Unilever joint venture harnesses seaweed to make self-cleaning surfaces

Unilever has announced that it will begin consumer trials of a seaweed-derived compound that the company claims can create self-cleaning surfaces, the applications of which are wide-ranging, from odour-proof shoes to banknotes.

To market the technology, Unilever and life sciences investment group Innova Partnerships have formed a joint venture together. The product - name Lactam - rather than killing bacteria prevents the formation of biofilms on surfaces by microorganisms by disrupting their communications.

While Lactam does not prevent coronavirus transmission on surfaces, it does offer several other advantages, according to Jonathan Hague, vice-president for science and technology at Unilever.

“The growth of bacteria is a problem when you are pumping gas and oil, in medical catheters, malodoring shoes, bacteria spreading on banknotes, there are multiple applications in vet care. There is an enormous market this technology could be of benefit to,” he told the FT.

Lactam will be piloted in cleaning products though Hague added that Unilever had formed the joint venture - an unusual approach for the company - with the aim of licensing the tech.

“The potential business-to-business market is much bigger than the consumer market,” he said.

The technology behind Lactam uses a different approach to previous attempts to create self-cleaning surfaces, which were mostly focused on repelling water or oil and are already widely used in the construction sector.

The chemical being developed comes from Unilever's acquisition of Biosignal and its biotech, ten years ago. It works by disrupting micro-organisms ability to communicate and to form a protective environment around themselves.

“What our technology does is interrupt the ability for bacteria to speak to one another so they don’t form a biofilm in the first place. Rather than trying to kill them with harsh chemicals, we are using nature’s signalling model,” said Hague.

“Seaweed doesn’t get coated with biofilms, it’s always clean because it came up with this defence mechanism.”

Talks have already begun to license the technology for dental uses and for banknotes, he added.

Unilever also says that it can help battle antimicrobial resistance as well as creating efficiencies that could aid in lowering emissions.

“If we managed to get Lactam on every ship’s hull in the world, you could save about 10 per cent of fuel emissions,” said Hague.

When it comes to domestic uses, “if you use this regularly in the bathroom, the black mould on your tiles would just not grow,” he said. “You would have a visibly and demonstratively cleaner surface.”

It is not designed to completely eliminate the need for cleaning, though, he added: “We hope people continue to clean regularly.”

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