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Finns transform carbon dioxide into sustainable plastics
According to VTT, Finland has vast potential to utilise bio-based carbon dioxide due to its extensive forest industry.
Vastavalo / Teemu TretjakovVTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, LUT University and industry partners have launched a pilot plant in Finland to convert captured carbon dioxide into sustainable plastic materials.
The facility, housed in sea containers at the Bioruukki pilot centre in Espoo, began operations in August 2024. It focuses on transforming bio-based carbon dioxide, which originates from sources like the forest industry and waste incineration plants, into compounds that can replace fossil raw materials in everyday plastic products and chemicals.
The pilot plant represents a significant step in Finland's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through bio-based carbon capture and utilisation.
Juha Lehtonen, research professor at VTT, highlighted the country’s potential to be one of the leaders in the sector: “Finland produces around 30 million tonnes of bio-based carbon dioxide annually. If we can capture and convert this into products, Finland could emerge as a major producer and exporter of polymers and transport fuels made from carbon dioxide and hydrogen.”
Lehtonen also emphasised that large sources of bio-based carbon dioxide are rare outside the Nordic region.
The pilot plant is part of the broader Forest CUMP research project, which has studied the entire production chain from carbon capture to the creation of ethylene and propylene. These are key ingredients in making polyethylene and polypropylene, the most common plastics in everyday life. The research findings are now put into practice at Bioruukki with the goal of eventually implementing the technology at sites where bio-based carbon dioxide is generated.
The pilot plant is housed in sea containers.
VTTNational focus
The Forest CUMP initiative is supported by the Business Finland Veturi ecosystem, which develops sustainable solutions that contribute to Finland's national carbon neutrality goals. In addition to VTT and LUT University, the project involves several industry players, such as lead partners ABB, Borealis and Neste.
“This is a significant development project to support our vision of capturing and utilising industrial carbon emissions by producing long-lasting or fully recyclable plastic products that can sequester carbon for a long time,” said Ismo Savallampi from Borealis about the pilot plant.
The project began in August 2022 and is set to run until the end of 2024.