TAPPI Journal Awards Best Research Paper for 2024

(ATLANTA) March 25, 2025 – Each year, the TAPPI Journal (TJ) Editorial Board honors exemplary content by nominating and voting for the Best Research Paper based on scientific merit, innovation, creativity, and clarity.

The research paper recently selected as best in 2024 was titled “Life cycle carbon analysis of packaging products containing nonwood residues: A case study on linerboard and corrugating medium.” Authored  by Antonio Suarez, Ashok Ghosh, Fritz Paulsen and Peter W. Hart of the Smurfit Westrock (formerly WestRock) research team, the sustainability paper appeared in the March 2024 issue and is now available for free download. Suarez is a senior R&D scientist, Ghosh is R&D manager, and Paulsen is senior director of Research. Hart, who organized the March special issue featuring peer-reviewed content from the 2023 TAPPI PEERS/IBBC conference, was a Research Fellow for Smurfit WestRock before he passed away in May 2024.

“Suarez’s team’s research examined pulp from nonwoods like wheat straw and sugarcane bagasse using a holistic life cycle analysis approach to project environmental performance in packaging products,” said TJ Editor-in-Chief Douglas Coffin. “The results can help mills make decisions about which fibers ensure a low carbon footprint.”

Author Antonio Suarez also receives Honghi Tran Award

In addition to receiving Best Research Paper honors as primary author, Suarez will also receive TJ’s Honghi Tran Prize. The $3,000 cash prize is endowed by Professor Emeritus Honghi Tran of the University of Toronto, the author and co-author of more than 80 papers published in TJ. Tran established the award in 2019 as a $2,000 prize to encourage and reward the publication of high-quality research in TJ. It was recently increased to $3,000. 

The Best Research Paper Award and Honghi Tran Prize will be presented at TAPPICon, May 4-7, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minn., USA.

The 2024 runner-up to Best Research Paper was “Alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) sized paper reversion due to oxidative photodegradation,” authored by Yao Ntifafa, senior research scientist at Smurfit Westrock, with co-authors Yun Ji and Peter W. Hart. Ji is professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of North Dakota. The runner-up paper, available as a free download, was part of a special Papermaking Additives issue organized by Editorial Board Member Scott Rosencrance of Kemira and Guest Editor Anthony J. Petty II of Solenis.

“Even though AKD has been used for years, this work nicely demonstrates the impact of light and oxygen on AKD sizing performance related to the impact of unwanted photodegradation processes.” said Rosencrance. “This work can be used to inform end users of AKD sized paper of these dynamics as well as to inform developmental teams of possible ways to reduce AKD size reversion by creating new formulas and application strategies.”