More value from wood – three innovations with potential

The potential for innovation is growing in Finnish forests. Wood-based products are already replacing fossil raw materials in products such as biofuels, packaging and paints. Thanks to continuous research and development, new types of wood-based products are being created all the time.

“Wood is a valuable component, and we have a responsibility to ensure that the trees that are felled are used as smartly as possible. We need to maximise the output of wood,” says Niklas von Weymarn, CEO of Metsä Spring.

In practice, this often means that instead of selling pulp as a raw material, we process it into more valuable products in Finland. Until now this has meant newsprint or fine paper, for example. But in the future, wood-based textile fibres or plastic-free packaging boxes could also become top-selling exports.

“The further we process products in Finland, the more added value remains here. The question is therefore: what new, biobased high-volume products can we develop?” says Katariina Kemppainen, Senior Vice President, Group R&D at Metsä Group.

Another way to create innovations is to utilise the forest industry side streams that have been used mostly for energy production until now. In particular, lignin from pulp production is now attracting great interest, and new applications are constantly being sought for it. In the future, the new generation of side stream products will increasingly replace fossil-based chemicals and materials.

Here are three high-potential innovations whose raw materials grow in Finnish forests.

Kuura: from conifer to clothes

A T-shirt made of Finnish conifers – this is possible in practice thanks to Metsä Group's Kuura textile fibre.

Textile fibres are a huge market: more than 100 million tonnes are produced globally every year. So, the demand for wood-based textile fibres already exists.

For about ten years, Metsä Group has been developing a new way of manufacturing textile fibre from softwood pulp.

So how does Kuura differ from the textile fibres mostly used today, i.e. polyester and cotton? Whereas polyester is made using fossil natural resources, oil and natural gas, Kuura is made from Finnish softwood pulp. And while cotton growing requires huge amounts of water, pesticides and fertilisers, the raw material for Kuura grows in the forests of Finnish forest owners, within a radius of only about a hundred kilometres from the production plant.

Kuura’s social and environmental footprints have been measured with standardised methods: life-cycle analysis and external CanopyStyle audits. The results have been good. Kuura achieved the best level of the CanopyStyle assessment, which requires a risk-free and transparent supply chain and traceable raw materials.

Niklas von Weymarn says that the world's largest fashion houses that are committed to sustainability have shown an interest in Kuura.

“This reinforces our understanding that we’re on the right track.”

The demo plant currently operates in Äänekoski, Finland, and a pre-study on a commercial plant is underway. Partners include the Japanese trading house Itochu and the Austrian technology company Andritz.

Muoto: the future of biobased packaging

What kind of packaging will we use to take home berries or sushi in the future? Muoto packaging offers a biobased solution whose commercial breakthrough could be coming surprisingly soon.

Metsä Group's Muoto is manufactured using a new type of moulded pulp technology. In terms of raw materials, the manufacturing process is efficient and waste-free, and products made of wood fibre are recyclable. As its name suggests, Muoto [“Shape”] can be moulded into shape in the same way as plastic. There are therefore no folds in Muoto packaging. It can be seamless – and even round if necessary.

A well-known example of packaging made with moulded pulp technology is the egg carton, but unlike Muoto packaging, egg cartons are made from a single coarse material. In partnership with Valmet, Metsä Group has developed a technology that creates layers in the material’s structure and can thus optimise the product properties to suit each end use.

The product is simultaneously strong, lightweight and smooth – an excellent option when the packaging requires rigidity in a serving situation or in a packaging machine, for example.

"Good packaging increases food safety and reduces the amount of waste. There seems to be demand for this type of packaging, both in Finland and abroad,” says Niklas von Weymarn.

As part of the project, Metsä Group and Valmet have built a joint demo plant, which is also located in Äänekoski. If a decision is made to start a commercial plant, it will be built in the company's Rauma mill area.

Oxidised lignin: fossil free and multi-purpose

Lignin may still not be a familiar word to everyone, but this will change: this material is considered to have tremendous potential. In practice, it is the binding agent in wood that dissolves from wood fibres into a substance known as black liquor during pulp production. The lignin in black liquor is currently used to produce bioenergy, and a large portion of Finnish renewable energy comes from it.

The use of lignin has been studied for decades, but it has been difficult to find new applications for it. For Metsä Group, recent breakthroughs are related to the development of an oxidised lignin product.

"The process makes lignin water-soluble, which opens up new opportunities for its use. The separation method seems to be suitable for Metsä Group mills, and the product has many interesting properties,” Katariina Kemppainen concludes.

Metsä Group and Andritz are currently building a lignin processing demo plant for the Äänekoski bioproduct mill. It is expected to be completed at the end of 2025.

Potential applications can be found in the construction industry, for example. Oxidised lignin seems to work very well as a water reducer for concrete, among other things.

Up to 30 per cent of wood is lignin, making it the world's largest source of renewable carbon after cellulose.

“Carbon is needed in various materials and chemicals, and so far, a huge amount of oil is being used for this purpose globally. If we’re to replace oil, fossil free sources of coal must be found. Lignin is one solution,” says Katariina Kemppainen.