“We had plenty of data to suggest that our material was disappearing in the compost, but this is the first time we’ve measured it at the microparticle level.”
The algae-based polyurethane mostly vanished by day 200 while the petroleum control barely changed. That was in compost, not the ocean or a landfill. Three of the UC San Diego authors co-founded Algenesis, the company that sells the material, and the other six are listed under Algenesis. The research is a product launch with a DOE grant number.