PFI-TT: Exploring Nanocellulose Based Foams for Low-Cost, Single-Use, Biodegradable Medical Patient Support and Positioning Applications

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project includes the ability to help the healthcare industry meet infection control and waste mitigation goals and, over the long-term, to help control costs and improve healthcare outcomes. The proposed project will develop cost-effective, single-use and fully compostable, medical grade materials capable of replacing petroleum-based polyurethane foams that are either incinerated or landfilled annually.

The project has benefits specific to the state of Maine, where the closure of six pulp and paper mills in a two-year period has been disastrous for the economic health of local communities. The team proposes the use of foams for patient positioning made from wood biomass (lignocellulose/wood residue/nanocellulose) as an important pivot for the state, creating jobs in the most rural parts of the state.

This project is one example of expanding the use of the nation’s abundant biomass resources while maximizing economic, social and environmental outcomes. The proposed entrepreneurial leadership training activities will directly benefit the student participants, whose future activities will have measurable impact in these communities.

The proposed project will address a major demand in the healthcare industry for cost-effective single-use and fully compostable, medical grade materials capable of replacing tens of millions of tons of petroleum-based polyurethane foams that are either incinerated or landfilled annually. Lignocellulosic based foams are carbon positive, green alternatives to polyurethane that could replace existing materials in some positioning applications provided that certain softness/elasticity targets are achieved and that production at bulk scale can be sufficiently demonstrated.

The research objectives of this project are: 1) to explore the use of “green” hydrogen-bond disrupting plasticizers and wetting agents, to achieve improved mechanical properties while maintaining compostability, and 2) to assess the feasibility of and optimize the processing conditions for the use of microwave dewatering as a more efficient and economically viable approach to produce biomass materials at an industrially meaningful physical size. This approach to formulation could generate >200 material variants as well as corresponding mechanical assessment data.

The microwave processing parameters necessary to form and dewater these materials, as well as potential heat and material transfer limitations on sample volume, will be determined. Together these data will inform the feasibility of translating this material system into practice.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.