Finnish bio-based mater­i­als pro­ject advances 100% cel­lu­lose-based film and coat­ing tech­no­logy as a scal­able altern­at­ive to fossil-based packaging

VTT Tech­nic­al Research Centre of Fin­land and LUT Uni­ver­sity have advanced fully cel­lu­lose-based film and coat­ing mater­i­als through the F3 – Films for Future bio-based mater­i­als pro­ject,​enabling the pack­aging industry to reduce and replace plastic while meet­ing per­form­ance and pro­cessing require­ments. The mater­i­als com­bine plastic-like func­tion­al­ity with designed end-of-life per­form­ance: films are inher­ently bio­de­grad­able, while coat­ings are engin­eered for both recyc­lab­il­ity with­in fibre-based sys­tems and bio­de­grad­ab­il­ity where required. 

The tech­no­logy enables cel­lu­lose to be pro­cessed as a poly­mer rather than a fibre, res­ult­ing in transparent​films with mech­an­ic­al and bar­ri­er prop­er­ties com­par­able to plastics. The devel­op­ment comes as reg­u­la­tion, includ­ing the EU Pack­aging and Pack­aging Waste Reg­u­la­tion (PPWR), is tight­en­ing require­ments around recyc­lab­il­ity, mater­i­al com­pos­i­tion, and life­cycle impact.

“​P​lastic films are one of the most widely used pack­aging formats, yet they are among the most dif­fi­cult to recycle and a major source of per­sist­ent envir­on­ment­al pol­lu­tion,” says Ali Harlin, Research Pro­fess­or at VTT and one of the lead­ing coordin­at­ors of the F3 pro­ject.​“At the same time, we are work­ing with man­u­fac­tur­ers to help them meet evolving reg­u­lat­ory require­ments while main­tain­ing product pro­tec­tion, shelf life, and pro­cess effi­ciency. Cel­lu­lose mater­i­als open new sus­tain­able solu­tions for packaging.”

The F3 mater­i­al plat­form is designed to integ­rate with exist­ing con­vert­ing tech­no­lo­gies and fit with­in cur­rent recyc­ling streams or bio­de­grad­a­tion path­ways, depend­ing on the applic­a­tion. Unlike many bio-based altern­at­ives, it avoids the typ­ic­al trade-off between func­tion­al­ity and end-of-life handling.

The pro­ject builds on advances in cel­lu­lose dis­sol­u­tion and regen­er­a­tion, enabling the pro­duc­tion of films with high trans­par­ency, mech­an­ic­al strength, and bar­ri­er prop­er­ties. Pro­cessing com­pat­ib­il­ity has been demon­strated with con­ven­tion­al meth­ods such as ther­mo­form­ing, sup­port­ing integ­ra­tion into exist­ing indus­tri­al infrastructure.

“The cel­lu­lose films and coat­ings have already been demon­strated to have the prop­er­ties to be pro­cessed in vari­ous pack­age con­vert­ing pro­cesses, which high­lights their future poten­tial,” says Ville Lemin­en, Pro­fess­or of Pack­aging Tech­no­logy at LUT Uni­ver­sity and the lead­er of LUT’s sub-project.

“Find­ing the right bal­ance between func­tion­al­ity and sus­tain­ab­il­ity is crit­ic­al for the future of pack­aging. Through the F3 pro­ject, we have bridged this gap by devel­op­ing fully plastic-free bar­ri­er coat­ings that deliv­er high per­form­ance without eco­lo­gic­al com­prom­ise. Util­iz­ing our off-line coat­ing line, we are now able to com­mer­cial­ize these solu­tions on paper and board for demand­ing food pack­aging applic­a­tions,” says Carl-Erik Gut­torm­sen, Area Dir­ect­or at Colom­bi­er Finland.

Look­ing ahead, the plat­form could poten­tially open path­ways bey­ond plastic replace­ment. The mater­i­al can sup­port mul­ti­func­tion­al applic­a­tions, includ­ing bar­ri­er coat­ings, anti­mi­cro­bi­al or anti­ox­id­ant func­tion­al­ity, and envir­on­ment­ally respons­ive pack­aging cap­able of react­ing to humid­ity, gas com­pos­i­tion, or pH. These cap­ab­il­it­ies are increas­ingly rel­ev­ant as pack­aging tech­no­logy advances toward act­ive and intel­li­gent systems.

“Value chain adop­tion of these plat­forms is essen­tial for the ongo­ing trans­ition towards fully renew­able and recyc­lable tech­no­lo­gies. We see chem­istry as the key ena­bler for this trans­ition,” says Mats Berg, Sr Prin­cip­al Sci­ent­ist, Dis­cov­ery & Innov­a­tion at Kemira.

Com­pleted in March 2026, the F3 pro­ject has demon­strated the feas­ib­il­ity of pro­du­cing cel­lu­lose-based films and coat­ings at pilot scale across mul­tiple applic­a­tions. For films, the res­ults show poten­tial as a stan­dalone, trans­par­ent pack­aging mater­i­al with inher­ent bio­de­grad­ab­il­ity. For coat­ings, the tech­no­logy enables high-per­form­ance bar­ri­er lay­ers that sup­port recyc­lab­il­ity in fibre-based pack­aging sys­tems, while also offer­ing bio­de­grad­ab­il­ity where required. The work involved col­lab­or­a­tion between research organ­isa­tions, industry part­ners, and fund­ing bod­ies, with a focus on advan­cing the tech­no­logy from labor­at­ory devel­op­ment toward scal­able manufacturing.

“The key chal­lenge has not been wheth­er altern­at­ive mater­i­als exist, but how to pro­cess them in a way that meets indus­tri­al require­ments,”​says Vinay Kumar, Seni­or Sci­ent­ist at VTT.​“What has now been demon­strated is a future-ready mater­i­al plat­form that offers an altern­at­ive to plastics, com­bin­ing sus­tain­ab­il­ity with the cap­ab­il­ity to integ­rate into exist­ing man­u­fac­tur­ing and recyc­ling sys­tems. We see strong poten­tial to devel­op this fur­ther togeth­er with industry partners.”

“From an industry per­spect­ive, scalab­il­ity and sys­tem com­pat­ib­il­ity are crit­ic­al factors,” says Riku Talja, Devel­op­ment Man­ager at Met­sä Board. ​“Solu­tions that align with cur­rent con­vert­ing tech­no­lo­gies and recyc­ling infra­struc­ture are far more likely to trans­ition from pilot-stage innov­a­tion to indus­tri­al use.”

The next phase will focus on scal­ing the tech­no­logy toward com­mer­cial applic­a­tions, with ini­tial use cases in dry food pack­aging, bakery products, and fibre-based pack­aging requir­ing trans­par­ent bar­ri­er lay­ers. The films provide oxy­gen bar­ri­er per­form­ance (Oxy­gen trans­mis­sion rate, OTR below 1 cc/​m2/​day) com­par­able to con­ven­tion­al plastics at 23°C and 50% RH,​while the coat­ings enable oxy­gen (OTR below 0.2 cc/​m2/​day) and grease bar­ri­er (KIT 12) func­tion­al­ity in recyc­lable fibre-based pack­aging systems.

Fur­ther devel­op­ment will tar­get bar­ri­er per­form­ance under humid con­di­tions, as well as the integ­ra­tion of mul­tiple func­tion­al­it­ies with­in a single mater­i­al sys­tem. Digit­al­isa­tion, includ­ing sensor-enabled or con­nec­ted pack­aging, is also expec­ted to play a role in future applications.

Bey­ond pack­aging, the mater­i­al plat­form has poten­tial applic­a­tions in areas such as med­ic­al mater­i­als, elec­tron­ics, and func­tion­al coat­ings, reflect­ing the broad­er role of cel­lu­lose as a renew­able and ver­sat­ile poly­mer in future mater­i­al systems.

The devel­op­ment aligns with VTT’s stra­tegic mis­sion to accel­er­ate sus­tain­able growth, renew indus­tries, and sup­port com­pan­ies in scal­ing new tech­no­lo­gies that con­trib­ute to the green transition.