“At ANDRITZ, we are committed to helping the forest products industry drive the green transition while ensuring its long-term competitiveness.”
Kari Tuominen
President & CEO, ANDRITZ Oy
BioCircleToZero – Doubling the value from wood without harvesting more trees
Unlocking the unused potential of Finnish forests
Finnish forests are a valuable but limited resource, and protecting their biodiversity is essential. Today, 40%–50% of the biomass entering pulp mills is burned for energy, sent to landfills, or released into nature—an untapped opportunity for producing e-fuels, textiles, and bio-based chemicals & fuels. To create a more resource-efficient and sustainable forest products industry, we must develop and commercialize high-value bio-carbon products.
This will strengthen the industry's role in the green transition while ensuring its long-term competitiveness. As one of Finland’s largest export industries, the forest sector must innovate to maintain its global position and drive sustainable economic growth.
ANDRITZ-led BioCircleToZero program
The BioCircleToZero program's mission is to double the value from wood without harvesting more trees. This ANDRITZ-led R&D program will build an ecosystem around biorefineries to leverage the currently wasted potential of underutilized streams. This ecosystem will enhance the utilization of these materials and renewable electricity to create new value-added products and services while sharing resources and services needed for research, development, and innovation. To maintain Finland’s global position in the forest industry and drive economic growth, we must support the industry in tapping into this unused potential.
This program has been selected as a Locomotive Program by Business Finland in 2025 and has received €10 million in funding through the Business Finland challenge competition for leading companies.
Key objectives of the program
Enhancing Utilization of Underutilized Stream Materials | The project focuses on optimizing the use of biomass and renewable electricity to create new high-value products and services, reducing emissions and waste. |
Developing New Technologies and Processes | The project aims to innovate and implement new technologies for biorefineries, including advanced digitalization, automation, and integration with other industries. |
Creating a Sustainable Biorefinery Ecosystem | The project seeks to establish a collaborative ecosystem involving industry leaders, research institutions, and innovative companies to drive the green transition and enhance the competitiveness of the Finnish forest products industry. |
Reducing Environmental Impact | The project aims to achieve zero emissions and zero waste in biorefinery operations, contributing to global environmental sustainability. |
Would you like to join the Ecosystem as a partner, or are you curious to know more about BioCircleToZero and how it can make a significant impact? Simply fill out the form, and we will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
Looking forward to connecting with you!
BioCircleToZero: Streamlined success through four focused streams
Our BioCircleToZero project is broken down into four Streams, each focusing on a specific aspect of the project. Each stream has its own set of tasks and goals, contributing to the overall success of the project.
Stream 1:
Biorefinery supercharged
This stream concentrates biorefinery process improvements and connections to enable emission-free production processes.
Stream 2:
Biorefinery interconnected
This stream focuses on enabling the ecosystem growth around biorefinery by opening the materials, services and side streams flows to third parties. The stream will also evaluate and develop new business models for biorefinery ecosystems, for example, business models that enable value creation from negative emissions.
Stream 3:
Process solutions with zero emissions
This stream will focus on turning biogenic carbon flows into high-value renewable fuels and products by combining green hydrogen and P2X technologies with biorefinery processes.
Stream 4:
High-value products
This stream develops new processes and high-value products to create more value from pulp, such as man-made cellulosic fibers (MMCF) for textile industry and chemicals from biobased feedstocks. Moreover, the streams encompass ANDRITZ’s key capabilities in biorefinery technologies and PX2.
Join the journey to double the value from Finnish wood
Through the BioCirleToZero program ANDRITZ is looking forward to creating an ecosystem of Finnish industry leaders, research institutions, and innovative companies, with a target to build a future where biorefineries operate in harmony with the environment, driving the green transition and enhancing the competitiveness of the Finnish forest products industry.
BioCircleToZero program is open for collaborators, partners, and brilliant minds to help develop it, and we invite everyone to actively participate in this shared journey to double the value of forest products. Additionally, companies and partners joining the program’s ecosystem can receive a total of €20 million in funding from Business Finland.
The program will run from 2025 to 2030, driving innovation and growth in the forest industry.
Business Finland's Leading Company Funding
Through Leading company challenge competitions, Business Finland seeks research and development projects for funding from companies that operate globally or aim for global operations. These projects should tackle major future challenges and make a significant impact on Finland’s competitiveness. Leading companies are expected to significantly increase their R&D activities in Finland and build ecosystems aimed at new business ventures. In addition to funding the leading company’s projects, Business Finland also offers funding for R&D projects from partners within leading companies’ ecosystem.
Funding for leading companies and ecosystems - Business Finland
