Summary
- Profile Type
- Technology offer
- POD Reference
- TOSI20231025010
- Term of Validity
- 26 October 2023 - 25 October 2025
- Company's Country
- Slovenia
- Type of partnership
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
- Bacterial cellulose is a highly useful product, for example in making medical dressings, as food industry ingredients (thickening, taste, flavor, color), food packaging and as sustainable textile. However, its utility is limited by the cost, of which a large proportion comes from growing the bacteria that produce the cellulose. This technology is an extract derived from food waste that replaces the expensive conventional bacterial growth media.
- Full Description
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Bacterial cellulose is often used as a thickening agent and a stabiliser in food products, while it can also be used with the aim to reduce calories in dietary products.
Bacterial cellulose also plays a role in product packaging, particularly food, in order to avoid or reduce use of plastic packaging. In the field of medicine, the most interesting use of bacterial cellulose is wound treatment in case of burns and as implants or as replacement structures for the cardiovascular system, digestive tract, and urinary tract.
Bacterial cellulose is pure, strong, with high water retention capacity and is very mouldable. In addition, some properties of produced cellulose may be controlled, which is particularly required for uses in the field of medicine, food science, cosmetics, paper production as well as textile industry.
Production of bacterial cellulose is highly expensive; the major costs are allocated to the synthetic media, where the carbon source account for 30% of the total price. Revalorization of food waste in this area is highly prospective and sustainable approach. They utilize facile, low-cost procedure, without use of enzymes and acids to transform the food waste into new culturing medium. The newly developed extract is sufficient for bacteria, to produce 100% cellulose membrane, without need of other supplements and complex media. The resulting cellulose membrane is ultrapure, it has high wet strength, high water holding capacity, biocompatibility and ultrafine nanofibrous morphology, appealing in areas such as medicine, pharmacy, food packaging, textile industry, etc. - Advantages and Innovations
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Conventional growth media is a cocktail of components required for optimal bacterial growth. Since it is a mixture of different components, it can be expensive to produce and is also energy-intensive. This technology is a less expensive and more environmentally friendly solution. The scientific team has optimized the derivation of an extract from food waste, meaning that the starting material is readily available and free on the market.
The extract contains all the necessary components – growth factors as well as micro- and macronutrients – required for bacterial growth, and has been demonstrated to effectively support bacterial cultures for bacteria to produce cellulose. In addition, it may be possible to further expand the extract for use with other bacterial strains or to produce other bacterial products that are useful for industrial purposes in several sectors, such as medicine, food industry, paper industry, textile industry and flexible electronics. - Stage of Development
- Lab tested
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- IPR status
- IPR applied but not yet granted
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
- A partner is sought under the commercial agreement from medicine, pharmacy, food packaging and textile industry.
- Type and Size of Partner
- Big company
- SME 11-49
- SME <=10
- SME 50 - 249
- Type of partnership
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 03005005 - Non weaving related to Textiles Technology
- Market keywords
- 08005 - Other Industrial Products (not elsewhere classified)
- Targeted countries
- All countries
