Within the ATRIUM project, six bio-based materials are being identified and upscaled with the ambition to drive innovation in the construction sector, which remains one of the world’s largest consumers of raw materials, accounting for nearly half of total resource use. The overarching goal is to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of buildings through the cascade utilisation of biomass and the replacement of fossil-based polymers.
As a project partner and leader of a work package, Wood K plus contributes to this transition by developing three innovative bio-based products: WPC terrace decking, mycelium-based flooring tiles in close cooperation with SQIM Italy implementing bio-based binder, and natural fiber composites for green wall infrastructure focusing on planting pots.
Green walls, also known as living walls or vertical gardens, are increasingly used in modern architecture and interior design. They offer numerous benefits, including improved air quality, noise reduction, and thermal insulation, as well as providing an attractive and relaxing environment. Cooperation partners in this task are Aitiip (Big Area Additive Manufacturing granulate printing of green wall structure), Tecnopackaging (injection moulding of planting pots), and Alchemia-Nova (ANR) (green wall modular design and planting pots implementation). Wood K plus works on development and optimisation of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) compounds using hemp and softwood fibers.
After screening various formulations including different PHA grades and different fiber types by varying weight contents, 2 selected formulations with a natural fiber content of 20 wt.-% are examined in more detail and scaled up, respectively. Currently the implementation of flame retardant is considered and further PHA compounds formulation optimisation is done addressing the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) compared to the benchmark materials like polypropylene (PP) compounds and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) used industrially for planting pots manufacturing.
In close cooperation with Techno Packaging Spain and Alchemia Nova Austria 2 different planting pots in respect to their design were manufactured with Wood K plus materials. Planting pots are installed as part of Green Wall Modular Design by ANR and will be showcased at Demo Site Vienna early Autum during planned Workshop with industry and citizens.
The highlights form this work were also presented in detail on March 18th, 2026 as part of European Bioplastics Talk EUBP2026 Talk #1 Bioplastics applications in Construction The materials are published and available over the following links: The use of PHA-hemp composites with flame-retardant properties for Green Walls Applications with Ivana Burzic, Wood K plus / ATRIUM project: https://zenodo.org/records/19091494.
This project is funded by Horizon Europe under the Grant Agreement number 101135031, Call Horizon-CL6-2023-CircBio-01-8.
