Addressing a sticking point in sustainable adhesives
AI Summary
Компания Silvis Materials разрабатывает полностью биодеградируемые целлюлозные клеи, которые могут заменить нефтяные аналоги, используемые в строительстве и упаковке. CEO компании, Патти Феррейра, утверждает, что новые клеи могут снизить выбросы при производстве на 80% и потреблять вдвое меньше энергии, чем традиционные клеи на основе ископаемого топлива. Silvis активно сотрудничает с компаниями в области упаковки и строительства для тестирования своих решений.
Petroleum-based adhesives are everywhere: bonding the wood and drywall in a construction project, holding together the joints of furniture, and even sticking labels to otherwise recyclable containers.
“The labels on a container are held up with petroleum-based glue. And because of that, even though you’re putting the container in the recycle bin, it will not get recycled,” says Patty Ferreira, MBA ’97, CEO and cofounder of Silvis Materials, which is combating this problem with its fully biodegradable cellulose adhesives.
When Ferreira began thinking about bio-based adhesives, in 2014, she started by modifying cellulose’s existing role as a stabilizer in adhesive emulsions and replicating the known adhesive properties of more expensive nanocellulose. Today, the formula can make adhesives from virtually every type of plant cellulose, and the MIT Startup Exchange (STEX) is helping Silvis work with packaging and construction companies to test the results.
She expects the adhesive to cut production emissions by up to 80% and use half the energy of fossil-based glues.
Read more at www.technologyreview.com/alumni-profiles.