Wood doesn’t just replace fossil materials – It’s the source of next-generation supermaterials

The theme of this year’s World Environment Day is beating plastic pollution. Science offers a solution: new materials derived from renewable resources.

‘We intend not just to replace fossils but create new, high-value materials’, says Research Professor Tekla Tammelin-Peltonen.

‘We see plants as our future materials bank since cell wall structures and functions are an endless source of inspiration for the materials science and engineering.’

Tammelin-Peltonen is a research professor at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and leads the FinnCERES competence centre. FinnCERES, a joint multidisciplinary initiative of VTT and Aalto University, focuses on harnessing the natural properties of lignocellulose – the structural component of wood and plants – to develop sustainable materials.

The name FinnCERES refer both to cellulose research and Ceres, the Roman goddess of crops and vegetation.

New solutions from forest industry sidestreams

The forest industry is often criticised for producing too few high-value products. According to Tammelin-Peltonen, the best way to create added value is to work on the traditional processing chain.

‘If just 25 percent of pulp exports were processed into higher-value products instead, we could create an additional EUR 3 thousand million in value in Finland alone,’ Tammelin-Peltonen says.

She also highlights lignin, a by-product of pulp production that has traditionally been used for energy. However, 15–40 percent of the lignin could be used to produce materials without significantly affecting the energy balance of pulp mills.

‘It’s clear that new innovations can generate added value – especially through refining traditional paper and board fibres and through making better use of lignin, available as a sidestream of pulp mills.”

When lignin-based materials are used in long-lasting products, they will make a long-term carbon storage. The Innovations page of forest.fi describes a lignin-based protective coating developed by a team including Monika Österberg, Director of FinnCERES and Professor at Aalto University.

Increasing the use of lignin also helps replace fossil raw materials and reduce water and chemicals consumption in manufacturing processes.

These efforts address global challenges: dwindling fossil reserves, scarcity of resources, climate change, and plastic pollution – the latter being the focus of this year’s World Environment Day on 5 June.

According to a report by the Forest Bioeconomy Science Panel in Finland, many new solutions can be developed by further refining existing forest-based materials and making use of sidestreams – without increasing logging.

’We see forests as a valuable natural resource that should be used comprehensively – balancing use and conservation. Our goal is sustainable economic growth without compromising our targets for climate change mitigation and biodiversity,’ says Tammelin-Peltonen, who also serves as Vice Chair of the Forest Bioeconomy Science Panel.

A growing list of bioeconomy innovations

Tammelin-Peltonen presented the work of FinnCERES at a bioeconomy seminar, held in Brussels as part of events celebrating the 30-year EU membership of Austria, Finland, and Sweden.

Many of the materials developed at FinnCERES are currently on display at the New Wood exhibition at the European Commission. Several of these innovative bioeconomy products are are being scaled up or already on the market.

Among the exhibits, Tammelin-Peltonen picks out a bottle protected by elegantly folded paperboard. The origami-textured packaging demonstrates how familiar materials can be reimagined. Developed in the Fold project, this technology transforms paperboard into versatile protective shapes, offering an alternative to polystyrene and other plastics in packaging.

According to Tammelin-Peltonen, key future materials include various lignin-based coatings and adhesives, which can also replace fossil-based materials. In furniture, for example, non-toxic wood-based coatings improve product safety.

In the New Wood exhibition, Tammelin-Peltonen poses for a photo next to wood-based textiles. These textile fibres help reduce the use of chemicals, water, and agricultural land. They also improve dyeability, lowering the environmental impact of the dyeing process.

‘I would love to mention at least a dozen bioeconomy innovations based on renewable raw materials – such as various lightweight, plastic-free packaging solutions. And the list will only grow longer,’ Tammelin-Peltonen promises.