Towards next-generation cellulose-based films and coatings with the F3 project

As the global packaging industry faces mounting pressure to shift away from fossil-based plastics, the F3 project has emerged as one of the pioneering initiatives within the ExpandFibre Ecosystem. Led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and LUT University and funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), F3 brought together over 30 partners to develop next-generation cellulose-based films and coatings. With its focus on sustainability, recyclability, and performance, the F3 project has set new benchmarks for bio-based packaging solutions, offering a glimpse into a future where renewable materials can meet the demanding requirements of food and consumer goods packaging.

The Films for Future (F3) project was conceived in response to three urgent challenges: climate change, plastic pollution, and resource scarcity. Recognizing the limitations of traditional cellophane, such as incomplete biodegradability, lack of recycling systems, and problematic raw materials, the F3 project set out to reinvent cellulose films for modern packaging applications.

F3’s core innovation lies in its development of cellulose-based films and coated boards that outperform commercial references in key barrier properties, including oxygen, grease, and moisture resistance. Using advanced dissolution and regeneration technologies for kraft pulps, the project validated pilot-scale production of biodegradable and recyclable films that comply with key EU regulations and directives such as SUP (Single-Use Plastics) and PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation). Notably, F3 explored functional layers to enhance heat sealability and moisture barriers, achieving promising results with extrusion coatings using bio-based polymers like PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoates) and PBS (Polybutylene succinate).

The project also addressed practical aspects of converting and recyclability, developing testing methodologies to ensure that the developed materials can be repulped and processed without significant issues. Successful demonstrations included blister forming from thin films and 3D forming of cellulose-coated carton board, highlighting the versatility of the new materials.

With a consortium spanning the entire packaging value chain from raw material suppliers to brand owners, the F3 project has laid important groundwork to enable a major leap from fossil-based plastics to fiber-based solutions. One of the project’s key outcomes is an active platform for future innovation, supported by state-of-the-art pilot infrastructure and a collaborative partner network eager to advance the transition towards more circular sustainable packaging.

To conclude a long-running article series highlighting ended ExpandFibre Ecosystem projects and their outcomes, selected members from the F3 consortium were warmly invited to reflect on the initiative and its key results. Project leader VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland’s team was represented by Ali Harlin, Research Professor at VTT. Joining the project leader for the reflection were F3 project’s industrial partners Valmet and Metsä Board represented by Mervi Kuoppamäki, Senior Manager, Paper Technology Centers at Valmet Technologies Oy, Mika Viljanmaa, Senior Development Manager at Valmet Technologies Oy, and Riku Talja, Development Manager at Metsä Board.

Status of the project

The project was originally meant to end by September 2025, but the project team was granted a minor continuation until spring 2026 to finalise the work, as Ali Harlin explained: “This was a quite extraordinary project in that we had very ambitious targets for our work, which were almost fully accomplished. The reason for the slight extension at the end of the project was needed to successfully demonstrate the continuous cellulose film manufacturing process at the VTT Bioruukki pilot centre, located in Espoo. The main reason for the scheduling challenges originated from minor issues we had in the procurement of the equipment for continuous dissolution at the cellulose films pilot line, which is completely understandable in complex and ambitious R&D projects such as F3.”

The COVID-19 pandemic understandably caused lot of issues for collaboration within many ExpandFibre Ecosystem projects, but the F3 team were able to keep working and collaborating during the challenging times as Ali detailed: “We were very determined to keep on working even during the height of the COVID pandemic, which was enabled by our special arrangement at the cellulose films pilot line. Safety of our team members was understandably a top priority for us, and simultaneously we were able to move ahead with the project work, which was a significant achievement looking back now.”

F3 project had two distinct leaders for the research and development work, VTT and LUT University’s Packaging Technology research group, as Ali explained in more detail: “We have been collaborating extensively with LUT’s packaging technology laboratory as their competences in packaging converting, testing and characterisation fully complement our own dedicated competences at VTT, which makes collaboration very easy and meaningful. In very simple terms we at VTT specialise in understanding the chemistry and physics related to manufacturing a cellulose film, as an example material, and LUT’s team specialise in analysing this film as comprehensively as possible.”

Preparations for the project

The F3 project consortium is a vast network of 34 national and international companies, of which 9 companies are SME’s, forming an extensive value chain around the topic of sustainable and recyclable low-carbon packaging solutions. Forming such a big group of partners around a single project is a specialised skill, as Ali explained: “Kristian Salminen from our team at VTT is a true specialist in building strong consortiums, and he’s in constant dialogue with industrial partners around different R&D topics. It took a lot of time and literally hundreds of meetings to put together the F3 consortium, but it was worth it. Building projects is one our main activities at VTT, so we are very used to it, and through our vast project portfolio we have been able to build an extensive network of potential project partners, both nationally and internationally. Of course, it helped us greatly that Veturi companies like Metsä Group and Valmet were interested in the topic of the project.”

Riku Talja continued from Metsä’s perspective: “VTT was indeed extremely active in the preparatory phase, and it felt natural for us to follow the preparation of the project very closely. VTT and LUT built together a very impressive project, and we were happy to provide comments on the project’s scope early on, and of course ultimately very glad to be part of this initiative together with the other F3 partners. In my opinion the key factors contributing to the project’s success were firstly the fundamental work done in the preparatory phase of the project, followed by smart utilisation of existing piloting equipment in new and innovative ways, which should be highlighted.”

Mervi Kuoppamäki and Mika Viljanmaa followed with Valmet’s perspectives: “The overarching topic of sustainable packaging of course interested us at Valmet, as in recent years we have developed our own high-capacity molded fiber production technology (Valmet 3D Fiber technology), which we have demonstrated together with Metsä Group. We also appreciated the efforts of the project team in preparing the initiative carefully and leading the work forward very dynamically with the existing equipment. Overall, the F3 project provided us with a lot of new knowledge and interesting R&D results.”

Ali concluded: “Looking back, I’ve had the main idea for the F3 project laying on my desk for over 10 years. Over the years we have visited several machinery suppliers looking at possible production lines for film materials. Perhaps the biggest spark for the F3 project happened already during a prior nanocellulose-based project we had years ago, in which we were able to produce cellulose-based films, but they were very fragile. Thus, we wanted to find feasible solutions to make the films stronger. From the regulatory side EU’s SUP directive also gave the F3 project a strong push forward, as there was a clear regulatory pressure coming from the EU to develop these cellulose-based materials further.”

Key results of the project

When asked to elaborate on the main positive outcomes of the project, Ali had clear highlights to discuss: “Elomatic played a key role in the design and building of the successful demonstration production line for us, which was one of the key highlights of the project. The design process for the machinery was not conventional, as researchers also played an active role in the design phase. This proved to be a fantastic operating principle for us, which I’m very glad for. Another success story for us was to bring people together who had vast understanding of different topics, whether it was expertise on nanocellulose-based films  or dissolution technologies from the textile industry, our team members really succeeded in turning those prior experiences into new knowledge. Thirdly, the overall positive atmosphere within the project team and the crucial presence of so many industrial partners really made F3 a wonderful project, where special emphasis was placed on close communication between the partners.”

Riku continued: “From my perspective the project’s key outcomes related to mapping out the fundamentals of the manufacturing process and its impacts on the properties of the final products.  From a barrier property perspective, it’s amazing that the project team was able to produce materials that matched or even surpassed commercial alternatives currently on the market. Even though the entire manufacturing process was perhaps not finetuned to allow instant industrial-scale production at this time, VTT still has all the fundamentals in place to advance the processes in the future.”  

Mika chimed in: ”Even though I thought in the beginning that it was nice that film was successfully produced, I was perhaps struggling somewhat to see the bigger impact. When the project team was able to incorporate the developed film material directly into the surface of carton board, I was instantly very impressed. That was one of the clear highlights of the project for me.”

Mervi continued: ”Throughout the project we also had extremely nice events, where industrial partners were brought together to ideate on the main topics of the project. It was great that VTT’s team really listened to us and took the best ideas boldly forward for the greater benefit of the entire project.”

Riku added: “I really appreciate that the entire packaging value chain was carefully evaluated during the project. This included the production of the novel packaging solutions, as well as identifying the biggest technological pain points, in addition to identifying the market potential of these new solutions. The most potential application areas were also screened, thus covering the entire value chain from production to the final products.”

Highlighting collaboration

For the F3 project seamless collaboration started already within the VTT team, as Ali explained: “We had a very functional three-sided approach within our own team at VTT. I acted as the project owner keeping a high enough ambition level for the work and using my own extensive experience to push things very close to their limits without reaching them. Vesa Kunnari was our main technology expert, bringing in much needed realism and positive thinking when we faced challenges. Vinay Kumar completed our triangle of expertise bringing extensive project management experience to the table, taking care of the day-to-day running of the project. This approach ensured that one person was not running the entire show.”

Overall, the partners agreed that the collaboration between the partners worked very well, with the industrial partners feeding VTT and LUT with ideas, which were addressed properly, as mentioned earlier. Everyone also felt that the regular follow-up meetings were organised at the right frequency and the overall roles of the leading partners VTT and LUT functioned well, which undoubtedly originated from the long collaborative history between these two Finnish R&D partners.

Industrial significance of the project

The significance of publicly funded R&D projects to the industry is always important insight, as Riku detailed from Metsä Board’s side: “For full transparency, we don’t have any immediate actions on the table related to the end of the F3 project, but we have gained a lot of additional insight on the utilization potential of our wood pulp in these novel application areas and processes. Also, specifically from Metsä Board’s side we have learned a lot on the barrier application technology directly on paperboard, which could be a potential technological route for us in the future. As the technological readiness (TRL) of these types of novel technologies progress, major investments could be in the horizon for us, but this of course remains to be seen in the future. For now, we are grateful to be able to follow the topic so closely in initiatives such as F3.”

Mika continued from Valmet’s perspective: “Completing the proof of concept was an important milestone for the project, and an important finding for us at Valmet as a technology provider. Ultimately the needs of our customers and regulatory developments will largely dictate if we move forward with the technological concepts developed during the project.”

Mervi agreed: ”As technology providers we are in constant dialogue with our customers and collaborators, and the indications they provide are elementary in guiding our actions to the right direction. The Muoto™ project with Metsä Group is again a primary example of this approach, highlighting the close collaboration with our customers.”  

Next steps & final words

It’s perhaps no great surprise that the next steps have already been planned by the project team as Ali explained: “In the next phase of the project, the idea is to accelerate the speed of the production line even further. As previously discussed, regulatory aspects have also caused us some headaches recently as the entire packaging sector has been disrupted due to the unpredictable nature of EU policy development. This year, the review of the SUP Directive should come from Brussels, and we’re naturally following this topic very closely with great interest. For example, the limitations on the amount of plastic allowed will significantly affect the recyclability of packaging solutions. Also, how the package is sealed will always be a key technical question, similarly with barrier material development.”

“The funding application for the next phase has already been under Business Finland’s review for a while, so we’re hoping to hear news from them soon. Perhaps the biggest issues we need to tackle in the future are related to scaling-up the process. We must identify not only technically feasible scale-up options, but also economically viable routes going forward. Another key consideration will be which dissolution technology to invest in, without forgetting recycling-related aspects as well. It’s important to verify that the overall solution is economically sound and determine which applications would make the most sense for us.”, Ali added regarding the continuation of the work.

For his final words, the project leader Ali wanted to thank the partners once more: “From my perspective, this has been an extremely interesting but also a very enjoyable project, especially with partners like these. At the end of the day, we share the same “sparkle” in our eyes, and it has truly been a privilege to work together. And, not just doing a project for the sake of a project, but because something good could come out of it.”

F3 project factsheet: Project full name: Films for Future (F3) Project duration: 15.09.2022 - 31.03.2026              Project funding: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Project coordinator: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (Lead), Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT (Joint applicant) Project collaborators: Ahlstrom Specialties S.A.S., Berndorf Band GmbH, CMPC Ventures SpA, Colombier Finland Oy, Domtar Paper CO LLC, DS Smith Paper Limited (GBCE), Fiber-X Finland Oy, Fortum Power and Heat Oy, General Mills Inc., Graphic Packaging International LLC, Henkel, Joutsen Paino Oy, Kelheim Fibres GmbH, Kemira Oyj, Klabin, Leipa Group GmbH, LIST Technology AG, Mega Cellulose Oy, Metsä Board Corporation, MM Kotkamills Boards Oy, Neenah Gessner GmbH, Nordic Bioproducts Group Oy, Paroprint Oy, Philip Morris Products SA, Pixact Oy, Solenis LLC, Sulzer Pumps Finland Oy, Suominen Oyj, Suzano Group, Sylvamo Corporation, Unilever Global IP Limited, UPM-Kymmene Oyj, Valmet Technologies Oy, Yangi AB Project resources incl. research outputs and additional links at VTT’s dedicated project library: https://cris.vtt.fi/en/projects/films-for-future/