Imagine turning old cooking oil and plant waste into the powerful cleaning agents used in soaps and shampoos. Instead of using oil from the ground or tropical forests, this method uses local waste to create a cleaner, biodegradable alternative. It's like upgrading trash into a high-end ingredient that works just as well as the chemical version.
Industries rely on petrochemicals or tropical oils for surfactants, but these are unsustainable and create import dependencies. Existing bio-based alternatives often fail to meet performance standards or are too expensive for mass adoption.
A modular synthesis platform that converts waste cooking oils and biomass into biodegradable surfactants, validated at the kilogram scale.
If you are a detergent manufacturer dealing with high reliance on petrochemicals—this project developed bio-based surfactants that provide a drop-in replacement for existing formulas. This allows you to meet sustainability targets without losing cleaning performance.
If you are a pharmaceutical company dealing with the need for biodegradable excipients—this project developed high-performance molecules from renewable waste. This ensures your drug delivery systems are more eco-friendly and compliant with green chemistry standards.
If you are a coating producer dealing with strict environmental regulations—this project developed zwitterionic and anionic surfactants from regional feedstocks. This reduces your import dependence on tropical oils while maintaining product stability.
The project aims to create a business case where bio-based solutions are competitive in price, as current bio-based options are often too costly for full customer satisfaction.
The project has progressed from gram-scale to kilogram-scale validation, with specific targets to upscale selected examples to 5 kg.
The technology is based on the ERC PoC PURE project, which resulted in 2 patent applications.
The project integrates standardized performance testing, toxicology, and ecotoxicology assessments to ensure regulatory preparedness.
The project conducts external formulation trials specifically to test 'drop-in' feasibility for industrial applications.
The project is currently led by a single academic partner, Universitaet Graz (Austria). While the consortium lacks direct industrial partners (0% industry ratio), the team includes experts in engineering and business with a stated goal of establishing a spin-off company to commercialize the technology.
Contact the Universitaet Graz research office regarding the PureSurf spin-off potential.
Contact us to find licensing opportunities for these bio-based surfactants.
