Metsä360 Award 2022

left

In the spring of 2022, a team of experts comprising representatives of LUT, the Kolli Foundation, and LAB University of Applied Sciences examined candidates that significantly contribute to the increase in the value added of forest. The final selection of the winner was made by a jury of external experts.

The winner of the award 2022 was eniferBio.

right

left

eniferBio – getting protein out of industrial by-products

eniferBio is a biotechnology startup which is developing PEKILO®-technology – the world's most efficient manufacturing process for mycoprotein. PEKILO® is a fungus whose mycelium is grown by the company in bioreactors as a continuous process. The filtered and dried mycelium turns into a very protein-rich dried powder.

The process can utilise side-products of other fields of industry, such as the forest, biofuel, or food industries, for conversion in the process into a product with added value.

https://www.eniferbio.fi

right

left

Ensuring adequate food supplies and sustainable and local production pose considerable global challenges. World demand for protein is expected to double by 2050 and consequently, we need more sustainable ways to produce it. We cannot complacently expect that there will be enough animal-based protein to feed the world population in the future. Expanding fields and pastures, meanwhile, would further accelerate climate change and reduce biodiversity through global depletion of forests.

The production method of PEKILO®, a single-cell protein, was originally developed in Finland already in the 1970s and eniferBio has developed the process further. In any case, the fact that the process has been proven to work offers a competitive advantage. It has been used on an industrial scale for 15 years.

eniferBio has delivered test batches of the PEKILO® protein to new international companies in different fields. Collaboration is currently most advanced with Skrettig, the world's leading producer of fish feed. They are testing the PEKILO® protein as a component of feed for farmed salmon and trout.

right

In addition, eniferBio is launching collaboration with the leading pet food company Purina. They are testing the PEKILO®-protein as a component in dog food and cat food. Cooperation with the dairy company Valio is also beginning. The idea is to recycle surplus lactose left over from Valio processes to produce food-grade products that we could see among alternative meat-type products in grocery stores in the future. In the future the PEKILO® process could be a part of nearly all new biorefining concepts.

In their selection, the team of experts felt that eniferBio is a good example of how even earlier innovations could prove to be significant solutions, when the world picture changes, and application targets can be examined from new starting points.

eniferBio is a startup which originated at VTT, founded in 2020 by Simo Ellilä, Heikki Keskitalo, Joosu Kuivanen, Anssi Rantasalo and Ville Pihlajaniemi. Serving as the CEO of eniferBion is Simo Ellilä.

Other candidates

left

Ramboll – low-carbon wood construction and design

Ramboll is an international design and consultancy company, which also specialises in sustainable wood construction. When it investigates construction solutions, Ramboll considers both life-cycle thinking and the strengths of different materials in different locations and implementations. Aiming for carbon neutrality is an important part of Ramboll's strategy, and wood is seen to significantly affect the attainment of these goals.

Truly ambitious objectives have been set in Finland for public wood construction. By 2025 up to 45 percent of Finland's new public buildings should have wooden structures. Ramboll has also recognised that wood construction is constantly increasing and that many new skilled players are needed in the field.

https://www.ramboll.com

In addition to wood buildings and structures, Ramboll's areas of expertise include hybrid structures combining concrete, steel, and wood in the most useful and sustainable way possible.

Wood has had a significant role in Finnish projects in which Ramboll was involved in the planning, including Terminal 2 at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, the Helsinki Central Library Oodi, and the Löyly public sauna in Helsinki – three so-called monumental projects. Even in these, wood has not been the only material. A goal set by Ramboll is to be capable of selecting the best possible solution with respect to low emissions, for example, already at the project planning stage.

In the future Ramboll will seek to increasingly utilise algorithmic design. Algorithms make calculations many times faster than humans can. Therefore they can produce numerous different options for supporting decision-making. This adds to the possibilities of finding even more uses for wood.

According to the Metsä360 group of experts, the increased use of wood in construction would be significantly affected by the development of planning skills. An inability to adequately take the possibilities offered by wood into account in the planning stages would also slow the development of wood construction. In the view of the group of experts, Ramboll is advancing the use of wood, and is helping to find the best targets for its use through the company's design and construction activities.

Ramboll is a foundation-owned company, offering many types of skills and knowledge from project design all the way up to when the building is taken into use. A total of 16,500 professionals from different fields work at Ramboll around the world. In Finland Ramboll employs 2,500 specialists.

right

Metsä Spring and Kuura – textiles out of paper pulp

Kuura is a new kind of textile fibre made from paper pulp produced by Metsä Spring. Still in its research and development stage, Kuura is a non-fossil, biodegradable, bio-based product. In the future it will be possible to use it in the manufacture of textiles as such, or by mixing it with other textile fibres. Metsä Spring is an innovation company of the Metsä Group.

More than 100 million tons of textile fibres are produced around the world each year, and demand for sustainably produced textile fibre is high. At present, the main raw materials for textiles are synthetic fibres made from oil, and natural gas. When they are washed, they release microplastics that are harmful for the environment and for humans. Plenty of textiles are also made of cotton, whose production involves a myriad of problems linked with artificial irrigation, fertilisers, and pesticides.

https://www.kuura.io

Kuura textile fibre is manufactured at a demo mill in Äänekoski. It is fully integrated with the Metsä Group's bioproduct mill, which means that paper pulp can be taken directly out of a tube without drying it first. The bioproduct mill also produces the steam, water, and electricity used by the demo mill. The wood used in Kuura's production comes from sustainably managed forests that surround the bioproduct mill. A basis for the activities of Metsä Group is the 100-percent utilisation of renewable wood raw material and its effluents.

From the demo mill, the Kuura staple fibre is first used to produce yarn, which is then woven into fabric. A few consumer products are already on the market – for example, a white Kuura coat. Metsä Spring has worked with the Japanese ITOCHU Corporation in launching new products.

Kuura was launched more than ten years ago in collaboration with universities and research institutes. There are plans to set up more commercial textile fibre factories integrated with bioproduct mills in Finland in the future. Metsä Group is a major producer of pulp. About half of its production is utilised by the group itself and the rest is sold on the world market. There is a goal for further domestic use for pulp that is now being exported.

The group of experts noted that fibre from Kuura specifically utilises Finnish forests for its raw material. In addition, no fossil fuels are used in its production. The textile industry is seen to be at a turning point, and the panel sees a growing market for the new raw materials.

Metsä Spring aims at developing new business operations connected with wood-based value chains, and at supporting and strengthening the present business activities of Metsä Group. The CEO of Metsä Spring is Niklas von Weymarn.