The chemical industry's value chains are increasingly contested by emissions targets, tightening regulation and concerns about European resilience and competitiveness. Sustainable chemicals research and development services offer a route to for example monomers and polymers from bio-based, recycled and domestically available low-carbon feedstocks. VTT helps chemical companies and startups develop sustainable chemicals faster, working from feedstock and target molecule through to industrial-scale production and processes.
Key facts
Chemistry and biotechnology, two complementary routes under one roof, with the analytics and piloting infrastructure to take a project from screening to pilot scale.
We have worked with a wide range of feedstocks, including lignocellulosic biomass fractions, pulp and biorefining side streams, agricultural and food-industry waste, waste plastics and CO2.
VTT's patent and process portfolio has been built specifically for licensing and tech transfer to industry, so a project rarely starts from a clean slate.
Why sustainable chemicals, and why now
Fossil feedstock-based chemicals are still dominating both bulk petrochemical and specialty chemicals markets. The pressure to replace them with sustainable, low-carbon alternatives is real, but the transformation itself has not yet happened. Bio-based content has a premium price, and voluntary certification schemes have not been enough on their own to move volumes.
The core constraint in sustainable chemicals has been cost. Petrochemical production has been perfected for over a century. Only a fifth of a barrel of oil goes to side streams that feed back into refining. The energy feedstock is homogeneous, and synergies between processes are mature. A sustainable route that lands at five times the cost of its fossil counterpart is not viable.
VTT's approach is to look for applications and feedstocks where the cost gap is narrow enough to close, integrating economics into the technical framework early, and being transparent about which targets are realistic.
The current driver behind sustainable chemicals is resilience. European industry is exposed to imported chemicals, critical materials and components, and the trend of disappearing domestic value chains has become a strategic problem.
Sustainable chemicals, produced from renewable, recycled and domestic feedstocks, are one solution to increasing resilience. Incumbents are looking to incorporate renewable feedstock into existing processes; converters need to meet customer and regulatory requirements; startups are positioning to disrupt segments where the cost gap is closing. VTT helps all of these players meet their needs.
Two routes to the same end results
Sustainable chemicals can be produced through two main paths: fermentation or chemical synthesis. Both routes can lead to the same molecule. Which one is more efficient depends on the feedstock, the target and the economics.
Fermentation and host engineering
VTT builds or improves microbes to convert bio-based materials or waste streams into target molecules, and develops the processes to industrial scale. Examples of targets include specialty chemicals, lactic acid and biomonomers used as building blocks for high-performance polymers. VTT's in-house culture collection, robotic platforms, synthetic biology tools and excellence in bioprocess development support fast strain engineering and process development.
Chemical and polymer synthesis
VTT uses catalytic and process chemistry to produce, among others, monomers and specialty chemicals from biomass fractions, side streams and waste plastics. This is particularly relevant for polymer-grade molecules used in textiles, coatings and composites, where chemical synthesis often delivers the right combination of purity, performance and process economics. It also covers specialty chemicals such as fatty acids and other extractives for cosmetic, food and medicinal applications.
Because both teams sit under the same roof, VTT's experts can evaluate the options without defending one method over another. Sometimes the right answer is a combination, and sometimes the recommendation is to switch routes after the first scoping work.
Examples of how we can help you accelerate the development of sustainable chemicals
VTT works with a wide variety of customers.
- Chemical industry companies typically come to VTT with an existing fermentation or synthesis process they want to make more efficient, or with the strategic objective of incorporating renewable feedstock into a product line.
- Converters and brand owners under regulatory pressure or extended producer responsibility are often looking to source a similar monomer with a lower greenhouse gas equivalent, and need help finding a route to it.
- Startups and scale-ups usually arrive with a process or molecule but without the infrastructure to scale, and need a de-risking partner to take it through pilot.
Each company starts from its unique situation, and VTT's engagement is tailored around that. Most projects deliver a production strain or a process that customers can incorporate into their own facility, supported by the data needed to make the next investment decision.
Some projects deliver several hundred litres of pilot-scale material for downstream testing; others deliver a feasibility-level conclusion that a particular target isn't viable yet. In every case the customer leaves with a clear written record of what was tested, what worked, what didn't and how the economics look at scale.
Customers are also welcome to join the labs at critical points in the project. Seeing how the work is actually done tends to be useful, both for technical decisions and for building trust.
Feedstocks we work with
VTT has experience and expertise with a wide variety of different feedstocks.
Pulp industry biomass such as hemicellulose and lignin are a recurring focus, as are side streams, including black liquor.
Agricultural and food-industry waste streams also come in regularly. For example, orange peels were the feedstock in the FDCA route that enabled plant-based PEF bottles. The underlying logic of turning a low-value side stream into a polymer-relevant monomer is relevant to many other waste streams.
Depolymerised waste plastics are another active area. VTT has helped find ways to return monomers to feedstock-grade quality so they can re-enter chemical plant operations. CO2 utilisation is in the picture too.
VTT can also help you determine the value of your own side streams and find a partner that could use a side stream as raw material for a sustainable chemical, or vice versa.
Why partner with VTT in the research and development of sustainable chemicals?
Both fermentation and host engineering, and chemical and polymer synthesis sit in the same organisation, alongside in-house analytics, the culture collection, robotic platforms, synthetic biology tools and pilot-scale fermentation and chemical process infrastructure. One organisation can take a project from screening through pilot without handoffs between vendors.
The recommendation on the most suitable route is independent. VTT can evaluate the bio and the chemistry side against each other on the same project and give customers a realistic assessment of which one is likely to work and which one isn't.
VTT's IP portfolio in sustainable chemicals has been built for licensing and tech transfer to industry. That means a project rarely starts from a clean slate: there is often relevant patented technology, characterised strains or process know-how that can be brought into the engagement and accelerate the path to a usable result.
Working with VTT gives access to expertise and infrastructure, and lets the final investment decision to be made after the technology has been proven and perfected. Building this capability in-house would require recruiting specialists, commissioning equipment and developing methods before the first useful experiment can even begin, with that investment sunk if the technology doesn't pan out.
Sustainable chemicals case studies
Cargill/NatureWorks LLC
VTT collaborated with Cargill / NatureWorks LLC on improved microbial routes from plant matter to lactic acid and ultimately to polylactic acid bioplastic. The re-engineered yeasts reached up to ~92 g/L of lactic acid in a host suited for industrial production, and the work cut production costs for plant-based bioplastics manufacturing. The process developed through the collaboration has been in industrial use for more than a decade, and represents the kind of long-term benefits the service is built to support.
- Reduced production costs for plant-based bioplastics manufacturing
- From biomass to bioplastic through a proven and efficient process
How to work with us
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Contact
Describe the feedstock, the target molecule or product and the constraints such as performance, cost, timing and IP. The first conversation is usually about scoping which route fits and where the work needs to start.
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Scoping
A short pre-feasibility or desktop study identifies the most promising route and flags the cost and technical risks. This is often the right entry point for customers who aren't yet sure whether the project should sit on the bio side or the chemistry side.
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Project
From screening through proof-of-concept to pilot, with deliverables and decision points agreed up front. Customers are welcome to be present in the labs at critical moments. Most engagements run from a few months to a year and a half, depending on whether the work is optimising an existing process or building a new strain or route from scratch.
