Ecoapple: how to turn apples into paper?

Rome – Ecoapple from South-Tirol in Italy was founded in 2004 thanks to the brillian idea of Dr Albert Volcan, an engineer who asked himself if it could be possible to change the waste produced by the apple and the apple-juice industry into a raw material again. The organic waste produced by the apple industry is considered as a “special waste” nowadays and therefore it must be disposed off with expensive processes.

Dr Albert Volcan began to do some experiments in 2004 in order to turn the apple waste into paper, with which he won a prize and so he could obtain a € 150.000 funding by the European Social Fund. Thanks to his “Volcan process”, which consist in a drying, a cooling and a grinding phase, it is possible to stop the apple fermentation process without any loss in the cellulose and sugar contents, which are essential elements for the paper making. The so obtained raw material appears to be stable both for chemical and physical characteristics, so that a new paper has been produced with the name “Cartamela®“.

“Cartamela®“ can be used to make various paper products and the results of this research have been presented during a recent meeting. Ecoapple can provide a great support to the reduction of pollution: in South-Tirol apple waste amounts 40K MT each year. Now Ecoapple wants to build factories in foreign countries also and it looks to China and India with interest. However the perspectives of this new technology appear to be very promising in many other industrial sectors.

Ecoapple
Via Buozzi, 6
39100 Bolzano
Italy
Tel. +39 0471 913818
Website: www.ecoapple.com
E-mail: Pietro Impera – collaborator of Dr Volcan

Publication date: 13-04-2006
Author: Rossella Gigli
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