Sustainable seaweed-based replacement for plastics in laundry products
Mercel is a materials science company founded by two polymer scientists from Edinburgh Napier University. Mercel advances seaweed-derived polymers as sustainable superior alternatives to today’s fossil fuel based synthetics, helping to address issues like microplastics and environmental pollution. Our platform technology provides a microplastic-free fully biodegradable alternative to petrochemical ingredients and coatings in many household and consumer goods, allowing brands to meet increasingly restrictive legislation on fossil fuels and to take a huge sigh of relief in their quest to remove microplastics from their formulations. Our fully sustainable products are made using zero waste processes and we believe sustainability shouldn’t compromise material properties with Mercel’s solutions being the best choice and not just the green option.
The objective of this project was to replace the binding capabilities of microplastic polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) with natural seaweed-derived alternatives within laundry detergent sheets manufactured by Blue Earth Clean Ltd. The key requirements are dispersibility, binding ability and low cost. The most stringent criteria for detergent sheets is full dispersion with no residue within 5 minutes in cold water with no agitation, typically reserved for floor cleaning sheets. To ensure Mercel’s technology is applicable to all sheet formulations including laundry, floor and personal care sheets the most stringent tests were the target in this application. Full dispersibility within 2 minutes in cold water with no agitation was achieved, thus outperforming every other sheet formulation on the market. In addition, Mercel products replaced multiple components in the final formulation including emulsifiers and stabilisers, reducing overall costs in ingredients and manufacture. This technology is now in the process of scaling up to mass production with products expected on the market by August 2025. Further funding has been obtained to develop a range of personal care sheets using Mercel’s water soluble sheet technology.
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