Bio-based Futures: Alternative feedstocks and technologies
- Sanna Hellsten
- Jan 28
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 2
Welcome to the FinnCERES Annual Seminar: Bio-based Futures, on May 15-16, 2025 in Espoo and online! This year, we will highlight the potential of sustainable practices in the circular bioeconomy, with a focus on alternative feedstocks, circular carbon solutions, and novel utilization of forest industry side streams. By bringing together expertise from diverse fields, we hope to inspire collaboration and innovation toward a more resource-efficient and sustainable future.
Join us for the latest updates from our invited top experts as well as the bio-based materials research community at Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre Finland.
The seminar will be organized as a hybrid event in Dipoli, Espoo, as well as online. Please note that online participation is open for everyone and free of charge, while on-site participation is by invitation only. For further information and inquiries, please contact us at info (at) finnceres.fi.
Keynote speakers
Orlando Rojas, University of British Columbia
Beyond Wood: Interfacial Engineering in Bioproduct Development
Professor Orlando Rojas is a Canada Excellence Research Chair at the University of British Columbia and Director of the Bioproducts Institute. He is renowned for his work on biobased materials, earning honors such as the Anselme Payen Award and being a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, and Tappi Association. Formerly a Finland Distinguished Professor at Aalto University, he collaborates globally, holding visiting professorships at Aalto University and Universiti Putra Malaysia. He serves on the Marcus Wallenberg Foundation Selection Committee and advises organizations like the Max Planck Institute and the University of Santiago de Compostela. With around 600 peer-reviewed publications, an h-index of 104, and over 50,000 citations, Prof. Rojas ranks in the top 1% of researchers globally by citations (Clarivate, Web of Science).
Jason Hallett, Imperial College London
ionoSolv: a flexible wood pulping approach based on low-cost ionic liquids
Prof. Jason Hallett received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He joined Imperial College, first with a Marshall-Sherfield Postdoctoral Fellowship in Sustainable Chemistry and in 2014 was appointed a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, before promotion to Reader in 2016 and Professor in 2018. He performs research involving the solution behaviour of ionic liquids and the use of ionic liquids in the production of lignocellulosic biofuels, sustainable chemical feedstocks, vaccine manufacturing and waste recycling (particularly for metal-contaminated solid materials). He has authored over 200 articles and holds more than 10 patents. Prof Hallett currently serves as co-Director of the Supergen Bioenergy Hub. He is also co-founder of 7 spin-out companies based on the group's research.
Joseph Samec, Stockholm University
Biomass valorization: from academic findings to commercializations
Joseph Samec is a professor at Stockholm University, Sweden. He received his Ph.D. from Stockholm University in 2005 with Prof. Bäckvall as supervisor. He did a short research exchange for Prof. C. P. Casey at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After a postdoctoral training with Prof. R. H. Grubbs at California Institute of Tecnology during 2006-2007, he was appointed as Assistant Professor at University of Uppsala in Sweden. Currently, he is Professor at Stockholm University. His research interest focuses on green chemistry in organic synthesis and biomass processing and applications. In 2012, he founded RenFuel, a start-up company that produces biofuels from Lignin.
Program of the seminar
Thursday May 15, 2025
8.15 Registration & breakfast
8.45 Online stream starts
9.00 Welcoming words Monika Österberg, Tekla Tammelin FinnCERES Scientific Principal Investigators
9.10-9.45 Keynote: Orlando Rojas, University of British Columbia
Beyond Wood: Interfacial Engineering in Bioproduct Development
9.45-10.30 Session 1: Beyond wood
9.45-10.05
Sami Selkälä, Innomost Oy
Challenges of commercializing birch bark side stream
Sami Selkälä is the founder and CTO of Innomost. Founded in 2016, Innomost is upcycling forest industry side streams and transforming birch bark into high-performing products for various applications, including cosmetics and personal care, adhesives, coatings and paints. Selkälä holds a PhD in chemistry and has an extensive industrial experience in both product development and development of plant scale fine chemical processes.
10.05-10.30
Raisa Mäkipää, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)
Towards peatland emission reductions with rewetting and sustainable biomass production
Raisa Mäkipää is a Research Professor at Natural Resources Institute Finland. Trained as a forest ecologist and soil scientist, she is an expert on carbon sinks and greenhouse gas emissions in the land-use sector. Her research encompasses biodiversity, as well as carbon and nitrogen cycling in forests, making significant contributions to understanding and mitigating climate change impacts. She also serves as a Vice Chair of the Finnish Climate Change Panel.
10.30-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-12.30 Session 2: Infinite carbon?
11.10-11.30
Esa Vakkilainen, LUT University
Why we need CCS/CCU?
Esa Vakkilainen is a professor of Sustainable energy systems at LUT University in Lappeenranta. His research focuses on the future of energy in Finland, renewable energy especially biomass usage, sustainability and the environmental impacts of energy production, as well as energy efficiency in industry. He has expertise in district heating, energy production in the forest industry and hydrogen economy. With over 20 years of industrial experience in boilers and energy generation, he brings a wealth of practical knowledge to his academic pursuits.
11.30-11.50
Petri Laakso, Soletair Power
Buildings as carbon sinks
Petri Laakso is the CEO, co-founder of Soletair Power, a Finnish technology company offering building-integrated carbon capture solutions. Prior to joining the company, Petri worked in the photovoltaic industry as Vice-President of Projects at Valoe Oyj. Before getting involved in cleantech, Petri worked at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, where he focused on developing advanced manufacturing methods such as laser processing and 3D printing.
11.50-12.10
Pirita Mikkanen, Metsä Group
Industry view on bioCO2 and hydrogen economy
Pirita Mikkanen, D.Sc.(Tech), Vice President, Energy leads Metsä Group's Energy team, including energy production supporting the mills and energy efficiency. She has previously managed several manufacturing SMEs operating in international markets and participated in board activities also in large companies. She has also founded and grown technology companies. The guiding stars of her career have been change management, production efficiency and combating climate change.
12.10-12-30
Silvan Scheller, Aalto University
Biotechnological CO2 Valorization Using Engineered Methanogenic Archaea
Prof. Silvan Scheller leads the Biochemistry group at Aalto University's Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems. The group specializes in biocatalytic transformations found in nature that are not yet achievable through classical chemistry. To harness these novel metabolisms and enzymes, the team conducts fundamental research in microbial physiology and mechanistic enzymology. Prof. Scheller's work focuses on biochemical CO2 valorization, metabolic engineering of archaea, and anaerobic biochemistry. He earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from ETH Zürich and has previously worked at the California Institute of Technology and ZHAW Zürich University of Applied Sciences before joining Aalto University.
12.30-13.30 Lunch break
13.30-14.05 Keynote: Jason Hallett, Imperial College London
ionoSolv: a flexible wood pulping approach based on low-cost ionic liquids
14.05-14.35 Session 3: Bio-based futures
14.05-14.35
Soledad Peresin, Auburn University
Sustainable polymer assemblies and their role on alleviating critical environmental issues
Maria Soledad Peresin, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Forest Biomaterials at Auburn University’s College of Forestry, Wildlife, and Environment and is also affiliated with the Chemical Engineering Department. She is the leader and founder of the AU Sustainable Bio-Based Materials Laboratory, which was established in 2016. Peresin earned her Licenciate in Analytical Chemistry in 2007 from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral in Argentina and her Ph.D. in Forest Biomaterials from North Carolina State University in 2011. Afterward, she joined the High Performance Fibre Products Knowledge Team at VTT. With over 20 years of academic and industrial experience, she specializes in biomass valorization for innovative product development. Peresin received the prestigious NSF Early Faculty CAREER award in 2021. She boasts a prolific publication record and has held leadership roles in various professional associations, including TAPPI and ACS, and is a member of the TAPPI Board of Directors.
14.35-15.00 Coffee break
15.00-16.30 WCEF Accelerator Session: The Bio-based Future
15:00-15:05 Opening words for the WCEF Accelerator session
Luana Dessbesell, Aalto University
15.05-15.25
Hanne Wikberg, Chempolis
Transforming Biomass into Value with Organosolv Processing
Dr. Hanne Wikberg is Product and Business Development Director at Chempolis. The company specializes in fractionating biomass into high quality cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose product fractions. Dr. Wikberg's team focuses on identifying, developing, and commercializing value-added products from these fractions, collaborating with a diverse range of customers and partners, from startups to large corporations. She holds a PhD in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Helsinki and possesses extensive experience in R&D of lignin-based products and future biorefinery projects, having previously contributed to Fortum’s Bio2X team and VTT.
15.25-15.55
Caio Otoni, UNICAMP, INCT Circularity
Don't waste food waste: Materializing circular plastics from side-stream biomass
Dr. Caio G. Otoni is a Professor of Polymer Chemistry at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and a member of the Graduate Program in Materials Science and Engineering at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar). Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor of Materials Engineering at UFSCar, where he has also earned his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering. Dr. Otoni is a Food Engineer by training and has also worked at United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Aalto University, and the University of Bologna. His research focuses on biobased multifunctional materials, nanocomposites, nanohybrids, and nanocelluloses, with interests in developing biopolymer-based multifunctional packaging materials, such as nanocomposite films for edible packaging, and upcycling agri-food waste into advanced materials.
15.55-16.30 Pitching of FinnCERES Proof-of-Concepts projects
Brief highlights of FinnCERES projects that have reached the Proof-of-Concept stage:
ACFilm: All-Cellulose TFC structures for membrane applications
BiOptics: Bio/Chemical Optical Flowcell Analyzer
CELNAS: Cellulose nanostructures for textile recycling
CELSens: Cellulose-based Electrochemical Sensor platform for detection of small molecules
Co-Foam: Cellulose-based foams for water-assisted CO2 capture
STORAGE: Stable and Sustainable Organic Radical Battery
Tree2Ink: From trees to carbon negative ultrablack multifunctional inks
16.30 Streaming ends
16.30-18.00 Poster session & drinks
18.30 Seminar Dinner
Friday May 16, 2025
8.15 Coffee
8.45 Online stream starts
9.00-9.35 Keynote: Joseph Samec, Stockholm University
Biomass valorization: from academic findings to commercializations
9.35-10.15 Session 4: Waste to value: Forest industry sidestreams
9.35-9.55
Marc Borrega, VTT Technical Research Center of Finland Ltd
Softwood bark for future products
Dr. Marc Borrega is a Principal Scientist and Project Manager at VTT. He has extensive experience in planning, executing, and coordinating R&D projects on composition, structure, properties, processing, and applications of lignocellulosic biomass. He holds a PhD in Wood Science from the University of Eastern Finland and has conducted postdoctoral research at both Aalto University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His core expertise includes biorefining of industrial bark and other lignocellulosic side-streams.
9.55-10.15
Ikenna Anugwom, LUT University
Deep Eutectic Solvent Extraction of Sulfur-Free Lignin: Unlocking Its Potential for Membrane Applications
Ikenna Anugwom is Associate Professor at LUT University. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Åbo Akademi and has done a postdoc at Umeå University. His research interests include novel green solvents for biomass processing, biomass characterization, the development of advanced bio-based materials such as cellulosic membranes, valorization of waste wool and textile fibers, and emission free pulping.
10.15-11.00 Coffee break & poster session
11.00-12.00 Session 5: Circular textiles
11.00-11.20
Luana Dessbesell, Aalto University
Secondary materials, circularity beyond recycling
Assist. Prof. Luana Dessbesell’s group Sustainable Bioproducts Innovation at Aalto University, Finland focuses on translating research to commercialization, considering an interdisciplinary approach leveraging techno-economic, environmental and circularity assessments. Her academic background entails Forest, Chemical Engineering, and Innovation Management and industry experience as a researcher, innovation manager and biorefinery technology due diligence specialist in Canada and Brazil. Dessbesell's research helps academia and industry in designing transformative technology and business strategies considering bioeconomy opportunities and circular economy principles.
11.20-11.40
Kirsi Roine, Infinited Fiber Company
Navigating regulatory and market dynamics – how evolving EU regulations and market demand drive the scaling of textile fiber innovation
Kirsi Roine is the Chief Customer Officer at Infinited Fiber Company. She joined the pioneering start-up in 2017 as its first employee and now spearheads the company's fiber sales and serves as the primary liaison with global fashion brands. Roine also actively collaborates with industry associations, including serving on the boards of Textile ETP and Suomen Tekstiili & Muoti ry. Passionate about sustainability, she is dedicated to transforming the fashion industry and making circularity in textiles an everyday reality.
11.40-12.00
Mikko Mäkelä, VTT Technical Research Center of Finland Ltd
Spectral imaging and machine learning to estimate textile properties for recycling
Mikko Mäkelä is a Research Professor in Intelligent Biomass Processing at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. He coordinates the AI-driven design of materials highlight at FCAI together with Milica Todorovic. His research focuses on empirical measurements and data-driven mathematical models for material and process development with an interdisciplinary background in environmental and process engineering.
12.00 Concluding remarks and poster session awards
Monika Österberg, Tekla Tammelin
FinnCERES Scientific Principal Investigators
12.10 Streaming ends
12.10-13.00 Lunch & end of the event