Solenis has opened two new international centers of excellence to help drive more sustainable solutions for the consumer paper packaging industry.

One center is virtual, allowing customers to participate remotely in lab experiments, while the other center is in a new facility in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Both centers are designed to simulate and test customer processes, treatment programs and paper/paperboard properties to optimize performance, efficiency and costs while focusing on sustainability.

The virtual center offers tests for more than 70 paper packaging and food and beverage packaging characteristics across a range of categories, including strength, sizing, transport phenomena, sustainability and more. Custom testing is also available.

Key equipment available for use includes a pilot paper machine, pilot coater, Dixon coater and DigiCut A3+ coater. The company also plans to add a molded pulp machine to produce, test and evaluate improved PFAS-free barrier solutions for molded fiber products, like paper plates, bowls and clam shells, at a pilot scale.

Meanwhile, the newly opened Mönchengladbach center includes application and testing equipment such as Rapid-Köthen and dynamic sheet formers, a lotion paper coater, different types of refiners and more. Solenis plans to add a hot air sealing device as well. The center also offers repulping and recycling capabilities in combination with contaminant control assessments for barrier coating performance testing.

Totaling 3,100 square meters, the facility in Germany includes onsite access to new customer application laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art instrument-based analytical capabilities for compound analysis, deposit identification, product determination and more. Customers visiting the facility can also meet with Solenis scientists and research and development teams for in-depth problem-solving and collaboration sessions.

The new centers of excellence join the existing main Solenis R&D facility in Wilmington, Delaware, which customers can also visit. Continuing to invest in its R&D capabilities, Solenis recently announced a $40 million expansion and relocation plan for the Wilmington site.