Indoor air quality is a major concern, as recognised by the World Health Organisation. In 2020, over 3 million people died due to indoor air pollution, leading to various health issues like asthma, heart disease, and lung cancer. Given that people in developed countries spend 80-90% of their time indoors, maintaining air quality is vital. Additionally, businesses like museums and art galleries rely on good indoor air quality to protect artefacts and preserve the air quality.
In 2022, Adsorbi was founded by a team of university researchers and experienced business developers. Its material, made from renewable wood resources, offers a sustainable solution with a minimal environmental footprint and long-lasting effectiveness in capturing and storing indoor air pollutants that harm respiratory systems.
Funding for air purification material
Swedish startup Adsorbi AB has secured €360K in seed funding from Metsä Spring, Chalmers Ventures, and Jovitech Invest for its cellulose-based air purification material that can be used in air filters and odour removal products.
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.
“We want to thank Chalmers Ventures for their continued support of our mission, as well as warmly welcome new investors Metsä Spring and Jovitech Invest. Now we have a dream team of investors who understand deep tech, material startups, as well as novel usage cases for cellulose. Our patented material can be used wherever air pollutants are a problem – in air filters, products that remove bad odours, and in museums to protect works of art. This means we can tackle several significant markets with one unique material”, said co-founder and CEO of Adsorbi, Hanna Johansson.
“We are very excited to invest in Adsorbi, which has a diverse and solid research background and business-minded founding team. It is also working on a product made out of pulp, which makes Adsorbi of particular interest for Metsä Group. With Adsorbi in our portfolio, we are yet another step closer to removing fossil-based materials from everyday products”, added Niklas von Weymarn, CEO of Metsä Spring.
Purifies indoor air with cellulose-based material
Adsorbi was founded in 2022 by a team consisting of university researchers and seasoned business developers as a spinout of the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is developing bio-based materials for air pollutant and odour removal. By using wood-based cellulose as a raw material, Adsorbi offers innovative materials with both sustainability and high performance in focus.
Adsorbi’s material is made from a renewable resource – wood. It 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.
Why does Adsorbi use wood?
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.
