The SteamDry project is testing fibre-based materials in pilot-scale operation while gathering the data needed to evaluate environmental performance and support future scale-up
At VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland in Jyväskylä, an existing SAMPO fibre-web pilot machine has been rebuilt around a different idea: replacing conventional hot-air drying with superheated steam drying. The SAMPO line is now operational, moving SteamDry from process design and modelling into pilot-scale experiments with industrially relevant materials.
The SAMPO pilot is where SteamDry moves from technical promise to operational evidence. Its role is not simply to show that superheated steam can dry fibre-based materials, but to establish how the process performs with a continuously moving web under industrially relevant pilot-scale conditions, enabling assessment of process stability, material quality, and energy demand.
A pilot built for evidence
SAMPO was not replaced; it was converted. The rebuild introduced two sequential superheated steam drying hoods, electrically powered superheaters, circulation and exhaust fans, upgraded instrumentation, and the systems required to control steam under demanding operating conditions. The pilot has a 620 mm web width and a target speed range of 20–200 m/min, allowing the consortium to test continuous drying at a scale between laboratory equipment and a commercial paper machine.
Inside each drying unit, steam is recirculated and reheated. Surplus exhaust steam can be removed and potentially used for heat recovery – typically through technologies such as mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) –, so ‘closed loop’ describes the recirculating drying circuit rather than a hermetically sealed system. This distinction matters for industrial integration: the value of SSD may depend not only on the dryer itself, but also on whether the recovered heat is used to reheat the recirculated steam of the dryer by using MVR and also whether a mill can use the recovered heat elsewhere on site.
The line became fully operational in early May 2026. Controlled experiments are now being used to examine how the process responds to changes in temperature, gas velocity, moisture, and web speed. The Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) supports this work through dynamic process modelling, while VDEh-Betriebsforschungsinstitut (BFI) uses pilot measurements to develop dynamic process models and a layered control architecture that combines conventional control, robust supervision, and future AI-supported optimisation within defined safety constraints.
Materials from industrial partners enter the line
The latest campaign gives the pilot a sharper industrial focus. Ahlstrom became the first consortium manufacturer to test its own nonwoven materials under representative pilot-scale conditions. The trials are designed to identify bottlenecks, support process optimisation, and generate evidence on resources, safety, environmental performance, and future scale-up. SSD-dried materials are then sent to consortium laboratories for converting trials and further validation. Subsequent campaigns have also tested materials supplied by Metsä Group and Smurfit Westrock, extending the pilot programme across different fibre-based applications and product requirements.
This is significant because fibre-based webs do not behave identically. Paper, board, tissue and nonwovens differ in structure, basis weight, moisture profile, and quality requirements. The pilot must therefore show that it can remove moisture quickly and uniformly without destabilising the web or damaging the properties needed in the final product.
Further trials are planned with other industrial partners, including Sappi and Sofidel. The sequence turns the pilot into a shared validation platform: equipment suppliers, researchers, and prospective users can evaluate the same technology against different product needs.
Measuring the wider footprint
Alongside the pilot trials, SteamDry is developing an assessment framework to establish the environmental, economic, and social implications of superheated steam drying. The work combines life cycle assessment (LCA), techno-economic assessment (TEA) and social-impact analysis, enabling the consortium to evaluate the technology beyond energy demand alone and in line with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 principles for LCA.
The assessment is being led by researchers at the University of Santiago de Compostela and will draw directly on data generated at the SAMPO pilot. This includes operating conditions, electricity use, steam circulation, heat-recovery opportunities, material inputs, and equipment requirements. Linking assessment work to real pilot operation will allow the consortium to examine how different technical configurations influence environmental performance and cost.
The aim is to identify the conditions under which superheated steam drying can deliver the greatest benefits, rather than relying on a single generic comparison with conventional drying. The assessment will consider factors such as electricity supply, the recovery and use of excess heat, product characteristics and integration with existing mill infrastructure, helping to translate pilot results into credible configurations for different industrial settings.
The methodology also supports better scale-up decisions. By bringing technical, environmental, and economic evidence together while the technology is still being validated, SteamDry can identify trade-offs early, focus further development where it has the greatest value, and provide manufacturers with a clearer basis for evaluating future investment.
From target to measured performance
SteamDry’s formal ambition is to reduce energy consumption in thermal drying by up to 60%, corresponding to approximately 40% across the production line. These remain project targets, not results already demonstrated by the pilot. The purpose of the current campaign is to establish the measured operating evidence needed to judge where those gains are achievable and what technical conditions they require.
The same discipline applies to scale-up. Retrofit potential is attractive because manufacturers could modernise existing assets rather than replace entire production lines, but integration requirements, capital costs, reliability, and available uses for surplus heat will differ from mill to mill. Valmet is contributing to the roadmap and business case for full-scale implementation, while the papermaker partners help evaluate proposed configurations against real operating conditions.
The SAMPO line is consequently more than a demonstration that wet fibre-web can be dried with superheated steam. It brings together pilot operation, material-quality assessment, process control, safety, and environmental and economic evaluation. Dynamic modelling is an integral part of this work, helping the consortium understand how the system responds to changing operating conditions and how heat recovery and drying performance can be optimised. By combining pilot measurements, modelling, LCA and TEA, SteamDry is building the evidence needed to turn an energy-saving concept into an investable industrial technology.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No GA 101137906. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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