Investment Year

2019

Website
Details

Cruz Foam transforms chitin, a biopolymer found in shrimp shells, into structural foams with an environmentally friendly process.

Cruz Foam addresses both the front-end and back-end of a ‘green’ product by up-cycling chitin found in waste to create foam to replace petroleum-based foams. Cruz Foam matches the mechanical properties of current polystyrene and polyurethane structural foam.

Rationale

Polystyrene is a global issue. It is a petroleum based product which is a non-renewable, heavily polluting substance. It is also an energy intensive product to make, and results in air and water pollution, as well as creating hazardous waste.

The other key problem with polystyrene is that it is incredibly hard to dispose of. It is bulky and non-biodegradable (taking approx. 500 years), which means it takes up a vast amount of space in our landfill. Burning polystyrene on bonfires releases Carbon Monoxide and styrene monomers into the environment.

CruzFoam have a patent pending process for creating sustainable packaging using Chitin enabling the creation of a packaging product that has no environmental impact and biodegrades in the soil in 2 months instead of 500 years. Existing polystyrene manufacturers can use their existing machines to produce CruzFoam’s foam, at equivalent or lower costs, making it a true viable alternative. Cruz Foam is working with some of the largest users and producers of polystyrene in the world.