{"id":171006,"date":"2025-12-01T07:20:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T06:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=171006"},"modified":"2025-11-25T13:32:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T12:32:19","slug":"case-henkel-piloting-new-bio-based-foam-packaging-material","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/case-henkel-piloting-new-bio-based-foam-packaging-material\/","title":{"rendered":"Case: Henkel \u2013 Piloting new bio-based foam packaging material\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\u00a9 VTT<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Henkel teamed up with VTT to pilot a recyclable alternative to petroleum-based foam materials for e-commerce packaging. By building a dedicated pilot line, VTT helped Henkel take the next step and ultimately deliver a market-ready solution for its brand-owner customers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Henkel is a multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in D\u00fcsseldorf, Germany. Founded in 1876, the company is organised into two globally operating business units \u2013 Consumer Brands and Adhesive Technologies. Henkel employs around 47,000 people worldwide, with more than 80% working outside of Germany. In 2024, the company reported sales of 21.6 billion euros. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From plastic waste to fibre-based innovation <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Plastics remain a dominant material in packaging, yet their environmental impact is clear. Around 8\u201310% of global fossil fuel production goes into manufacturing plastics and less than 12% of plastics are recycled. Every minute, a truckload of plastics ends up in our seas. As consumer expectations, regulation, and brand-owner commitments push industries toward circularity, the demand for renewable and recyclable packaging materials is growing rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VTT has been at the forefront of developing sustainable alternatives through foam forming technology, which allows wood-based fibres to be formed into lightweight, versatile materials. This innovation opens up possibilities to replace conventional plastics with renewable solutions in packaging and beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\u00a9 VTT<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Tailored pilot line helps cross \u201cvalley of death\u201d <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Bradley McLeod<\/strong>, Business Development Director at Henkel, sustainability has always driven innovation at the company, and one of the sustainability challenges they identified was the need to replace fossil-based foams in packaging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe had an idea of using cellulose foam as an alternative material and needed a research partner to bring our vision to reality. VTT had previously worked on creating lightweight papers and molded packaging from cellulose foam. They had the right equipment, the right people, and a strong focus on research, which made them a great fit for what we were trying to achieve,\u201d McLeod<\/strong> says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What began as a research-focused effort on lab scale quickly grew into something bigger. Elina P\u00e4\u00e4kk\u00f6nen<\/strong>, Senior Scientist at VTT explains that Henkel already had a functioning recipe for their product, but needed help in upscaling \u2013 crossing the critical \u201cvalley of death\u201d between lab-scale development and commercial viability \u2013\u202ffirst to semi-pilot scale and then to a full-scale pilot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhat makes this project unique is that we built a completely new full-speed pilot line specifically for Henkel at our facility in Jyv\u00e4skyl\u00e4, clearing an entire hall for this purpose\u00a0 \u2013 something we had never done before,\u201d P\u00e4\u00e4kk\u00f6nen<\/strong> says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Over a lengthy period of test runs, Henkel even invited their own brand-owner customers to witness the process. This resulted in convincing one of the customers to transfer the line to their own premises in the US. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\u00a9 VTT<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Research expertise powers industrial scale-up <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As part of the collaboration, VTT provided Henkel with: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Deep know-how in cellulose foam and the paper packaging industry\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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    • A pilot line tailored to the customer\u2019s needs\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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      • Help in delivering new formulas, processes and equipment recommendations for customers to use the technology.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        McLeod says that Henkel achieved all its project objectives, pushing VTT with ambitious performance targets, which sometimes required rethinking process parameters entirely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        \u201cWe gave them higher goals,\u201d McLeod<\/strong> admits. \u201cSometimes they would say, \u2018We\u2019ve never done that before, but we\u2019ll do our best to break through\u2019 \u2013 and they did it. Multiple times.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

        As a result, Henkel now has a market-ready material and process that can be transferred to customers\u2019 facilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        \u201cAfter the intense work at VTT, we have a viable product we can sell and new intellectual property that will generate value for years to come. It\u2019s a step forward not just for us, but for the entire industry,\u201d McLeod<\/strong> says.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        “Whenever we had a question, they either had someone who could answer it right away or they dug in and did the research to find out.”\u00a0– Bradley McLeod, Business Development Director, Henkel.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

        A partnership built on trust and expertise <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        Both P\u00e4\u00e4kk\u00f6nen and McLeod highlight the close and transparent nature of the collaboration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        \u201cHenkel was very open and worked with us like a single project team. They were quick to test the produced materials and shared the results with the project group,\u201d she<\/strong> says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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        McLeod<\/strong> gives thanks to VTT\u2019s talent and professionalism: \u201cIt\u2019s impressive to walk into a test setup and see experts running every part of the process. Whenever we had a question, they either had someone who could answer it right away or they dug in and did the research to find out. That kind of depth and responsiveness made a huge difference.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

        VTT\u2019s Jouni Lattu<\/strong>, Customer Account Lead, Packaging Value Chain, emphasises how this kind of collaboration builds on VTT\u2019s long-term expertise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        \u201cThis project was based on our strong basic research, examining the requirements and opportunities of fibre foam and developing scalable processing solutions. One of VTT\u2019s strengths is the ability to deliver completely tailored piloting projects and processes. We are always prepared to make modifications to our existing pilot lines to answer to each customer\u2019s specific needs,\u201d Lattu<\/strong> concludes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Henkel teamed up with VTT to pilot a recyclable alternative to petroleum-based foam materials for e-commerce packaging. By building a dedicated pilot line, VTT helped Henkel take the next step and ultimately deliver a market-ready solution for its brand-owner customers.\u00a0 Henkel is a multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in D\u00fcsseldorf, Germany. Founded in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":171026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"VTT helped Henkel take the next step and ultimately deliveredan innovation that opens up possibilities to replace conventional plastics with renewable solutions in packaging and beyond","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[10416,16115,7105,26325,14462],"supplier":[95,459],"class_list":["post-171006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-circulareconomy","tag-foam","tag-packaging","tag-packagingfoam","tag-plasticwaste","supplier-henkel-kgaa","supplier-vtt-technical-research-centre-of-finland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171006"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=171006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}