Age: 18
Education: Student of biotechnology and bioengineering at the Institute of Biology and Medicine of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Profession: Inventor and biotechnologist, founder of Re-leaf Paper project
Did you know? Frechka collects occult and religious artifacts from the countries he visits. Studies of the mystical led to philosophy, the base of modern sciences, he says.
It took three main ingredients for Valentyn Frechka to reinvent paper: determination, modesty and fallen leaves.
As a 16-year-old student in Ukraine’s western Zakarpattia Oblast, Frechka wanted to go to a competition of environmental projects in Kenya. While walking in the forest by his home village of Sokyrnytsia, he came up with a project idea: Why not make paper out of fallen leaves?
Surely, he thought, producing paper out of leaves instead of wood must be cheaper and better for the environment, since no trees need to be cut down. But people must have tried it before, haven’t they?
That thought was part of the reason why some of Frechka’s teachers dissuaded him from pursuing this project. But he pressed on experimenting, first in his parents’ kitchen and then at the school laboratory, and finally produced the basic component of paper — cellulose pulp.
While experimenting, Frechka researched paper-making technologies but didn’t find any information on scientists trying to create paper out of leaves. It was only when he patented his invention almost a year later that he found out that there were at least two attempts.
Scientists in Germany and Japan tried to make paper out of oak and ficus leaves, respectively, but couldn’t produce much pulp. According to Frechka, their approach failed because they used destructive methods to extract pulp with high amounts of pure cellulose fibers, while leaves don’t contain much of it.
But Frechka settled on a more modest goal: he extracted pulp that was only half-cellulose. While not suitable for printing paper, this cellulose pulp can be pressed into the nonprinting kind: wrappers and packaging, bags, cardboard, cartons and molded containers.
“This was the know-how I managed to invent. I used fallen leaves of any type and applied technology that is very favorable to fibers. As a result, we get pulp that is 50–56% cellulose,” Frechka says.
Frechka went on to win the competition in Kenya as well as a similar Genius Olympiad in the U.S. in 2018. He also traveled to present his project at conferences in many other nations. While he liked traveling and winning competitions, he decided to focus on putting his invention to use. Although he could have started college in the U.S., he chose to study in Ukraine and try to implement his technology at paper factories across the country.
“At 18, in Ukraine, I can call paper factories in Lutsk or Tsiurupynsk and offer them to work together on my idea,” Frechka says. “People here may not know how to move forward, and you can energize them.”
Frechka is now working with the Zhytomyr Cardboard Factory to implement his technology that he now calls Re-leaf Paper.
“We found that to get one ton of pure cellulose, we need to process two tons of fallen leaves,” Frechka says. “This ton of fiber will cost us $450, while the same fiber made out of wood will cost at least $650. It’s a substantial difference.”
Frechka calculated that if the world produces at least 10,000 tons of paper using his technology each year, it will help save 2 percent of forests that are cut down for paper production every year.
Besides doing research for his inventions, he studies a lot about business. He wants Re-leaf Paper to be a successful company and wants to start a charity fund.
“I dream of helping people to express themselves, reach their potential. The biggest contribution is into the development of the individual,” he says.
