Impossible Materials - Producing cellulose white pigments as a sustainable alternative to titanium dioxide

Impossible Materials

2021

PRIZE

  • NEUMATERIALS Prize
  • White as a Beetle Award
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Video

Description

At Impossible Materials, we produce cellulose-based white pigments for a wide range of industries as a replacement for the controversial market leader titanium dioxide.

Story

IMPOSSIBLE MATERIALS is a deep-tech spinoff company from the Chemistry Department at the University of Cambridge (UK). The company's mission is to enable businesses to work towards a circular economy by providing plant-based formulation ingredients. Our first product is a 100% cellulose-based white pigment to replace the controversial market leader titanium dioxide (TiO2) for use in paints, inks, cosmetics, pharma, and food.

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Judge’s Comments

Cecilia Tham

Future Synthesist and Principle at Futurity Studio

NEUMATERIALS Prize

I really like the premise of this project, to use plant-based materials over highly processed and toxic chemical ingredients that are hard to breakdown. As we are understanding more and more about what nature offers, and as we have more and more data on how to best match our needs to biomaterials, will can start creating far more sustainable consumption models. Furthermore, material innovation can impact a great deal because they are the building blocks of our production and consumption. I am hopeful that this project can carry beyond TiO2 replacement and expand to other chemicals as well.

Enrique Lomnitz

Isla Urbana General Director

White as a Beetle Award

One of the best possible outcomes in material science is to discover a way to make something inexpensive and abundant replace something rare and expensive. In sustainability design, one of the best outcomes If you can hope for is to make a non toxic and renewable material or process that can replace a polluting or destructive one. If you can make celulose replace titanium in paint, that would surely fit both bills.

Winners