Green Glue To Green Pallets

About

Cambond is a Cambridge startup to capture and commercially exploit the intellectual property in green glue developed by Dr Zhao. Cambond Ltd was founded in February 2014. Since the company was founded we have filed 5 patent applications developed the business strategy and engaged with potential customers and investors. We have set up our first Joint Venture in China to commercialise our green glue technology for green boards including particleboards, wood fibreboards, straw boards and OSB. We are now looking to build manufacturing capacity in the UK and then expand into Europe. Cambond was a finalist in the Royal Society of Chemistry Emerging Technologies Competition 2014, a winner of the Cambridge Top Innovation Company Award 2014 and the UK winner of the ClimateKIC CleanTech Launchpad Competition 2014. We are also a national finalist in the 2015 EEC Cleantech Venture Competition and the 2016 Cleantech Innovate Competition. Pallets are core to the infrastructure of product distribution. Over 85% are made of wood (weight about 20kg) using 45% of the global timber produced. They are made in a series of standard sizes and usually capable of bearing loads of 1,000 KG. Wooden pallets have limited lifespans (typical 510 trips). Initiatives to reuse and recycle pallets have limited success. There is market awareness amongst pallet users of the environmental costs of using wood and also the high breakage rates and limited lifespan of wood pallets. Plastic and metal pallets are alternatives but have a limited market presence (less than 10% pallets globally). We can deliver a proprietary biomass based sustainable product to the market place at a competitive cost. Our initial works indicates the green pallets will be significantly stronger and lighter than the wood counterparts. Excellent performance and impeccable 'green' credentials should provide a highly competitive product. Wooden pallets are carbon negative in that the wood used acts as a carbon sink and lock up some 20kg of CO2 per pallet (cradle to gate). However, because of the limited lifespan and recycling of the pallets (end of life is a bonfire or burning in a power station) their carbon cost is greater as the CO2 is released by burning and the cost in forestry resources is huge. Cambond Pallets are made from straw or reeds (an annual crop). The 'green pallet' will still lock away some 20kg of CO2 but the true effect is much greater as we are using an annual crop, which will have an extended life of several years (multiplying the carbon sink effect). Use of this technology could remove >60Million tonnes of CO2 per billion pallets. The pallets are a sustainable, ecological alternative for wood, wood composites and plastic based pallets. We have a new process for making a 'green' industrial adhesive and using it together with biomass as a feedstock for the production of a range of sustainable products from pallets to construction materials. A key aspect is the availability of biomass that is used as the core component of the adhesive. Biomass is a nontoxic way to capture CO2 and easy to handle. Manufacture requires less energy (offering further carbon savings) and generates no toxic waste. A critical factor is the scalability. We use standard industrial machinery and capacity is simple to add. Green glue makes products (MDF, plywood) that meet global construction standards and agriculture waste fibre based pallet itself is CO2 negative. The green composites (wood and nonwood) have greatly improved recycling potential to clear path to the greening of existing production processes resulting from a significant cleantechnology. Cambond will pursue two approaches to generate revenues: 1.We will set up a JVC as a development and manufacturing base in East Anglia to make green glue resin to supply to commercial customers. This facility will manufacture sufficient product to enable potential customers to evaluate the adhesive and for small manufacturers to be supplied. Commercial success will lead to a scale up of operations. 2. We will develop and manufacture green pallets for direct sales to pallet distribution companies. We will also examine the prospect for licensing our technology to existing companies in the field. Since all the target companies have additional global group companies we would anticipate a rapid diffusion of the green glue technology to the EEC, US and Asia. Target revenues 20% share of global market > 8Bn within 10 years.