Bioloon addresses balloons’ biodegradability problem
In the United Kingdom, researchers at Imperial College London have developed a balloon that biodegrades in just nine months. Dubbed Bioloon, the balloon is made from natural latex blended with an undisclosed biodegradable polymer. The process eliminates the sulfur-based additives traditionally used to vulcanize latex.
The technology was developed through a public-private partnership initiated by events entrepreneur Charlotte Melia, who helped fund doctoral research by Juliana Cumming, the Ph.D. researcher who spent three years developing the formulation. “[T]here were hundreds of trials. We had many, many failures,” Cumming said. The developers hope to bring the balloon to market within a year.
Category: Chemicals & Materials
