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Title

Materiom

March 10th 2025

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Plastic waste is everywhere.

If nothing is done, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean.

Bags like this break down into microplastics that pollute our drinking water, food, and bloodstreams.

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Imagine a world where plastics are plant food.

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20x

Biomaterials can be converted into soil amendment & compost

Seaweed sequesters 20x more carbon dioxide than trees

Food waste diverted from landfill avoids CO₂ and methane emissions

Regenerative materials are 100% biobased, 100% biodegradable, and sourced from biomass that does not compete with food security. At the end-of-life these materials transform into compost - regenerating soils and natural ecosystems.

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To tackle climate change and create a waste-free world, we must transform how materials and products are made. Biomaterials made of renewable sources can not only replace petrochemical plastics, but regenerate our planet by becoming compost at end-of-life.

From a centralized, fossil-based economy

To a decentralized, renewables-based economy

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The Materiom Commons: An ever-growing community of sustainable material innovators

1.5K+ Active Monthly Users

18K+ Total

Users

Access to 1.5M

Bio-Based

Plastic Alternatives

850 New

Monthly Users

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Our Impact: A launchpad for sustainable materials start-ups

Materiom helped me kick start my now 3-year old startup. Thanks to that foundation, we’ve already raised over 3 million.

-Sarah Harbarth, Founder, Kuori

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Our Goal: Accelerate 2030 & 2050 goals by enabling market breakthroughs

Planet-positive plastics are poised for impact, but innovators need to crack key performance & production challenges to scale.

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Materiom AI: Optimizing material recipes for scale

Brands are supported to work in partnership - accelerating R&D

Beta Launch March ‘25

AI identifies

novel ingredients that meet scale-up needs

Materiom AI

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Business model

how does this (AI Chief Scientist) create value? this piece is clear but could be made a bit clearer
how does it generate revenue - this needs to be clearer

De-emphasize the grand challenges - suggest that its a possible route for gerneate revenue via corporate subscription

Generative AI use case: Accelerating R&D for biomaterial entrepreneurs

Can you help me find a recipe for a 100% biobased leather for fashion that uses banana fibers, minimizes carbon emissions and water consumption?

Sure, here is a recipe that meets your desired performance:

Ingredients:

70% banana fibers
25% chitosan
5% glycerol

You can extract starch from potato waste instead of primary crops. Here is an extraction technique that minimizes energy and water use…

Enter a prompt here

Can this material be used as compost to enhance soil fertility in banana plantations and drawdown carbon?

The soil in banana plantations in Southern India are poor in nitrogen. I suggest adding some collagen to your recipe to make it higher value for soil amendment. Here is a new recipe:�

Ingredients:

60% banana fibers
30% starch
10% collagen

Jinali Modi, Founder

Banofi Leather

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The GLR generates $14.5 bn in annual agricultural sales, yet is facing critical environmental challenges - water quality, loss of essential wildlife habitats, and rising pollution - due to agricultural intensification and climate change.

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Rodale Institute. (2014). Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change: A Down-to-Earth Solution to Global Warming. /

Rodale Institute. (n.d.). Regenerative Organic Agriculture. / General Mills. (n.d.). Regenerative agriculture. / Newton, P., et al. (2020). What is regenerative agriculture? A review of scholar and practitioner definitions based on processes and outcomes; Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems , p194.

There’s currently a big push across the GLR to adopt regen ag practices, so our research looked at to what extent the region’s nascent biomaterials sector could contribute to this transition

firstly by providing new offtake markets for regen ag residues and byproducts, thus diversifying the business model of regen ag farmers
secondly by providing regen ag farmers with compost thats rich in the nutrients needed for key regional crops

This linkage between regen ag and biomaterials is an especially import, but under explored, one. While interest in biomaterials is growing rapidly and their potential for impact is high. It’s important to note that biomaterials are not, by definition, more sustainable than fossil-derived materials.

Many biomaterials today are made of primary food crops that compete for arable land which poses ethical concerns around the potential competition with food security, especially in local settings.
If not primary crops, many biomaterials are derived from byproducts of intensive industrial agriculture - with concerns around acidification and eutrophication due to increased use of fertilizers and pesticides.

So our research aimed to assess the potential of a symbiotic loop in which residues, byproducts and waste from regen ag were diverted towards biomaterial production - increasing the economic viability of regen ag practices while decoupling biomaterial production from industrial agriculture and its associated environmental concerns.

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Shahi, N., et al. (2020). Potential sustainable biomaterials derived from cover crops. BioResources, 15(3), 5641-5652.

Shaghaleh, H., et al. (2018). Current progress in production of biopolymeric materials based on cellulose, cellulose nanofibers, and cellulose derivatives. RSC advances, 8(2), 825842.

TABLE 3: MEAN DRY WEIGHT OF EXTRACTIVES &

LIGNOCELLULOSIC COMPONENTS OF COVER CROPS

Cellulose: abundant, renewable, and biodegradable.

Cellulosic monomers, derivatives, fibers, &

nanocellulose is used for the production of advanced biocomposites, films, & nanomaterials.

In the GLR, an average of 20-30% of cover crop residues can be removed for use as feedstock for biomaterials production.

A key insight from our research was the potential to source regionally abundant lignocellulosic biomass from cover crop residues.
Cover crops are used within regen ag to protect and condition soils, balance soil nutrients between main crops, and control erosion.
Interestingly, cover crop residues are rich in cellulose - a promising candidate for replacing synthetic polymers given its abundance, renewability, and biodegradability.
From cover crops we can derive cellulosic monomers (e.g. glucose), derivatives (e.g. cellulose acetate, cellulose esters), fibers, and nanocellulose that can be used in the production of high-performance biocomposites, films, and nanomaterials.
A critical question for us within the research continues to be that of volumes - what amount of cover crop residues can be safely removed? On the one hand, complete removal needs to be avoided to safeguard soil health. On the other hand, no removal has adverse effects on soil productivity and water quality. Through stakeholder interviews and desk research we were able to estimate that in the GLR an average of 20-30% of cover crop residues can be removed for use as feedstock for biomaterials production. Which is a significant volume of biomass that can be leveraged by biomaterial entrepreneurs as well as farmers who can use this stock to generate additional sources of income.

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_Asparagus Peel Packaging_

_Weißensee Kunsthochschule_

_Banana Fiber_

_Paivi Suomi_

_Beetroot Dye_

_Stephanie Pollard_

_Coconut Palm Particle Board_

_Pola Salicka_

_Corn Husks Veneer_ _Fernando Laposse_

_Japanese Knotweed Paper_

_Notweed_

_Grape Leather_

_Vegea_

_Hemp Felt_

_HempFlax_

Project Syntropia

Syntropic Materials

_Apple Leather_

_Leap_

The potential of residues derived from main and functional crops in polycultural systems

_Corn Bio-packaging_

_Mater-Bi_

Apple Paper

EcoApple

Apart from cover crop residues, our research identified the potential of residues derived from polycultural systems.
Polyculture is the practice of growing more than one crop in the same space, at the same time, aiming to mimic the diversity of natural ecosystems.

A well-known example of this is “the three sisters”: maize, beans, and squash. The corn stalks provide a natural trellis for the beans to grow on, the beans provide nitrogen for all of the plants, and the squash acts as a living mulch that maintains soil moisture.

A huge variety of biomaterial feedstocks can be sourced from polycultural agroecosystems including: wool, cotton, nettle yarns, sisal fibers, hemp, natural latex, and cork dust.
By creating offtake markets capable of absorbing this diversity, we’re able to promote and encourage the development of polycultural agroecosystems.

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BIOPOLYMERS & INGREDIENTS WITH HIGH NUTRIENT CONTENT

Chitin, Chitosan, Sodium Alginate, Iota-Carrageenan, Kappa-Carrageenan, Gelatin, Keratin, Casein, Collagen, Whey Protein, Calcium Carbonate, Egg Shells, Mussel Shells, Oyster Shells, Silk Fibroin Protein

N

Nitrogen

7

K

Potassium

19

P

Phosphorus

15

Ca

Calcium

20

Mg

Magnesium

12

S

Sulfur

16

B

Boron

5

Cl

Chlorine

17

Cu

Copper

29

Fe

Iron

26

Mn

Manganese

25

Mo

Molybdenum

42

Ni

Nickel

28

Zn

Zinc

30

Walnut Shell & Mycelium Composite

Lab FADEU

Eggshell & Chitosan Biomaterial

Big Circle Studios

Walnut Shell & Keratin Composite

Valentian Dipietro

ESSENTIAL CROP NUTRIENTS

Gelatin Bioplastic

Margarita Talep Follert

Gelatin Bioplastic

FabTextiles

Carrageenan Film

Lugae

Carrageenan & Avocado Bioplastic

Zoë Powell

Sodium Alginate & Sage Bioplastic

Zoë Powell

Chitosan & Methylcellulose Film

Materiom

nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, and carbon

RECIPES IN MATERIOM’S COMMONS

C

Carbon

6

Beyond sourcing biomass from regen ag residues, we also looked at to what extent biomaterials at their end of life can contribute to the development of regenerative ag systems by supporting the nutrient needs of crops through composting.
We identified 15 essential nutrients needed by crops within the GLR, with nitrogen being the most essential one.
We then used our data commons to analyze and index the biopolymers and ingredients most commonly used in biomaterial production based on their nutrient content and identified 15 with significant potential to meet the nutrient needs of GLR crops.

These included chitin, sodium alginate, carrageenan, keratin, gelatin, and whey protein.

This is particularly exciting for us, as it renders more than half of the recipes in our data commons as relevant contributors to GLR soil health - providing a foundation for further R&D.

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Title

Thank you

10th March 2025

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Generative AI: Learning over time with the Materiom community

AI CHATBOT

MATERIOM

OPEN-ACCESS DATABASE

USER CHALLENGES

& POLICY TARGETS

BIOMATERIAL

SOLUTIONS

Combining the power of generative AI with Materiom’s community-

driven platform, we can radically accelerate the ability for anyone, anywhere to develop net-positive materials.

Recipes generated by the chatbot will be tested by our community. Once validated, they can be added to our database, helping the AI improve over time.