Research on bio-based plastics – FibRe is creating the materials of the future

2025.04.20

FibRe is a Vinnova funded research collaboration, aiming to develop the next generation of bio-based plastics.

FibRe is a research consortium between academia, industry and the public sector. Since the beginning of 2025, Axfoundation is one of the partners. The goal is to develop a material that performs just like today’s problematic plastics – but is made from local biomass and is biodegradable.

World-leading research is underway at Chalmers University of Technology and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, in collaboration with industrial partners. Axfoundation serves as a bridge between academia and industry and advocates for the use of inputs like algae and hemp in the research process.

FibRe was launched in 2020 as a research consortium funded by Vinnova, with the vision “to enable the transition from fossil- to bio-based thermoplastics that are produced in a sustainable and circular manner”. At the start of 2025, the center entered its second five-year phase, welcoming new partners – including Axfoundation.

The challenge researchers in FibRe are working to crack is how to make lignocellulose thermoformable – that is, how to use the plant’s own molecules and fibers and, with minimal modification, shape them into desired materials using heat and pressure. The goal is to develop materials with the same properties as today’s plastics, while also being biodegradable and suitable for material recycling.

Lignocellulose

Lignocellulose is a material found in the cell walls of plants – it’s what gives plants their strength and structure.

It’s made up of three main components:

Cellulose – Long chains of sugar molecules. It’s the most common building block and is used, for example, to make paper.
Hemicellulose – Also made of sugars, but in shorter and more disordered chains than cellulose. It acts as a link between cellulose and lignin.
Lignin – A substance that, together with hemicellulose, acts like a glue to hold everything together. It also makes the plant rigid and protects it from attacks by fungi and bacteria.

Lignocellulose is found in materials like wood, straw, and grass. It’s a key material in research, with potential uses in biofuels, paper production, and even environmentally friendly plastics.

Thermoformable plastics

Thermoformable plastics are plastics that soften when heated—allowing them to be shaped into various forms. Once they cool down, they harden again. Everyday examples include plastic food containers, packaging, and toys.

The smart part? You can reheat and reshape the plastic. This makes it recyclable and useful for industrial applications.

Today, there is a wide range of both bio-based and biodegradable plastics – but many of them come with significant drawbacks. Bio-based plastics are often so heavily modified that the end material is virtually identical to its fossil-based counterpart. In these cases, it’s primarily the raw material that has been swapped out, but issues like littering and microplastics remain.

Additionally, the biomass used – such as corn or sugarcane – often comes from problematic international value chains, where agricultural land competes with food production. Biodegradable plastics, on the other hand, address the issues of litter and microplastics, but frequently lack the functional properties of fossil-based thermoformable plastics.

If FibRe succeeds in developing materials with the same performance as today’s problematic plastics – yet biodegradable and made from locally sourced biomass –it could be a critical piece in solving one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges.

It’s truly a search for the holy grail. Plastics are incredible materials with countless uses in our society. FibRe is at the global forefront of research to find sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics, which makes this initiative tremendously exciting.

– Hanna Hobohm Skoog, Program Director for Future Materials at Axfoundation

Over the past five years, the FibRe center has focused on fundamental research using mostly forest-based raw materials. With the launch of its second phase in early 2025, the program now combines fundamental research with demonstrator projects and hands-on collaborations with industry partners. The goal is to showcase and scale up practical solutions.

The initiative is also expanding its focus to include other local biomasses, such as algae and hemp. Hanna Hobohm Skoog, who also serves on FibRe’s strategic group, contributes sustainability and market perspectives.

Axfoundation acts as a springboard and a bridge between research and real-world application. A dream scenario would be to use sidestreams from agriculture and other underutilized local bioresources to create thermoformable plastics.

– Hanna Hobohm Skoog, Program Director for Future Materials at Axfoundation

Activities and results from FibRe will be shared continuously.