The large process industries in the region make it easy to hire experienced industry staff of which many have process/technology background. There is a well developed industrial competences supply chain, which includes education programs at both high school level and at University level.
The industries are highly focused on export. The customers are situated in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the USA and Asia. This means that there are plenty of professionals with experience in doing international businesses and shipments. Around these large industries has evolved a regional eco system of subcontractors and consultants who deliver products and services. Due to the size of the industry there is also a good national and international ecosystem of subcontractors and consultants.
With a number of accomplished international industrial investments in the region, the local ecosystem of entrepreneurs and suppliers has gained a lot of experience. Their unique competence in constructions and infrastructure for our climate combined with close cooperation with the investors on site, has become a winning concept for new investments.
Composite competence
Norrbotten has a history of innovation driven composites development within the industry. With ABB Composites as a nursery, it has evolved a cluster of composite companies in Piteå since 1967. ABB Composites is the largest company in the cluster as well as the largest composites based company in Sweden. Gestamp Hardtech is a subsidiary to Gestamp which is a global supplier of steel components to automotive industry. h In collaboration with the research institute RISE SICOMP, Gestamp HardTec has developed a new multimaterial concept by using carbon fiber composite to reinforce and increase the stiffness on components of press hardened boron steel. The next step is to develop high performance composite parts by compression moulding of carbon fiber, SMC. RISE SICOMP will set up a pilot plant for demonstration and verification of the technologies. RISE SICOMP is one of the largest composite institutes in Europe with a laboratory for composite manufacturing, testing and analysis.
The regional cluster of composite companies and RISE SICOMP have started the Swedish Composite Innovation Cluster (SWE-CIC). The cooperation within SWE-CIC creates a strong ability to innovate and to develop new business ideas and partnerships. In order to create customer value and solve customer challenges, SWE-CIC uses all the resources available within the composite cluster; expertise, test-beds and production facilities. SWE-CIC also interacts with external resources and professionals to become strong enough to interact with demanding industrial customers. Piteå Science Park is the facilitator of this Innovation Cluster.
New bio-based materials
Biobased pan precursor
Today acrylonitrile is usually produced from fossil oil or gas with a large carbon footprint. There is a possibility to reduce the carbon footprint of PAN fiber production by using biomass or CO2 sources in combination with clean energy to produce acrylonitrile.
There are two technologies to produce biomethanol; gasification of biomass to syngas or to use industrial CO2 emissions (carbon capture) and hydrogen, which means even further reduction of CO2 emissions. Both these processes use hydrogen as a resource, which can be produced via electrolysis. To be able to do this at commercial scale, there must be a surplus of power production and low energy prices. This makes Norrbotten a great place to produce biomethanol.
Lignin-based carbon fiber
Another long-term possibility is to produce sustainable lignin-based carbon fiber. The Swedish research institutes Innventia and RISE SICOMP have a joint national roadmap for lignin-based carbon fiber. Lignin-based carbon fiber have a potential for use in semi-structural components and for non-structural applications, like batteries with carbon fiber electrode and hydrogen storage with activated carbon from lignin.
Other bio-based composites materials
There is also a lot of research and innovation for other types of bio-based materials, suitable for composites. Some examples are matrix materials (polymers) based on chemicals extracted from sawdust or sandwich foam based on crystalline nanocellulose. Both of these are developed in Sweden and from companies, research institutes and academia within our network.
