bioSAPs
How bioSAPs Turns Sustainability into Performance
Vegan Leather is a member of CrossRoads2: Sustainable Energy, which is financed by Interreg V Flanders-Netherlands, the cross-border cooperation programme with financial support from the European Regional Development Fund.
The Problem
A deeper dive into the problem
1. Most SAPs are petroleum-based and non-biodegradable
-
Conventional SAPs are usually made from polyacrylate polymers derived from fossil fuels.
-
These materials do not biodegrade under natural conditions.
-
Once discarded, they can persist in the environment for hundreds of years.
2. Diapers accumulate massively in landfills
-
SAPs make up a small percentage of diaper weight but prevent decomposition.
-
A single disposable diaper can take 300–500 years to break down.
-
Diapers are among the largest contributors to household waste globally.
3. SAPs prevent composting and recycling
-
Even if the outer diaper materials are biodegradable, traditional SAPs are not.
-
This means:
-
Diapers cannot be composted
-
They contaminate organic waste streams
-
-
As a result, diapers must be landfilled or incinerated.
4. Microplastic and chemical pollution
-
As SAPs slowly fragment, they can form microplastics.
-
Residual monomers and additives may:
-
Leach into soil and water
-
Affect ecosystems and potentially human health
-
5. High carbon footprint
-
SAP production:
-
Depends on fossil resources
-
Is energy-intensive
-
-
This contributes to greenhouse gas emissions throughout the diaper lifecycle.
The Solution
The project also aimed to develop a fully compostable diaper.
A deeper dive into the solution
The project involved B4Plastics, responsible for developing new bioSAPs via chemical routes; Avecom, focusing on biodegradability assessment; and Drylock Technologies, representing the end-user application domain within the hygiene industry.
-
Together, we achieved bioSAPs with absorption performance exceeding 100 g/g, and this in robust protocols to pilot samples.
-
By the end of the project, a scalable and biodegradable bioSAP with breakthrough features has been developed: proven and steerable biodegradability at high biobased content.
-
For the diaper application, we are further optimizing water absorption under g-force, while many other SAP applications are being prototyped to reach validation by our launching partners.
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) through the Catalisti project BIOSAPS - (HBC number: 2022.0441
www.catalisti.be
