In 1988, Shahriar established his first company for industrial research and had two main projects.

1 – Small Mills

40 Small pulp Mills have been built using a chemi-mechanical process to produce cardboard from different types of agricultural wastes (wheat, barley, oat, rice straw, bagasse, date palm leaves).

The Small Mills were however problematic:

 the price of raw material was increasing

 there was a high cost for delivery and fuel

 high energy was required for boiling and pressure

 the cost of recovery for black liquor

To keep the Small Mills economical, we had to add 50% of recycled paper.

This experience showed that the only solution was to create small mills on or close to the farms and to find a process that uses less energy and resolves the problem of black liquor.

NER’s new process and concept resolves these problems.

• the farmers can sell all types of straw : dry or wet – high added value
• no or very low delivery cost (short distance from straw to the mill + primary pulp transported from the Small mills to the central unit)
• no boiling – low energy used
• no black liquor

See Nafici EcoPulping page for more information.

2 –  Water Desalination

We have created a pilot scale for water desalination using a biological process.