SCA Östrand is stepping up its drive to develop new products and reach new markets for its unique airlaid material Luna.
Luna is a dry-formed airlaid material with a pure, clear environmental profile and excellent absorption properties.
“It is capable of sucking up 10 times its own weight in liquid,” explains Mattias Wikström, Business Area Manager for Luna at SCA Östrand.
Luna is made from SCA Östrand’s own Star Fluff and supplied in roll form. Production started in 1992, but for many years output was only delivered internally to SCA Hygiene’s mills in Europe.
Focus on new markets
Around the end of the last decade, production was up to 5,500 tonnes. When SCA Hygiene’s factory in the Czech Republic decided to change its production process, internal deliveries from Östrand fell dramatically.
This is why SCA Östrand has decided to increase its focus on new markets, new products and external customers. In recent years, considerable resources have been put into product development internally as well as in partnership with SCA R&D in Sundsvall and potential customers.
“We currently only use just over 10 percent of the total machine capacity, but our target is to reach full utilisation of capacity, which is 6,500 tonnes per year, by 2015,” states Mattias Wikström.
Several new customers
To achieve this, SCA Östrand intends to seek out new horizons and produce a number of different products. In addition to SCA Hygiene in the Czech Republic, the factory already delivers the hygiene product Luna Core to customers such as Kronosept for producing Natracare in the UK. The brand Natracare is owned by Bodywise, which sells its eco-friendly hygiene products all around the world.
With many of the new customers, which are small and medium-sized companies with a strong developmental profile, SCA Östrand has chosen the strategy of being more than just a supplier.
“We don’t want to simply deliver products. We also want to be a partner, helping with planning, business expertise, technical development and sales growth,” says Mattias Wikström.
Fresher and more ecofriendly food
The many interesting new customers include Sweden’s Cellcomb in Karlstad, one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of disposable laminated products for healthcare services, care of the elderly and the hygiene market. The company’s aim is to base its products, to the greatest degree possible, on compostable and renewable materials.
Together, SCA Östrand and Cellcomb have developed and launched the Cellcomb Food Pad, an ecofriendly and compostable absorbent pad for use in packaging of meat, fish and other foods. The pad’s raw materials and design help it to keep foods fresh for longer. The absorbent material sucks up the blood from the meat, while the top layer, a starch-based biofilm or polythene film, prevents fluids from then escaping back out. The pad has heat-sealed edges, which means that no material from the core can leak out and come into contact with the food.
“The result is a product that looks fresher and has a longer shelf life. The benefit of Luna is also that it is an ecofriendly product, entirely based on wood fibre. A great deal of the absorbent food products are manufactured from oil-based super absorbents,” comments Mattias Wikström.
There is already considerable interest in Cellcomb’s food pad, primarily from manufacturers of food trays and distributors of packaging for fresh foods.
The collaboration with Cellcomb may also offer further opportunities for Luna in the future.
Liquid-filled plant pads
Another new partner is the Dutch company Chrysal, which is a world leader in the area of plant nutrients and flowers. For them, SCA Östrand has developed a liquid-filled pad.
“As soon as the flowers and plants are to be delivered from the producer, the pots are placed on moistened pads of Luna. This has enabled the stores to significantly reduce the number of rejects due to wilting or dead flowers. The difference is incredible, with the stores having access to much fresher flowers,” says Mattias Wikström.
“We’ve recently sent off our first deliveries to Chrysal. The material is transported on SCA Transforest’s ships and we have high hopes for this collaboration in the future,” states Mattias Wikström.
TEXT: Carl Johard
PHOTO: Per Anders Sjöquist