Exploring Pilot Production of Seaweed Leather

不寻常的炼金术正在开发一种素食替代皮革制成的海藻。海藻皮革旨在用可完全生物降解的可再生和再生资源制成的替代品取代对环境有害的动物皮革和聚氨酯皮革。该项目将研究和开发制造工艺，以降低材料的中试生产风险，并加速商业规模的扩大。由于道德和环境问题，合成革市场正在增长，但大多数纯素皮革是由聚氨酯和PVC等石化塑料制成的。这些材料消耗化石燃料，并在环境中持久存在而不会生物降解。生物基皮革代表着一个不断增长的市场领域，但通常含有一些用于粘合或涂层目的的石化塑料成分。这意味着它们只能部分生物降解。海藻皮革提供了一种创新的替代品，因为它不含石化塑料，完全可生物降解，并且来自对环境具有积极再生作用的原材料。Uncommon Alchemy的创始人安娜沃特金斯是2020/21\年度青年创新者奖的获得者。在青年创新者计划期间，安娜在开发海藻皮革、改善功能性和美学特性、生产原型和发展业务方面取得了重大进展。她在当地和全国范围内展示海藻皮革，并参与榜样活动，以激励和支持她的社区。安娜凭借在项目期间取得的进步，荣获Anjool Malde Memorial Trust颁发的2021年度青年创新者奖。后续资金将使Uncommon Alchemy在业务上迈出关键一步，并加速过渡到海藻皮革的中试规模生产。

Uncommon Alchemy is developing a vegan alternative to leather made from seaweed. Seaweed leather aims to replace environmentally harmful animal and polyurethane leathers with an alternative made from renewable and regenerative resources that can fully biodegrade. This project will research and develop manufacturing processes to de-risk pilot production of the material and accelerate commercial scale up.Due to ethical and environmental concerns, the synthetic leather market is growing, but most vegan leathers are made from petrochemical plastics like polyurethane and PVC. These materials deplete fossil fuels and persist in the environment without biodegrading. Biobased leathers represent a growing market sector, but usually contain some petrochemical plastic content for binding or coating purposes. This means they are only partially biodegradable. Seaweed leather offers an innovative alternative as it contains no petrochemical plastics, is fully biodegradable and comes from raw materials that have an actively regenerative effect on the environment.Uncommon Alchemy's founder, Anna Watkins, is a current recipient of a Young Innovators Award 2020/21\. During the Young Innovators programme, Anna has made significant progress on developing seaweed leather, improving functionality and aesthetic properties, producing prototypes, and developing the business. She has presented seaweed leather on local and national scales, and engaged in role model activities to inspire and support her community. Anna won the Young Innovator of the Year Award 2021 from the Anjool Malde Memorial Trust for her progress during the programme.Follow On funding will enable Uncommon Alchemy to take a critical step forwards in the business and accelerate transition to pilot scale production of seaweed leather.