{"id":23333,"date":"2014-11-14T03:06:36","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T01:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=23333"},"modified":"2014-11-13T17:11:01","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T15:11:01","slug":"waterproofing-invention-ticks-boxes-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/waterproofing-invention-ticks-boxes-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland research: Waterproofing invention ticks all the boxes for sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"058495\"
QUT researchers have developed a new waterproof coating for boxes that is both recyclable and renewable.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

QUT researchers have developed a new waterproof coating for boxes that is both recyclable and renewable. Albert Tietz and Adjunct Associate Professor Les Edye’s lignin-based coating is currently being trialled on fruit boxes in North Queensland’s banana belt. If successful, they anticipate the product will be on the market in mid-2015.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Edye said lignin is a naturally occurring by-product from pulped wood and grasses. “We discovered the potential of lignin as a waterproof coating while researching ways to add value to bagasse in the sugar industry,” Professor Edye said.<\/p>\n

“After some investigation and research, we’re now using lignin extracted from a commercially-grown and processed grass.<\/p>\n

“What’s most exciting is that our lignin barrier coating is sustainable – traditional wax coatings are made from petrochemicals and, once it’s on the paper or cardboard, that paper or cardboard can no longer be recycled.<\/p>\n

“We’ve proven that our lignin coating is cost-comparable, is 100% recyclable, provides a high level of waterproofing and strengthens the boxes to a higher degree than wax – not bad for a product made from a renewable resource.”<\/p>\n

Professor Edye said around four hundred thousand tonnes of wax-coated cardboard is added to landfill in Australia every year because it cannot be recycled.<\/p>\n

QUT’s innovation arm, qutbluebox, has been working closely with the researchers for two years, providing more than $250,000 in proof-of-concept funding to develop and scale the coating for industry.<\/p>\n

CEO Michael Finney said his organisation had secured a further $200,000 from Black Sheep Capital to optimise the coating’s formula and fund industrial-scale trials.<\/p>\n

“We’ve already successfully coated the lignin-based formulation on food packaging and pre-fabricated honeycomb walls used in the construction industry. We’re now trialling it on fruit boxes for the banana industry,” Mr Finney said.<\/p>\n

“Both Australian and large-scale multinationals have expressed an interest in the coating’s development..<\/p>\n

“Critically, the Black Sheep investment will help us fast-track the waterproof coating’s industrial-scale trialling.”<\/p>\n

Australian-based Black Sheep Capital is a private equity firm with a diverse portfolio of holdings.<\/p>\n

Black Sheep Capital Director Daniel Gavel said the QUT waterproof coating solution had great potential.<\/p>\n

“The solution can be applied across several marketing sectors, from paper and cardboard to building materials and has the potential to displace existing non-recyclable and petrochemical based coatings,” said Mr Gavel.<\/p>\n

“We’re also confident that the combination of strategic direction and expertise provided by qutbluebox, coupled with an innovative and enthusiastic research team, will lead to a product that will deliver a high value solution to the marketplace.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

QUT researchers have developed a new waterproof coating for boxes that is both recyclable and renewable. Albert Tietz and Adjunct Associate Professor Les Edye’s lignin-based coating is currently being trialled on fruit boxes in North Queensland’s banana belt. If successful, they anticipate the product will be on the market in mid-2015. Professor Edye said lignin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[8542,4219],"class_list":["post-23333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","supplier-black-sheep-capital","supplier-queensland-university-of-technology-qut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23333"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=23333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}