LocalBiorefinery Ltd receives granted Finnish patent for sugar-depleted sawdust biochar and activated-carbon process
Granted Finnish Patent: Sugar-depleted sawdust → biochar & activated-carbon pathway | LocalBiorefinery’s Woodstream™ cascade process
The patent strengthens LBR’s Woodstream™ cascade-process platform and opens new opportunities for industrial collaboration, licensing and sustainable carbon-material development.
30.9.2026, Turku, Finland. - LocalBiorefinery Ltd (“LBR”) is pleased to announce that it has received a granted Finnish patent for a process in which sugar-depleted sawdust is used as a precursor for biochar and activated-carbon development. The novel patent is FI132163B1: METHOD FOR PRODUCING ACTIVATED CARBON. The patent was again done in an excellent collaboration with Oy Kolster Ab, a trusted IPR partner of LBR.
The patent represents an important milestone in LBR’s strategy to create higher-value, sustainable material pathways from Nordic wood side streams.
The process begins with Woodstream™, LBR’s concept for traceable wood side streams from the forest industry. Using pressurised hot-water extraction (PHWE), LBR separates hemicellulose-rich fractions from the wood material. Rather than treating the resulting sugar-depleted sawdust as a low-value residue, LBR develops it as a defined precursor for the next stage of a cascade process: biochar production and potential activated-carbon manufacture.
“For a small company, a granted patent creates the possibility to participate in much larger industrial conversations”, says Heikki Vuorikoski, CEO of LocalBiorefinery. “Our objective is to build a protected, scalable and sustainable route from wood side streams to valuable functional fractions and advanced carbon materials.”
From Woodstream™ to carbon materials
LBR’s process is based on the principle of cascade use: recover the highest practical value from biomass before directing the remaining material to further conversion.
The Woodstream™ cascade process can be described as:
Wood side streams
→ PHWE extraction of hemicellulose-rich fractions
→ Sugar-depleted sawdust
→ Drying and screening
→ Biochar production
→ Activated-carbon development
This approach offers a potential route to create several value streams from one locally sourced raw-material base. It combines LBR’s extraction and feedstock-preparation capability with downstream carbon-material development.
LBR’s current project materials position the sugar-depleted solid fraction as a potential precursor for biochar and, after activation, highly microporous activated carbon, while emphasising that commercial performance and application-specific qualification still require further validation.
PUHI as a vital pilot partner
PUHI Oy, a Finnish SME manufacturing biochar at their Hämeenlinna pilot factory, is a vital partner in LBR’s pilot ecosystem for the downstream biochar-manufacturing stage.
LBR contributes Woodstream™ feedstock qualification, PHWE extraction and sugar-depleted precursor preparation. PUHI contributes downstream pyrolysis and biochar-manufacturing expertise. Together, the organisations are developing the technical evidence required to assess biochar quality, energy integration, carbon-material properties and future activated-carbon possibilities.
The collaboration supports a broader goal: to develop an industrially relevant PHWE-to-biochar manufacturing cascade in which extracted wood solids become an engineered material stream rather than a disposal issue or an immediate energy-use stream. The current documented process concept also evaluates recovery of pyrolysis-gas energy for use in PHWE reactor heating and wood-solid drying.
A protected route alongside conventional precursors
Activated carbon is used in applications including water purification, air treatment, industrial adsorption and specialised filtration. Existing activated-carbon supply chains use different precursor materials, including coconut shell, peat, coal and wood-derived materials.
LBR’s approach does not assume that one precursor material is best for every application. Activated-carbon performance depends on precursor quality, carbonisation and activation conditions, pore structure and the specific contaminant or adsorption task.
Instead, LBR is creating a differentiated proposition: a patent-protected, locally sourced, wood-side-stream pathway in which valuable fractions are extracted first and the remaining material is prepared as a defined carbon-material precursor.
This creates potential opportunities for:
Industrial pilot and co-development projects
Technology licensing and site-specific deployment
Collaboration with activated-carbon producers and filtration companies
Sustainable European material supply chains based on traceable wood side streams
Further development of biochar and activated-carbon applications
Supporting the green transition
The patent aligns with LBR’s wider ambition to support the green transition through sustainable industrial biorefining, efficient biomass use and higher-value circular-material solutions.
The European Commission’s 2025 Bioeconomy Strategy calls for competitive and sustainable bio-based industries, stronger European value chains and industrial scale-up of bio-based innovation. LBR’s Woodstream™ concept is designed to contribute to that direction by using forest-industry side streams in a cascade process, rather than treating them as a single-use resource.
Invitation to partners
LBR is now seeking discussions with strategic investors, public funding stakeholders, activated-carbon producers, filtration specialists, forest-industry operators, industrial sites, equipment suppliers and research partners.
The next development phase will focus on validating precursor consistency, pyrolysis yields, energy integration, biochar properties, activation routes, adsorption performance, customer requirements and industrial scale-up economics.
To discuss partnership, investment, licensing or pilot opportunities, please contact:
Heikki Vuorikoski
+358 40 756 2427
vuorikoski(at)localbiorefinery.com
