can enhance your product formulations’ structure, increase efficiency, and reduce carbon footprint. They regulate drying time, improve barriers, and enhance the absorption of active ingredients. Ideal for products with stringent spray quality requirements, these fibrils excel when low viscosity at high shear and rapid viscosity recovery is essential, due to their pseudoplastic behavior. This makes Borregaard’s cellulose fibrils a compelling choice for advancing sustainable product development. Their multifunctional benefits encompass extreme shear-thinning, high viscosity at low shear, thixotropic characteristics, high water retention capacity, barrier properties, enhanced absorption of active ingredients, and ensured stability.
Exilva thus serves as a high-tech, powerful performance enhancer. In simple terms, Exilva revolutionizes how we apply paint to walls or ceilings, use adhesives, feel the texture of a cosmetic cream on our skin, or assess the performance of a gas/oxygen barrier. Thanks to its high efficiency, adaptability in challenging environments, and multifaceted attributes, Exilva finds application in a wide array of products and industries. Being entirely natural and having a minimal carbon footprint, Exilva stands out as an eco-friendly innovation.
Description of the effect
Borregaard’s primary aim is to deliver sustainable solutions built upon renewable materials and distinct expertise. Sustainability is ingrained in the company’s overall objectives. Borregaard’s Board of Directors emphasizes the role of sustainability as a fundamental component of the company’s operations and progress. In this context, cellulose fibrils, as utilized in Borregaard’s Exilva technology, present substantial sustainable benefits. These benefits stem from their unique properties and extensive applicability.
Exilva provides manufacturers with a sustainable solution to challenges concerning rheology, barriers, and reinforcement, issues typically addressed with petroleum-based products. Rheological effects include preventing settling, eliminating sagging or dripping, enabling the application or spraying of denser layers, and enhancing adhesive application. Barrier effects involve sound insulation properties, efficient gas barriers, lightweight packaging, and increased sunscreen effects due to a high surface area. By adopting Exilva, manufacturers can reduce their carbon footprint, enhance their environmental sustainability, and ignite innovative opportunities:
Environmentally friendly source: Cellulose fibrils, extracted from Norway Spruce trees in Scandinavian forests, represent an innovative development in the micro fibrillated cellulose (MFC) and nanocellulose domains. This renewable and sustainable resource provides an eco-friendly alternative to traditional additives that are predominantly petroleum-based.
Optimized material usage: The robustness and high efficiency of cellulose fibrils, even under challenging conditions, enable manufacturers to produce goods with fewer resources. This leads to decreased material use and subsequently heightened production efficiency.
Efficient resource utilization: Borregaard’s specialized fibrillation process transforms cellulose fibers into a 3D network of microfibrils. Combined with the fibrils’ high surface area and water retention capacity, this results in substantial energy and water savings during production.
Improved product durability and adaptability: Cellulose fibrils contribute to product stability (preventing settling), flexibility, and control over drying time. These attributes extend product lifespan, reducing waste and frequency of replacements.
Superior functionality: The cellulose fibrils can replace multiple other materials due to their high water retention capacity, barrier properties, and ability to enhance the uptake of active ingredients. This leads to a more streamlined and sustainable product formulation.
Performance enhancement: The pseudoplastic (non-Newtonian) behavior of cellulose fibrils and their ability to offer high viscosity at low shear contribute to their superior performance. This improved performance implies less product usage for achieving similar or superior results, fostering resource efficiency and minimizing environmental impact.
Eco-friendly production: Borregaard’s technology has overcome past production limitations, enabling the production of high-quality cellulose fibrils from its plant in Sarpsborg, Norway. This production process is designed to maximize resource usage and minimize waste. In 2022, Borregaard further developed its plan to achieve CO2 emissions and water effluent reduction targets by 2030. Electrification, energy conservation, and innovative heat recovery are the main projects to achieve the GHG emission reduction targets. Process improvements and wastewater incineration technology are the main measures to reduce effluents to water.
Enhancement of active ingredients: By boosting the absorption of active ingredients in various products, cellulose fibrils can increase product effectiveness. This results in a decrease in the quantities of these ingredients needed, which can provide additional environmental benefits.
The sustainability impact of cellulose fibrils and Borregaard’s Exilva technology contributes significantly to eco-friendlier industrial practices. This technology presents a renewable, high-performing, and resource-efficient alternative to traditional additives, thereby aligning with the global endeavor towards climate change mitigation and resource conservation.
Company/companies that developed/implemented/offer the innovation
Borregaard is a Norwegian industrial corporation with its headquarters in Sarpsborg. Borregaard stands as a global leader in the realm of highly advanced and sustainable biorefineries. It leverages the power of natural, sustainable raw materials to manufacture sophisticated and eco-friendly biochemicals that serve as viable alternatives to oil-based products. The company has secured robust standing in the sectors of ingredients and fine chemicals. Borregaard’s product portfolio is diverse, ranging from advanced speciality cellulose, lignin-based products (binders, dispersants), and vanillin for flavourings. The products are applied across several sectors including agriculture, fish farming, construction, pharmaceuticals, and food industries, among others. Beyond its biorefinery in Sarpsborg, Borregaard extends its footprint through five production facilities situated outside Norway, focused on the creation of lignin-based products. With a team of 1100 employees dispersed across plants and sales offices in 13 countries spanning Asia, Europe, and the Americas, Borregaard showcases a truly global presence.
Borregaard at a glance:
• A biorefinery that generates high value-added products.
• Expertise in specialized global niches.
• A commitment to innovation and continuous enhancement.
• Leverages knowledge and expertise as a significant competitive edge.
Contact:
Borregaard
P.O Box 162
N-1701 Sarpsborg
Norway
Phone: +47 69 11 80 00
Fax: +47 69 11 87 70
Additional information