Sustainable Superabsorbents
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet - Institutionen för växtförädling |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 405 000 |
| Project duration | April 2019 - November 2019 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Challenge-Driven Innovation – Stage 1 initiation |
| Call | Challenge-Driven Innovation stage 1 initiation – 2019 |
Important results from the project
SSAP was able to show that superabsorbent material produced from a portfolio of raw protein side-streams was highly interesting for customer/partners and had a clear market potential for a range of products. To upscale the production from lab-scale, the most suitable solution and effective production method was found to use existing equipment at KTH for foams and a pilot plant at SLU for the particles, to cover the need from the entire spectrum of superabsorbent-related companies.
Expected long term effects
The idea of Sustainable Superabsorbents (SSAP) from renewable resources, with reduced carbon foot-print and reduced content of toxic compounds in disposable products is of urgent need for the society and has been well received by the industry. The production of protein-based SAP by the valorisation of under-used plant proteins will contribute to the development of the circular economy and to a greener environment, where industrial testing of SSAP will benefit industry in a range of applications.
Approach and implementation
The SSAP included discussions and feed-back from different protein producing actors, companies involved in the SAP business, municipalities and universities. A new market area was defined as being the social influencers, e.g. supermarket chains selling several products containing non-sustainable synthetic SAPs. Lab-scale knowledge on SSAP was transferred into needs for SSAP to become a business opportunity by a Pilot Plant Facility. Specifications were taken considering the different market demands with former and new consortium members.