Swedish start-up Adsorbi AB has secured seed funding from Metsä, Chalmers Ventures, and Jovitech Invest for its cellulose-based air purification material that can be used in air filters and odour removal products. Source: Timberbiz
Founded by a team consisting of university researchers and seasoned business developers in 2022, Adsorbi’s material is made from a renewable resource, wood, and has a low environmental impact and long product lifetime. The material is excellent at capturing and storing air pollutants that can cause problems in respiratory systems.
The current industry standard for air purification is activated carbon, which has many downsides – its production from coal or coconut shells has a big negative impact on the environment, it has a short life cycle, is hardly customisable, and performs poorly in removing health hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs). As governments are rolling out stricter regulations on air quality, businesses are in a race to find new solutions.
Adsorbi’s material answers this need, as it is flexible, has a longer lifetime, and is more energy efficient. Unlike activated carbon, it doesn’t release any VOCs back into the air. The material is bio-based, its original raw material is sustainably harvested from the Nordic forests, and it has a wide range of applications. A significant market where it can remove activated carbon is the odour removal industry for shoes, bags, and cars – making these products more hygienic and prolonging the products’ lifecycle.
The funds will be used to continue studying product application possibilities and ramp up sales in odour removal and art conservation, while concentrating on product development and field testing with air filter companies.
Adsorbi is a spinout from Chalmers University of Technology based in Gothenburg.
According to World Health Organization, indoor air pollution killed more than three million people in 2020. Many ailments, such as asthma, heart disease, and lung cancers, can be caused by bad air quality. As people in industrialised nations spend up to 80–90% of their time indoors, maintaining air quality is crucial to keeping people’s health intact.
In addition, many businesses rely on top indoor air quality. For example, museums and art galleries protect artefacts from air pollutants and also need to remove harmful particles that the artwork emits to the air.
