In California, a researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California has received additional funding from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts to evaluate the potential for building astronaut housing from fungi tissue. Lynn Rothschild, an astrobiologist and synthetic biologist, tells space.com she got the idea from a student team who used mycelium to make a […]
In Vietnam, AirXcoffee has developed a plastic using used coffee grounds that can be used in disposable tableware and other items currently made from plastic. Dubbed Coffee Bio-Composite, the material is designated food safe by TUV Rheinland and has biobased content between 60% and 80%. AirXcoffee uses coffee grounds sourced from Vietnamese coffee shops. The […]
In California, sustainable sneaker pioneer Allbirds has partnered with footwear giant Adidas to create Futurecraft.Footprint, a shoe with a 63% lower carbon footprint than the average sneaker. The partnership, begun last year, involved sharing information about materials and supply chains. Both companies say the sustainability profile of Futurecraft.Footprint is a “personal best” for their brands. […]
In Ireland, consultancy Farrelly and Mitchell has been contracted for a European Union project endeavoring to convert waste feathers from poultry industry into usable materials. Feathers contain significant amounts of keratin, which can be used to produce biodegradable materials, but about 75% of waste feathers end up in a landfill. Farrelly and Mitchell will evaluate […]
In Denmark, AMSilk, a company working to commercialize biobased silk polymers, has raised €29 million ($35.2 million) to scale-up production and expand the material into new markets. Novo Growth, the growth equity arm of Novo Holdings, led the financing, which also included new investors Cargill and E.R. Capital Holdings and existing investors MIG Verwaltungs AG […]
In California, material innovation firm Cove has signed a contract with RWDC Industries for 350 million lbs of polyhydroxyalkanoates, a bioplastic Cove plans to convert into biodegradable water bottles. Athens, Georgia-based RWDC uses food waste and post-consumer or used cooking oils to produce PHA, which it has trade-named Solon. The contract runs over a five-year […]
In Germany, researchers at Göttingen University have developed a packaging material out of the popcorn-like material left over from manufacturing the corn flakes popular in many cereals. GU’s chemistry and process engineering of composite materials group developed the process. The material is also water-repellant and compostable. “This new process, based on technology developed in the […]
In Belgium, publicly traded cultured meat company MeaTech is planning a pilot plant to grow chicken fat in a lab. The new facility will use a process developed by Peace of Meat, a Belgian company MeaTech recently acquired. The fat will be used to improve the flavor and texture of plant-based meat alternatives produced by […]
In the United Kingdom, startup Ivy Farm Technologies is on a mission to save 170,000 pigs from slaughter by scaling up production of lab-grown pork. The Oxford University spin-out has raised £16 million (US$22.6 million) to establish an R&D facility near the school’s campus. It hopes to eventually produce 12,000 metric tons of pork annually—enough […]
In Germany, the venture capital arm of Delivery Hero has made an unspecified investment in lab-grown fish firm Bluu Biosciences. Delivery Hero is based in Berlin and has operations in many markets. It is also the owner of FoodPanda, a popular food delivery platform in Asia that earlier this year nabbed the title for the […]
