Innomost’s Founder and CEO, Dr. Sami Selkälä.
Finnish biomaterials company Innomost is developing Suberinno™ Suberin as a multifunctional barrier material for fibre-based packaging and functional coatings. Derived from upcycled Nordic birch bark, Suberinno™ Suberin combines moisture and grease resistance with oxygen-barrier performance in coating formulations. This combination makes it an interesting bio-based alternative to fossil-based barrier components commonly used in packaging coatings.
“Replacing fossil-based barrier materials requires more than renewable raw materials. The coating must provide the functionality required by the packaging application and work with different substrates and formulation systems,” says Dr. Sami Selkälä, Founder and CTO of Innomost.
He spoke on the topic at the Specialty Papers Europe conference in Vienna, Austria, in September and will speak at Sustainability in Packaging Europe in Barcelona, Spain, in October.
Innomost currently produces Suberinno™ Suberin at its facility in Kokkola, Finland, and plans to scale production through an industrial plant within the next two to three years.
Natural protection developed for packaging
Suberin is a naturally occurring protective material found in plant cell walls. In birch bark, it protects the tree from moisture, oils, and environmental stress.
Using its patented processing technology, Innomost refines birch bark, an existing side stream of the Nordic forest industry, into Suberinno™ Suberin. The resulting material is a bio-based mixture of suberin-derived compounds suitable for barrier coatings, packaging materials, adhesives, and other industrial applications.
In coating formulations, Suberinno™ Suberin can contribute:
• Moisture resistance
• Grease resistance
• Oxygen-barrier performance
• Hydrophobic properties
• Adhesion and coating durability
Suberinno™ Suberin can be used as the principal functional component in selected coating systems or combined with organic and inorganic materials. This versatility allows coating developers, paper and board manufacturers, and converters to adjust film formation, barrier performance, and processing properties according to the substrate and intended application.
Applications for food and non-food packaging
Innomost is developing Suberinno™ Suberin particularly for fibre-based food packaging, dry goods, and nonfood packaging.
“Suberinno™ Suberin is particularly interesting because it can contribute to coating formulations with moisture, grease, and oxygen-barrier properties in the same material. It can be used as a principal functional component in selected systems or combined with other coating materials to achieve the required performance,” comments Niko Mellanen, CSO of Innomost. Suberinno™ Suberin is being evaluated in different coating and packaging systems with industry partners.
Demand for renewable coating materials is increasing as packaging producers seek to reduce their reliance on virgin fossil-based raw materials while improving packaging recyclability.
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) applies generally from 12 August 2026. It introduces requirements covering packaging design, composition, recyclability and waste management, with the objective of making all packaging placed on the EU market recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030.