Cellulose Foam

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, in collaboration with Apple, is developing an innovative low-density, resilient cellulose foam to help address plastic pollution.

A novel low-density cellulose pulp material

Together, Apple and RISE are making significant progress toward developing a pulp-based replacement for polymeric foams in cushioning applications, a first step in enabling a sustainable and low-carbon future.

Basic performance requirements were defined for replacing polymeric foams with a wood pulp-based material.

1. Pulp content must be high enough to qualify as paper or board.

2. The Material must:
- be fully compatible with existing paper recycling streams (re-pulpable, non-contaminating)
- not bond to or otherwise remove fibres from the recycling cycle,
- be mouldable, cuttable, formable, or assemblable into shapes suitable for packaging.

3. Manufacturing must be scalable to commercially relevant volumes.

To accelerate progress and shorten time to market, we are inviting partners to build on our work and develop the material toward different applications.

Please go to https://www.ri.se/en/cellulose-foam for more information on this opportunity and to download our Whitepaper.