Dr Koon-Yang Lee, Ms Puja Bharadia and Prof Alexander Bismarck together, have developed an elegant, intrinsically scalable and cost-effective technology for binding loose natural fibres together in order to create an in-plane non-woven fibre mat, utilising bacterial nanocellulose – itself a structural reinforcement, with no extra chemical modification steps involved during the production. A patent (US 9,193,130) was recently awarded for this technology

Working with designer Yun-Ting Lin, we have took this technology a step further by developing nanocellulose-enhanced fibre boards as a potential replacement for medium density fibreboards (MDF). These products were exhibited in the 2015 Royal College of Art Show. 

We greatly acknowledge research funding by the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EP/J013390/1 & EP/F032005/1).