Dry Molded Fiber is a fiber-forming technology patented and owned by Swedish company PulPac. The technology provides the packaging industry a swift transition toward circularity with cost-competitive, fiber-based packaging alternatives that meet the market's and planet's needs for responsibly produced, sustainable packaging items.
Dry Molded Fiber — a simple solution to an unnecessary problem The climate threat is real, and unfortunately, we have to give it some credit for inspiring the development of Dry Molded Fiber. The environmental impact of single-use plastics is one of today's more significant challenges. And there is, unfortunately, no evidence of it slowing down.
So, PulPac developed a technology based on fiber-forming principles — just like wet-forming. Dry Molded Fiber is what it says: a technology for forming cellulose fiber into rigid, three-dimensional products, and we figured out how to take almost all the water from the equation.
The Dry Molded Fiber technology and manufacturing process require very little water. Due to this, energy consumption is low, which results in CO2 emissions up to 80% lower than wet molding and plastic processing.
The process uses generic pulp and molds it into almost any three-dimensional shape using heat, high pressure, and unique tooling to reactivate the hydrogen bonds between the fibers.
So instead of using water to form a slurry, the input fibers are milled and turned into a loose, web-like material using air. The web gets additional barrier properties via, e.g., lamination or spray-on coating to improve moisture, grease, or gas resistance.
The process is fully automated, with 99% material efficiency. It has cycle times of around 3.5 seconds and holding times under 0.5 seconds. That makes the Dry Molded Fiber process up to 10 times faster than traditional fiber forming. And it's on par with plastics processing but with significantly lower climate impact.
A recent Lifecycle Assessment study made on the climate impact of Dry Molded Fiber spoons shows that the Dry Molded Fiber process accounts for a mere 7% of the total climate impact.
With our Dry Molded Fiber technology, we want to help the packaging industry and plastic converters to replace single-use plastics with a responsibly produced alternative for sustainable packaging. We aim high and strive to replace one million tons of plastic in the coming years, equivalent to 5 million tons of CO2 and 5 billion liters of water.
To reach our goals, PulPac collaborates closely with different industries to make a significant and lasting impact.
Application submitted by Ingrid Moen, Marketing Coordinator at PulPac. Email: ingrid.moen@pulpac.com.