4R open innovation ecosystem led by CLIC Innovation, ExpandFibre Transition Phase and the recently ended SmartRecovery Business Finland Co-Research project jointly organised a lignin-themed ecosystem event on April 3rd, 2025, to present the latest lignin research topics, workshop together on future opportunities for lignin as well as explore the business potential of lignin in more detail with dedicated company presentations.
Event spotlight for “Lignin in focus – Key results, industry cases, and future opportunities”
The April 3rd event attracted well over 70 onsite participants from different universities, research institutions and companies across Finland and the Nordics. The event was opened and expertly hosted throughout by Jussi Lahtinen, Ecosystem Lead at CLIC Innovation, and Miriam Kellock, Research Scientist at VTT. Additional opening words to the event were also delivered by Katariina Kemppainen, SVP, Group R&D at Metsä Group, representing the ExpandFibre Ecosystem.
Research highlights: exploring novel applications of lignin
Research topics discussed in the first session of the event touched upon multiple different aspects of the current research landscape for lignin and its potential future applications. Prof. Chunlin Xu from Åbo Akademi provided a thorough keynote presentation looking at the structure-property relationship in lignin for novel applications. The following three presentations were all closely linked to the two-year SmartRecovery Business Finland Co-Research project. Project manager of the SmartRecovery project Miriam Kellock provided an overview on the membrane technology for kraft lignin recovery researched during the project and presented key results on a spectroscopy-based method developed for lignin quality control. Glen Pauls, Research Scientist at VTT, presented primary findings related to the LigniSmart kraft lignin in energy storage applications. Paavo Penttilä, Academy Research Fellow and SmartRecovery project leader at Aalto University presented main findings on lignin particle formation and characterisation with scattering methods. The first session was closed by Taina Rauhala, Research Scientist at VTT, discussing the recent discoveries from the Business Finland funded BioCarbonValue project: the use of agribased carbons for supercapacitor and sodium-ion battery applications.
Workshop insights: future opportunities and key challenges
The second session of the event was dedicated to jointly exploring future opportunities and research needs related to lignin. Through a structured workshop, participants identified both key barriers and emerging opportunities for lignin valorisation. Challenges included the material’s inherent heterogeneity, lack of scalable analytics, and the current cost and complexity of pretreatment and upgrading technologies. However, promising future directions were also highlighted — from new applications in energy storage, biobased resins, and cosmetics to modular process innovations and cascade utilization concepts. A recurring theme in the workshop was the identified need for more collaborative ecosystems and demonstration pilots to bridge the gap from lab to market. Participants stressed the importance of aligning lignin properties with application-specific needs and called for better analytics, targeted funding opportunities, and enabling regulation to boost the industrial uptake and market development of lignin.
Industry innovations: company cases in lignin commercialization
The third and final session of the event highlighted companies working closely with lignin. Juho-Matti Karpale, CEO at LignEasy Oy, opened the session by presenting the principal innovation of the growing start-up company offering a groundbreaking lignin separation technology for kraft pulp mills. Elina Lohiniva, Business Development Director, Lignin, at ANDRITZ Oy, presented the pioneering global company’s large scale technology solutions for lignin recovery. Hanne Wikberg, Product and Business Development Director at Chempolis Oy, presented a glimpse into the resource-efficient biomass conversion to high-value products with Chempolis’ Formico® technologies. The session was closed by Carl-Magnus Brandén, R&D and Product Development Lead at Lixea, discussing the rapid development path of Lixea and the company’s lignin fractionation technology by sequential precipitation.
Extracted from a news article by Andreas Lindberg (ExpandFibre)
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