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A Cardiff-based company founded by an entrepreneurial family, Woodfree Ltd, is working with ������ϲʹ�������’s Biocomposites Centre to turn a previously underutilised by-product of coconut production into a low-cost, sustainable feedstock ideal for producing low-cost fibres for a range of applications, including paper and packaging materials.

The company’s vision is to reduce the vast amount of deforestation which takes place around the world to produce paper used for packaging. For the past few years, Woodfree Ltd have been researching into non-wood sustainable materials which could help, and in this search found one that was especially abundant, neglected and readily available around the world: coconut husk.

Woodfree Ltd are now taking their research to the next level thanks to an Innovate UK Transformative Technologies grant.

Brothers Gurpreet Singh and Arjundeep Singh, who comes from an engineering background, started the research process more or less in their kitchen sink, but approached ������ϲʹ�������’s Biocomposites Centre over a year ago to work on a small commercial project in order to scale up the work and use the centre’s scientific expertise in bio-based alternatives to synthetic materials in manufacturing and industry to find out whether the project was scalable and had potential to be commercialised.

“Coconut is grown all around the world for its flesh and oil, and this leaves behind a husk that’s more often than not left to rot or in the worst-case scenario, burnt,” explains Dr Rob Elias from ������ϲʹ�������’s Biocomposites Centre. “This can create all kinds of problems in the regions where coconut is grown such as Sri Lanka and India, including those associated with human health, such as malaria. We also know that we are still overdependent on plastic packaging and the harm this does to our planet.

“It therefore makes sense to try and find alternative use for the coconut husk from both a social and environmental perspective. Through a process of research and development, working alongside us here at the Biocomposites Centre, Woodfree have developed a way of extracting cellulose fibres from the coconut husks and named it ‘Eco-Pulp.’

Gurpreet Singh from Woodfree Ltd said, “We are very glad to be working with the team at the Biocomposites Centre on this. Together, we’ve processed something in the region of just under a ton of waste coconut husks, making them into fibre and then assessing this pulp in terms of strength, durability, mouldability, reaction to water and stack-ability – all very important practical considerations in making the product ready for the market. We’re now at the stage where we’re producing prototype packaging such as trays and punnets that can be used to showcase what could be produced using these fibres.”