Diatom frustules, a biobased, sustainable delivery vehicle for controlled release of antimicrobial substances – A pre-study for international collaboration

Purpose and goal

Algica is a biomaterial, made of diatom frustules, produced by Swedish Algae Factory. This material has been shown to work as a carrier material for controlled release of antimicrobials in wound care products. The purpose of this project is to replace existing carriers that are either fossil based or produced in energy- and solvent intensive processes with a sustainable biobased carrier. The project goal is to pave the way for a larger international, collaboration project.

Expected effects and result

In the long perspective the project is expected to put a sustainable carrier material for controlled release in wound care products on the market. This will contribute to the transition towards a bioeconomy. Controlled release has multiple use cases, and the project can be expected to open new opportunities in other industries than wound care. In the near future the project is expected to provide results needed to start a larger collaboration.

Planned approach and implementation

The project is designed to adapt results from earlier projects to Celox Medical’s products and to increase the possibility for a larger collaboration. The main parts of the project are: • Controlled release of antimicrobial substances used by Celox Medical in their products. • Testing of Algica and a gap-analysis on how the production of Algica can be adapted to achieve regulatory compliance. • Develop a business case and investigate how the production of the prototype can be scaled-up.