Tomas Vikström new docent in Chemical engineering design
Jan 9, 2017
Valmet's Tomas Vikström has held his general technical lecture: "Flow and rheology of fiber suspensions" at Chalmers University of technology in Gothenburg and by that received his docent title.
Tomas Vikström, Manager for Fluid and Structural Analysis from Valmet, has been appointed docent at Chalmers University of technology. He is a new docent in Chemical engineering design with special focus on the flow of fiber suspensions. The procedure was finalized with a general technical lecture where Tomas presented a general summary of the research work done between 1996 and 2016. His research work was assessed by two professors.
Tomas Vikström
"Basically the subject is flow of fibers in various areas. Flow is important in our unit operations in the fiber line e.g. mixing, screening, agitation, dewatering and displacement. I have developed methods to measure flow and how to characterize the flow properties of the slurries, like viscosity, permeability etc., as well as theoretical models how to describe the flow. I have also performed work on fiber orientation in the paper machine headbox and on the compression of dry fiber mats when pressing a medium density fiberboard," says Tomas Vikström.
Tomas has carried out scientific work in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology, Luleå Technical University and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). His main duties have been within the pulp and paper industry, where he has contributed to the industrial development, expressed in terms of a dozen patents.
"For me this docent appointment is mostly an acknowledgement of the research work done, that it has been done on a good academic level and that we have continuity in our research,"Tomas continues.
"We are proud of Tomas appointment. High competence is important for Valmet, to be able to drive research and development together with the universities," says Stefan Mattsson, Vice President of Fiber Processing Business Unit at Valmet.
Presently Tomas is involved in one ongoing project with University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The project aim at understanding and being able to optimize the displacement and pressing operation which is mainly used in the dewatering and washing equipment.
