Sustainable seaweed-based replacement for plastics in laundry products – Mercel Ltd Launchpad project

With funding from Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme and support from IBioIC as the Cluster Management Organisation, Mercel has proved their seaweed-based binder for laundry sheets, securing an exclusive contract for this technology. They have also opened discussions about related products from around the world.

Mercel’s plastic free laundry sheet (top) versus a traditional plastic sheet (bottom). Mercel’s product replaces multiple components, including PVOH, mircocrystalline cellulose, starch, stabiliser, emulsifier, glycerin, and is soluble in two minutes with no agitation and no residue.

At a glance

• Lead organisation: Mercel Ltd

• Product: Seaweed-derived nanomaterial that functions as a binder, stabiliser, thickener, and emulsifier in consumer product formulations

• Funding: Innovate UK Launchpad

• Focus: Replacing synthetic polymers and fossil fuel-derived ingredients facing global restrictions with a sustainable alternative that delivers performance without environmental compromise

• Result: Validated technology generating global commercial interest, with exclusive partnerships in place, letter of intent from multiple sectors, and expanding applications in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics across the EU, US, Australia, and New Zealand
  

The Challenge: Restrictions on synthetic polymers in consumer products

Fossil-fuel derived products face escalating global restrictions in home and personal care products. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH), a fossil fuel product used as a binder in laundry sheets, is already subject to bans in the United States after being found in breast milk. PFAs chemicals, used for water barrier coatings, face a universal ban by the end of 2026, and Carbomers, used as binders and thickeners for home and personal care, from 2027.

Current natural alternatives such as gums, wood pulp nanocellulose, and starch are inefficient and compete for primary resources, require considerable energy to process, and produce significant waste streams.

Laundry sheets are considered a sustainable replacement for laundry liquids since they don’t contain water or require plastic bottles. However, they do contain microplastic polymers so they cannot be marketed as plastic free and will always have issues with sustainability in the face of increasing restrictions. The challenge set by Blue Earth Clean for their laundry sheets was to create a binder that was stable, flexible, and strong but would completely disintegrate within two minutes in cold water and without mixing.

The Solution: Mercel’s patented seaweed-based nanomaterial

Mercel manufactures high-performance nanomaterial from seaweed waste, transforming fibrous by-products into sustainable ingredients that function as binders, stabilisers, thickeners, and emulsifiers. 

The technology is protected by two patents: one covering the production process and one for green chemistry surface modification to customise functionality. The resulting nanomaterial is characterised by long, flexible nanofibrils that create entanglement within and between fibres, providing effective binding and stabilisation of ingredients in formulations.

Validation and performance capability

Mercel has validated this technology across demanding applications, demonstrating its capability to meet rigorous performance specifications. In laundry sheet formulations, the ingredient successfully binds components and creates stable, flexible, strong films that disintegrate completely in cold water without clumping, requiring only careful selection of additional reagents and multiple iterations to optimise performance characteristics.

The Outcome: Proven technology and accelerating global opportunity

Mercel has established that its patented seaweed-based technology can replace both carbomers and perfluorinated chemicals in consumer product formulations, delivering high-performance functionality without synthetic polymers or environmental compromise. This validated capability has generated significant commercial momentum.

 Global demand for proven sustainable alternatives is strong and accelerating. Mercel is receiving commercial enquiries from companies across the EU, US, Australia, and New Zealand, demonstrating clear international market demand for functional, sustainable ingredients. The company has secured exclusive partnerships for laundry and personal care applications and is building a compelling investment case through letters of intent and confirmed long-term orders.

Expanding into pharmaceutical and cosmetics markets

Packaging for personal care sheets

 Mercel's technology is proving versatile across sectors. Active projects are underway with pharmaceutical partners to stabilise high-value medicinal products, including superdisintegrant tablets and films for pharmaceutical ingredient delivery. Similar testing is progressing with cosmetics companies, from multinational organisations to smaller UK independents. This expanding application pipeline demonstrates the breadth of market opportunity and positions Mercel's technology as a foundational solution across multiple high-value sectors.

 For Blue Earth Clean, they have a significant advance on their rivals in this competitive landscape and themselves are using this to leverage investment funds for large scale manufacturing.