Nafici Environmental Research (NER) is passionate about reducing demand for virgin wood fibre, protecting the world's ancient forests by using alternative agricultural by products, agri-waste such as wheat straw, other cereals straws, other crop by-products or agricultural wastes or carbon capture plants such as miscanthus. NER has developed and patented the EcoPulping process that converts agricultural by products into pulp for paper and moulded packaging applications. Small in scale and modular from 12TPD to 400TPD (Tonne per day), the EcoPulping process solution allows for a local supply chain; close to the field, close to the packaging manufacturer delivering significant environmental benefits. \*The EcoPulping innovative process uses low heat and no pressure, saving up to 50% energy and up to 95% water compared to traditional kraft pulp processes reducing carbon emissions by up to 361kg per tonne of pulp. \*The EcoPulping operating model focuses on co-locating with renewable biogas plants using 100% renewable energy and using its process' by-product to fuel the BioGas plant - a truly circular solution. Based in West-Sussex UK, NER has produced large quantities of different varieties of non-wood pulp in its small pilot facility most of which have been validated at lab, pilot and commercial scale with moulded packaging equipment suppliers or moulded packaging manufacturers, paper packaging or tissue manufacturers. Non-wood alternatives to wood pulp are seen as key to future sourcing strategies for packaging. The non-wood EcoPulps deliver the fresh fibre required to give corrugate cases and moulded packaging the strength it needs to perform in e-commerce, major retail and industrial channels NER's role in the Towards Net Zero Fibre Bottle Challenge iX Challenge project is to use its long experience producing high quality non-wood pulps in order to 1) select the right raw materials and 2) work with the project team to deliver several samples of non-wood pulps that meet the package performance required. NER will first be using its existing pilot plant which includes cooking, cleaning, refining, screening, washing and dewatering, to process a selected variety of feedstock. The NER new laboratory will be used to test the non-wood pulps characteristics that will be compared with other non-wood pulp which specifications are available and with wood pulps already used and trialled for the production of fibre bottle in order to determine the most suitable non-wood pulps.

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Awaiting Public Project Summary

NER Ltd. has developed a novel low energy / environmental technology to transform straw (wheat, barley, oat) into paper pulp and to produce valuable by-products. The company has designed the system to be flexible in size and to enable, if appropriate, part of the process to be carried out on farms where the straw is produced. Applications for the by-products need to be defined & optimised depending on the size of the unit and local conditions.