Modern synthesis is doing compostable materials that last a lifetime

Jen Keane’s statement to fame is that she cultivated a shoe with bacteria, convincing microbes to deposit their nanocellulosic materials in the form of shoes. But she is a little about that.

“I feel that loses the point,” he told Techcrunch. “The fiber produced by bacteria, such as, that is not something new.”

That does not mean that your new startup does not use those same fibers, it does, but a different tactic is needed, one that is more similar to the way the fabric is done and used today.

Your startup, Modern synthesisHe still uses bacteria to grow nanocellulose fibers, but then harves them and processes them to create a variety of different materials. The new approach is more like weaving cotton in denim for jeans. His shoes experiment, on the other hand, was a bit like persuading a cotton plant to deposit its fibers in the form of a pair of pants. Cool, but not so easily scalable.

Modern synthesis fibers can be manipulated so that simple plant fibers cannot. They can be extended in a thin and wind -resistant film or texturing to imitate high quality leather, said Keane, CEO of Modern Synthesis. That way, they are more like synthetic materials such as polyester and polyurethane.

However, the difference is that Nanocellulose materials of modern synthesis are ultimately biodegradable.

“You want your materials to last a lifetime or maybe two, about 100 years. You don’t want them to stay for thousands, which is what most synthetic materials will do, ”said Keane.

Because the basic component of the Startup textiles is cellulose, what remains after they decompose is similar to what is located on the forest floor. “It should behave similarly to other cellulosic materials,” he said. “Cotton is a great example of that.”

One of the advances that encouraged Keane to find modern synthesis with Ben Reeve, the company’s technology director, was the ability to create materials only using nanocellulose. Other biomaterials can imitate leather, for example, but some synthetic materials are needed to the mixture to achieve it successfully, he said.

Modern synthesis buys their nanocellulose from existing producers, who already do things in large quantities for a variety of applications, from Food additives to Medical implants. The beginning then processes the nanocellulose to create different materials. In 2023, for example, he made an artificial leather for the Danish fashion brand Ganni, who used it to make a bag That did not contain petrochemicals.

Keane said the company is working for Quintuple Production on its pilot plant. Modern synthesis recently closed a financing round of $ 5.5 million, the company said exclusively to TechCrunch. The round was directed by Extantia Capital with the participation of the artsian and collaborative fund.

Although it is likely that the sneakers, clothing and bags are applications for modern synthesis materials, Keane is also looking for more science fiction uses such as intelligent textiles with integrated electronics and more prosaics such as car boards.

“Cellulostic materials do not melt like synthetic,” he said. “If you think about the panels of the cars, how it starts to melt when you feel in the sun too long. Our materials will not do that. “