Making cellulose microbeads price competitive with plastic microbeads

使纤维素微珠与塑料微珠相比具有价格竞争力

• 批准号: 10017336
• 金额: $ 37.9万
• 依托单位: NATURBEADS LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10017336
• 关键词: Making; cellulose; microbeads; price; competitive

Plastic pollution on land and in the oceans has reached alarming levels, affecting the whole ecosystem, with plastic debris found everywhere, from the deepest reaches of the oceans to Mount Everest, in animals' stomachs and in human placentas (Environmental International 2021).Microplastics, or plastic particles smaller than 5mm, are a particularly insidious type of plastic pollution because once they are in the environment, they are impossible to remove, making remediation costs prohibitive. For this reason at Naturbeads we believe that microplastics have to be replaced with biodegradable materials at the source.Naturbeads, a spin-off of the University of Bath, is scaling up the manufacturing process to produce cellulose beads as an alternative to microplastics intentionally added to many products we use every day. Cellulose is natural - it is what trees are made of - and renewable because every year the earth produces millions of tons of cellulose which is 100% biodegradable.Naturbeads team has the expertise to manufacture cellulose, usually available in fibre form, in spherical form to provide the same performance as spherical plastic microbeads. Our beads have been successfully tested in applications ranging from personal care and cosmetics, to paints and coatings, adhesive and more.Naturbeads has identified a clear market need for biodegradable, sustainably sourced, spherical beads, in the 1-50 µm size range. With impending regulations (Europe 2022) companies are currently actively looking for alternatives and Naturbeads is well positioned to bring its innovation to market at the right time.With this industrial research project, we aim to respond to our customers' demand for a product that in addition to being biodegradable and sustainable is also price competitive with plastic. We have already validated the technical performance during Innovate UK 105285, with the commissioning of a pilot plant with capacity of up to 1 t/year. To reduce costs, Naturbeads is now working on two process and equipment innovations that will reduce both the capital costs to build the production plants and the operational costs to produce the cellulose beads.

陆地和海洋中的塑料污染已经达到了令人震惊的程度，影响了整个生态系统，从海洋最深处到珠峰，在动物的胃里和人类的胎盘里，到处都有塑料碎片（环境国际2021）。微塑料，或小于5毫米的塑料颗粒，是一种特别阴险的塑料污染，因为一旦它们进入环境，它们不可能被去除，使得补救成本过高。因此，Naturbeads认为必须从源头上用可生物降解的材料取代微塑料。Naturbeads是巴斯大学的一个分支，正在扩大生产过程，生产纤维素珠，作为我们每天使用的许多产品中故意添加的微塑料的替代品。纤维素是天然的-它是树木的组成部分-并且是可再生的，因为地球每年产生数百万吨纤维素，100%可生物降解。Naturbeads团队拥有专业知识来制造纤维素，通常以纤维形式提供，以球形形式提供与球形塑料微珠相同的性能。我们的珠粒已在个人护理和化妆品，油漆和涂料，粘合剂等应用中成功进行了测试。Naturbeads已经确定了1-50 µm尺寸范围内可生物降解，可持续采购的球形珠粒的明确市场需求。随着欧洲2022法规的出台，各公司都在积极寻找替代品，Naturbeads正处于有利位置，可以在适当的时候将其创新推向市场。通过这个工业研究项目，我们的目标是响应客户对产品的需求，除了可生物降解和可持续性之外，还可以与塑料竞争价格。我们已经在Innovate UK 105285期间验证了技术性能，并调试了产能高达1吨/年的中试工厂。为了降低成本，Naturbeads目前正在进行两项工艺和设备创新，以降低建造生产工厂的资本成本和生产纤维素珠的运营成本。