The ABiCo project aims to develop innovative biobased biocomposite solutions specifically designed for the demands of the circular economy

Advanced Biocomposites with Circular Design (ABiCo) project brings together a consortium of five leading Finnish research institutions and multiple company partners representing key industries and end-use application areas. The ABiCo project was set up to address a specific industry challenge as companies have been increasingly searching for more sustainable alternatives to plastics and other fossil-based composite materials, which are still largely dominating the current composite materials landscape.

Although biobased composite materials have been available for decades already, their use has been restricted to only limited application areas due to their current performance levels. The ABiCo project is ambitiously exploring pathways to enhance the functionality, such as flame retardance, weather resistance and safety, of biocomposite materials further, thus meeting the industry’s growing demand for better performing high-quality biocomposites. Furthermore, the ABiCo consortium identifies that biobased fibers, novel biobased additives, and recycled polymers enable a significant reduction in the industry’s overall emissions while simultaneously enhancing the competitiveness of businesses and consequently creating potentially immense new opportunities for Finnish companies. Finally, circular design principles integrated with life-cycle assessment of environmental impacts will be developed and applied during the project to find the most sustainable material, process and end-of-life options for biocomposite applications.

The ExpandFibre team was very happy to welcome research partners from the ABiCo consortium to discuss the activities and future plans of the project, which recently joined the ExpandFibre Ecosystem. Helping to introduce the project were Kirsi Immonen, Senior Scientist at VTT, joined by three members of the LAB University of Applied Sciences team including Anu Kurvinen, Project Specialist and Senior Lecturer at LAB, Kirsti Cura, Chief Specialist at LAB and Niko Rintala, Development Engineer at LAB.

Background to the project

The public summary of the project states that the ABiCo project aims to develop innovative biobased biocomposite solutions to replace fossil-based primary raw materials and increase the use of recycled polymers and biobased raw materials in new demanding applications in accordance with the principles of the circular economy.

Anu Kurvinen opens the discussion on the project and its ambition: “The consumers’ awareness of sustainable development and circular economy principles coupled with the tightening global and EU-level regulations are some of the key drivers for companies to shift towards biocomposite materials. Our ambition in the ABiCo project is to explore novel advanced biocomposite solutions to meet this growing global demand for high performance biobased alternatives for multiple end-use applications.”

Kirsi Immonen from VTT continues on the topic: “As we know, biocomposites have been researched for decades already, but unfortunately, they have not fully met the industry’s needs. Some of the key challenges related to biocomposite materials have traditionally been their limited fire resistance and generally poor hydrophobicity. Key application areas for composite materials, such as construction, require high durability from materials, so we really need to focus on developing advanced biocomposites that are truly durable under heavy use. As an example, one key development area for us is the fire resistance of biocomposites, where we aim to find novel biobased alternatives to replace halogens and oil-based additives, which have a severely negative impact on the recyclability of composite materials.”

Circularity is indeed a key topic of the project as Kirsi Immonen explains further: “Starting from the very early design stages of a biocomposite solution, we need to assess its recyclability and carefully think about appropriate raw materials to meet these recyclability targets. In ABiCo we’re placing high emphasis on recyclability testing and life cycle analysis (LCA) work. LCA work packages are very much the norm in EU projects, so we want to bring a similar level of ambition to a Business Finland funded project.”

Other ABiCo Co-Innovation research partners and research group leaders are Prof. Carl-Erik Wilén from Åbo Akademi, Prof. Reijo Lappalainen from University of Eastern Finland, and Prof. Mika Horttanainen from LUT University.The project team is not concentrating on developing demo products that are manufactured according to several relevant industry standards, however the feedback loop from the industry partners is a key component of the project, guiding the work of the researchers towards demo products that fully meet the industry’s strict requirements.

Some of the key raw material components assessed in the project include wood pulp fibres and fiber clay (industrial by-product) provided by Metsä Fibre, recycled polypropene provided by Fortum, reference commercial materials from Syklo Biocomposites Oy (previously known as Elastopoli Oy), biobased polymers from Brightplus andsawdust from the window and door manufacturer Pihla.

Expected outcomes of the project

The contents of the ABiCo project and its expected outcomes can be categorised into four distinct focus areas: processing, performance, circularity and crosscutting topics involving activities related to assessing the environmental impact and regulatory compliance of the developed solutions.

Processing: explore and generate new knowledge on the raw material choices, process conditions and techniques including injection moulding, extrusion and 3D printing.

Performance: demo and early-stage prototype products delivered for company applications, while identifying new potential applications in e.g. transport and construction sectors.

Circularity: demonstrating the recyclability and reuse of the developed biocomposites, while developing design concepts that combine i) considerations for sustainable raw material selection, ii) innovative design approaches and iii) advanced processing methods.

Cross-cutting topics: assessing and documenting the environmental impacts/benefits and regulatory compliance of the developed solutions.

ABiCo project factsheet

Project type: Business Finland Co-Innovation (funding linked to ExpandFibre Ecosystem). Facilitation for the project preparation was provided by CLIC Innovation.

Project duration: 05/2024 – 08/2026

Research partners: Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT, University of Applied Science LAB, LUT University, University of Eastern Finland UEF, Åbo Akademi University ÅA

Industry partners: Tonester Oy Ltd, Brightplus Oy, NG Nordic, Metsä Fibre Oy, Vaisala Oyj, Pihla Group Oy, Meyer Turku Oy, TK-Työkalutiimi Oy and Syklo Biocomposites Oy (formerly Elastopoli Oy)