PulPac lands €31M in funding to take Dry Molded Fiber global

09 Nov 2022 --- PulPac has raised €31 million (US$31 million) in investments to expand its Dry Molded Fiber tech production. The funding is drawn from a cross-industry group, including Aliaxis, Stora Enso, Amcor Ventures and Teseo Capital.

Speaking to PackagingInsights, Linus Larsson Green, CEO of PulPac, says the money will continue to drive the spread of Dry Molded Fiber tech that has been fast gaining ground as legislative restrictions and consumer opinion turn against single-use plastics. 

“The combined equity raise and partnerships of the cross-industrial alliance will greatly improve PulPac’s ability to cater to the global market of sustainable packaging. We see an almost limitless demand from converters and brands to transition into circular fiber solutions from fossil-based single-use plastics.” 

“PulPac’s target is to replace 1 million tons of single-use plastics by 2025, saving up to 5 million tons of CO2 emissions and up to 1 billion liters of water – compared to if the products had been made with conventional molded fiber,” he says. 

Dry Molded Fiber, invented and patented by PulPac, is a manufacturing technology designed for the circular economy – using renewable pulp and cellulose resources to produce low-cost, high-performance, fiber-based packaging and single-use products. 

Fredrik Östbye, Head of Aliaxis Next and Linus Larsson Green, CEO of PulPac, standing in front of the PulPac Modula at the PulPac Tech Center in Gothenburg, Sweden.Products are designed to be circular by being recyclable in existing paper streams and biodegraded if misplaced. 

PulPac money 
Green says PulPac has developed a substantial intellectual property (IP)-portfolio around its breakthroughs in Dry Molded Fiber. 

“On top of the IP, PulPac has built out an ecosystem of partners throughout the value chain and brought standardized production platforms to market as well as validating products – taking the novel process to a new scalable industrial solution,” he says. 

“PulPac has had strong support from existing shareholders, including cornerstone investor WPP, but are now adding strategic industrial partners with vast know-how, network and capital to deploy the technology globally.” 

Dry Molded Fiber gives up to 80% lower CO2 footprint at a similar cost as plastic, given process speed and energy use. It is also up to ten times as efficient as conventional fiber molding invented over 100 years ago, says the company.

The dry process also saves significant amounts of valuable water resources and energy costs since the molded products need no drying.

Challenges ahead 
Green says the central challenge PulPac now faces is scaling the organization globally. “Maintaining our culture is a huge undertaking. We are eager to build our team and presence to respond to all the amazing inbound we receive from all corners of the globe,” he says. 

“Moreover, getting to billions of units produced annually on our licensees’ production lines will require significant effort and support in terms of industrialization and iterative production/product improvements.”

“In PulPac’s view, the key to enabling the transition is partnerships within the industry and across society. Combining perspectives and concepts from different fields can drive innovation faster and utilize breakthroughs to solve problems like single-use plastics,” he continues. 

Governments could provide incentives to develop a shift to circular solutions but also levy taxes and add regulatory pressure to drive the speed of the transition to circularity, Green says. Dry Molded Fiber.

“However, it is paramount that the industry must also be able to adapt and pull together in enabling transitions and adaptations to infrastructure. PulPac would like to welcome any converter, brand or partner in the ecosystems of plastics or fiber to join us on the mission to replace single-use plastics with Dry Molded Fiber.”

The end of single-use plastics? 
Green asserts PulPac’s Dry Molded Fiber tech is superior to single-use plastics in a number of ways when comparing human and environmental health. 

“Single-use plastic can take hundreds of years to decompose, but a fiber product biodegrades in months if misplaced. These huge environmental benefits naturally have trade-offs with limitations in terms of barrier functionality.” 

“This is a field where we see great developments and exciting solutions on the market. Brands and Converters are also maturing, making applications more ‘designed for purpose.’”

Recently, PulPac implemented its Dry Molded Fiber technology to create cutlery from “almost no water” to enter existing paper-recycling streams. The company says manufacturing the utensils takes up significantly less energy and is up to ten times faster than other fiber-forming methods. 

Last month, the company’s patent list grew to 32, with Japan being the latest to use its technology to replace single-use plastics. 

By Louis Gore-Langton