“Fossil fuel-free operations lay the foundation for our value proposition, but our products must also offer excellent technical performance. Being bio-based is not enough; we must also match the performance of competing products.”
Metsä Spring one of the investors
Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring aims to develop new business linked to wood-based value chains. This effort encompasses investments in promising start-up companies worldwide as well as promoting the company’s own pilot and demo projects. “Metsä Spring supports the growth of Metsä Group’s business ecosystem. We are a strategic investor and innovation promoter in the wood-based circular bioeconomy,” says Katariina Kemppainen , Metsä Group’s SVP, Group R&D. At the beginning of 2023, Metsä Spring had four portfolio companies. It began cooperating with Montinutra two years earlier when Metsä Spring made an equity investment in Montinutra. “We had been following Montinutra for quite a while, and when the company set its sights on producing higher volume products from hemicellulose, we decided that the time was right for deeper cooperation,” says Kemppainen.
A host of potential uses
Kemppainen says that interest in bio-based products that can replace fossil raw materials is growing strongly in various industries. “Currently, it is very important to find bio-based alternatives for fossil raw materials, and a lot of work in the field is underway.” She points out that Montinutra’s Boreal Bioproducts® offer stabilising and emulsifying properties that are suitable for various coatings as well as other purposes. The emulsions used in the cosmetics industry offer numerous applications. The technology risk related to production scalability is regarded as moderate in Montinutra’s case. “Technology risk is often a big question mark for start-up companies, but Montinutra has conducted several pilot projects and successfully avoided scalability pitfalls. In fact, their technology risk is actually quite small.”
Aiming for high volume business
Kemppainen sees the upgrading of sawdust as a good example of resource- efficient wood use that converts production side streams into a variety of bioproducts. “The sawdust fraction left over from the process is still an important source of bioenergy and supports Metsä Group’s goal of giving up fossil fuels.” She sees no obstacle to Montinutra developing from a start-up into an important operator in the next few years. “Of course, we would like to see Montinutra develop into a volume business, where production is not limited to Vilppula. Growth may also come from another raw material such as bark.” “The commercialisation of a new bioproduct is always a challenging process that requires patience and competence in many fields. However, Montinutra has always had an extremely competent team.” •
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