Spotted: The textile industry is recognised as one of the most polluting. This is due to manufacturing methods that often require lots of water, energy, and harmful chemicals, and the sector as a whole generates 8-10 per cent of global carbon emissions. But now, one fashion tech startup is harnessing the power of seaweed to create cleaner and more sustainable fashion.
After being frustrated with how harmful the fashion industry can be, Phycolab founder, Thamires Pontes, turned to the potential of seaweed – both as a crop that boosts marine ecosystems while it grows and as a greener material for textiles. The startup is developing natural-based textile fibres derived from macroalgae, called PhycoFiber, to replace existing polluting materials.
Notably, seaweed does not require arable land, pesticides, or insecticides, and the plant absorbs more carbon than terrestrial forests, while also helping to de-acidify and re-oxygenate the ocean. Phycolab also promotes seaweed cultivation as a promising alternative for creating job opportunities in coastal communities; particularly in areas that have been overfished, seaweed farming offers more stable and sustainable employment.
In June this year, Phycolabs was selected as one of the winners of H&M’s Global Change Award. Upon finalising its prototype, the company is looking to test the product with interested players both in Brazil and internationally to prove its viability.
Seaweed has proven to be an effective solution in helping various industries cut their carbon footprints. Springwise has spotted many ways the plant is being used, like in home interiors and as a methane-reducing livestock feed.
Spotted: Seaweed has become a versatile ingredient used in everything from animal and human food to cosmetics, packaging, and biofuel. Yet despite such growth, experts believe the industry’s potential is still largely untapped. Currently, the vast majority of the world’s seaweed is grown in Asian countries, one of the reasons researchers consider that the “opportunities for growth in new regions and applications are high.”
One new company getting involved in the industry is Australia’s Phycoforms, which has developed a collection of commercial composites made from waste seaweed sourced from Tasmanian seaweed farms. This innovation grew out of an exploratory project during founder Shimroth Thomas’ master’s degree at Australia’s RMIT University. After graduation, at which he received a sustainability award for his work, Thomas continued his R&D programme in order to further develop and commercialise the materials.
The seaweed-based materials are biodegradable and designed to replace bricks, concrete, and more in traditional construction work. Depending on the item being produced, Phycoforms adds other materials to the seaweed, such as waste coffee grounds, seashells, and other beach detritus. The composites are available as large pressed sheets as well as in products that include tables, chairs, bowls, floor lamps, and other homewares. Thomas has also explored the feasibility of a ‘PhycoWall’.
From removing overabundant algae blooms to create new products to using seaweed to increase the lifespan of electric vehicle batteries, innovations spotted by Springwise are transforming the easy-to-grow plant into sustainable solutions in many different industries.
Spotted: The more we improve fossil-fuel-free vehicles, the greener the transportation sector will become. And, according to The University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry, Scottish-grown seaweed may be the unlikely key holder to making electric vehicles (EVs) more enticing for buyers. More specifically, the team is currently testing whether it will help improve the life span and charge time of lithium-ion batteries, used to power EVs.
A material found in brown seaweed might help develop batteries using silicon instead of graphite. Although graphite is a central component of a lithium-ion battery, it can only store a limited amount of charge and has a restricted lifespan. Replacing it, then, is vital to improving the charging capacity, with silicone being suggested as a viable alternative. The only issue is that when silicon is used on its own, it damages the battery quickly. So, to couple an increased need to store energy with an increased battery lifespan, the team have created a prototype that combines silicone with a material in seaweed.
“Battery technology is going to play a hugely important role in our transition away from fossil fuels. Electric vehicles, renewable energy production, national grids and other critical elements of a net zero future will depend on having batteries that can store large amounts of energy in the smallest volumes possible and with extended lifetimes,” said Professor Duncan Gregory, chair in Inorganic Materials at the University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry.
Using funding from the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), the team has so far produced a prototype the size of a watch battery, with tests showing promising results. To prove that seaweed can boost charging capacity, the researchers are now looking towards making a larger battery to test the technology at scale.
Springwise has previously spotted other innovations that aim to improve electric vehicles (EVS), including a 3D-printed prototype that could improve EV engine efficiency and a battery manufacturer that makes EVs less likely to catch on fire.
Spotted: The global commercial seaweed market was valued at almost $17.9 billion (around €16.9 billion) in 2021 and projected to keep growing. This growth is driven by increased use of seaweed in food and cosmetics, and its use as a fertiliser. However, seaweed is disappearing from many places where it used to thrive because of global warming.
At the same time seaweed farming is becoming more difficult, the number of offshore wind farms is growing. Now, non-profit North Sea Farmers hopes to put the two together by locating seaweed farms between offshore wind turbines. North Sea Farmers plans to install its first seaweed farm, located off the coast of the Netherlands, this year and begin harvesting in Spring 2024. The 10-hectare farm is expected to produce at least 6,000 kilogrammes of fresh seaweed in its first year.
The demonstration project will be the world’s first commercial-scale seaweed farm located between offshore wind turbines. The aim is to kickstart more innovation in seaweed agriculture.
Eef Brouwers, Manager of Farming and Technology at North Sea Farmers, said: “Potentially, up to 85,000 full-time jobs could be created in the European seaweed sector by replicating North Sea Farm 1 across the North Sea.”
The project has received €1.5 million in funding from Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund, which will be spent on constructing the farm.
Seaweed is not only used in food and cosmetics. Springwise has also spotted a seaweed extract that could reduce the methane emitted by cattle, a seaweed-based packaging, and the use of seaweed-derived materials to prevent dendrite growth in batteries.
Sustainable packaging brand Notpla has used seaweed leftover from its own production processes to create paper that can be turned into envelopes and boxes.
Notpla introduced its eponymous product Notpla Paper in collaboration with Canopy, a nonprofit organisation that aims to protect forests and animal species threatened by climate change.
Top: photo is by Longlong Han. Above: Notpla Paper is made from 30 per cent seaweed by-product
According to its creators, Notpla Paper is made from 30 per cent seaweed by-product, which refers to any secondary product that is made as a result of a production process and is often thrown away and wasted.
Notpla – which is a shortening of “not plastic” – uses pure seaweed to create all of its existing products, which include biodegradable condiment sachets and coating for food containers.
The brand explained that it wanted to find a use for the seaweed leftover from its production processes “to make sure nothing is wasted”.
The material can be used as packaging
“Each of our products uses different extracts of seaweed, leaving the fibrous part of it behind,” Notpla design director Karlijn Sibbel told Dezeen.
“This by-product represents a significant amount of pure raw seaweed. From our desire to utilise every part of the seaweed, the idea to upcycle this material came naturally.”
The paper can create containers for various products. Photo is by Longlong Han
Notpla claimed that using one tonne of seaweed by-product could save up to four tonnes of trees being felled, preventing deforestation.
“From a circular mindset in which waste doesn’t exist, we aim to reduce the need for virgin materials as much as possible and therefore prefer the use of by-products,” said Sibbel.
“With the need for seaweed extracts in our other product lines, we want to make sure every part of the seaweed is fully valued and used to the best extent.”
A minimal wine label made from Notpla Paper
The brand said that the remaining 70 per cent of Notpla Paper is composed of a mixture of mainly other recycled materials and a small portion of traditional virgin wood pulp.
“Our design process is firstly driven by an environmental point of view,” Sibbel continued. “This means that we use as much seaweed as possible, as little virgin wood as possible and no synthetic additives, which are currently the status quo in papermaking.”
The paper has a speckled appearance
Speckled and neutrally-toned in appearance, Notpla Paper can be used to package products such as hand soap and toothbrushes, as well as to create boxes, envelopes and labels on wine bottles.
Sibbel explained that while the paper currently contains some virgin wood, Notpla aims to create entirely wood-free paper by 2024.
While the brand did not specify which materials will be used to achieve this, its intention is to blend alternative fibres with the seaweed by-product in order to support the paper’s technical properties.
“Our ambition is to alleviate pressure on forests and decrease the environmental impact of paper manufacturing,” concluded Sibbel.
Notpla aims to create entirely wood-free paper by 2024. Photo is by Longlong Han
Notpla Paper is part of Canopy’s Pack4Good initiative, a project that is challenging brands to create sustainable alternatives to traditional paper packaging.
Founded in 2014 Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslier while the pair were studying Innovation Design Engineering, Notpla also manufactures biodegradable seaweed packaging, which was shortlisted in the sustainable design category at the 2021 Dezeen Awards.
The images are courtesy of Notpla and by Longlong Han where stated.
Spotted: Most of the acoustic materials that can cancel out sound are made from plastic foams that aren’t easily recycled or degraded. This is a significant environmental issue, as plastic can take centuries to decompose if they enter the environment. Moreover, current alternative options are made from plant fibres that don’t effectively dampen noise in the most useful range of sound frequencies, or are too thick or unwieldy to fabricate.
Now, researchers reporting in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering have created a biodegradable seaweed-derived film that effectively absorbs sounds in the useful frequency range. The new material could provide a more sustainable way to reduce noise pollution.
The team started with agar, a gel derived from seaweed that is often used as a culture medium for bacteria or as a thickener in food. They mixed the agar with glycerine as a plasticiser and cellulose nanofibres to create a flexible film. When tested, the film was found to effectively absorb sounds in the frequency range of human speech, which is typically between 500 Hertz and 2000 Hertz.
The team is now working on optimising the film’s sound-absorbing properties, while exploring further properties such as flame resistance. They are also considering the use of other plant-based materials. Funding for the project came from the Science and Engineering Research Board, India, and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
Springwise has spotted other innovations looking at the use of seaweed. Norway’s material science company B’ZEOS is working with global corporations to replace single-use plastics with seaweed-based alternatives. And UK-based Notpla is making seaweed packaging in partnership with well-known brands such as Just Eat.
