SPIWACS: Sustainable PIgments from WAste Cellulose Streams

Pigments add shine and colour to a multitude of daily products. They are ubiquitous in cosmetics, fashion, packaging, paints, and even food. However, as currently formulated, they contain a mix of problematic materials such as microplastics, mineral oxides, like titania and mica, and high GHG refined metals. Extractive mining is a major environmental and social concern for which there are currently very limited technological alternatives that would offer **plant-based, renewable and high performance metallic-effect colourants**.

Without **a fundamental design and innovation shift in pigment technology**, direct pollution to the natural environment and GHG emissions from existing processes and supply chains enabled by petroleum consumption and extractive mining will never be eliminated. It is now clear that pigment materials have a negative impact on the environment across their entire life cycle and are not sustainable. They are associated with negative human health effects, are accumulating in the environment and have the potential to be toxic to animal and plant life. Therefore, there is an unmet need to develop truly sustainable alternatives.

The solution is now available: the project partners Sparxell (SX) and Impossible Materials (IM) are start-ups aimed at the commercial delivery of **breakthrough sustainable pigments based on plants**: Sparxell has developed unique new pigments using cellulose-derived nanocrystals to deliver metal-like effects without metal; Impossible Materials' first product is a cellulose-derived white pigment, addressing one of the most environmentally problematic and high-volume pigments - titanium dioxide.

In this collaboration, we will build a **new manufacturing process platform** by transforming the primary waste cellulose stream from the production of white pigments (IM) into functional cellulose nanomaterials that are the main and sole ingredient of metallic-effect pigments (SX).

The overall process will be monitored and accompanied by a **cradle-to-cradle life cycle analysis (LCA)** performed by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), University of Cambridge. This rigorous approach will guide the process design and choice of materials to ensure that the overall production process is significantly more sustainable than the separate manufacturing processes used today by IM and SX.

The overall aim of this project is to demonstrate the **technical viability, commercial attractiveness and sustainability benefits** of coupling Impossible Materials' nanocellulose waste stream to Sparxell's raw materials inputs to deliver a more profitable and sustainable supply chain for both organizations.