Company Plans To Make Paper Towels And Diapers Out Of Jellyfish
Douglas Main
at 09:13 AM Apr 14 2014
Jellyfish
Henry Kaiser, National Science Foundation
Nature // 

This material can hold several times its weight in water, and unlike the polymers that currently make up absorbent material in diapers and other products, breaks down in about 30 days. The product owes is absorbent abilities to its cellular structure of jellyfish bodies. “Jellyfish are marine creatures composed of 90 percent water and that live in water,” according to Capital Nano, a company funding Cine’al. “Their bodies are formed from material that can absorb high volume of liquids and hold them without disintegrating or dissolving.”

If the company could actually make a biodegradable, economically competitive diaper, that would be huge. In its first year, for example, a single newborn baby produces at least 155 pounds (70 kilograms) of diapers–and most of the products on the market are made of synthetic materials that never really completely break down.

“There are too many jellyfish in the sea, and too many Pampers in landfills," company president Ofer Du-Nour told the Times. "Cine'al may have the ultimate answer to both those issues.”

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