The Lleida-based company Alier is researching a new recycled paper capable of capturing carbon dioxide. They have shown that it is viable to incorporate an additive derived from steel industry waste into their 100% recycled paper, which can absorb CO₂ without altering product properties. This technology has been tested in paper bag prototypes and other applications for the construction sector, such as plasterboard.
To carry out the research and development phase, Alier has received 76,400 euros in grants from ACCIÓ (the agency for business growth of the Department of Business and Labour) for business R&D projects in the field of climate change, funded by the Climate Fund of Catalonia.
The Director of Innovation at Alier, Pilar Carnicé, explains that the goal was to “take a step further and develop a product capable of maintaining its technical performance while acquiring a new environmental functionality: the capture of greenhouse gases”. In this way, they aim to reduce the paper's carbon footprint and simultaneously make it an asset for removing CO₂ from the atmosphere.
The company is valorizing waste from another industry, contributing to a new circular economy model and the decarbonization of both sectors. According to Carnicé, “we were not looking to replace existing carbon capture technologies, but rather to turn a mass product like paper into a complementary decarbonization tool”. They have also studied other capturing materials, but the steel industry waste has shown the most promising results, achieving capture capacities of around 6 grams of CO₂ per square meter per year.
The project has allowed Alier to demonstrate that the concept works, although the technology is still in a development phase. It requires further work to optimize performance and verify behavior under real-use conditions before considering industrial scaling.
Alier, founded in 1832 and headquartered in Rosselló (Segrià), is one of Spain's oldest paper mills and has a workforce of over 250 people.
