Superwood aims to replace steel and concrete with a sustainable alternative

Ahead-looking: As InventWood prepares to carry its first batches of Superwood to market, it stands as a testomony to what can occur when scientific innovation meets entrepreneurial dedication. If profitable, Superwood may mark a turning level within the quest for greener, stronger, and extra stunning buildings.

What started as a laboratory experiment on the College of Maryland is now poised to considerably affect development practices. InventWood, a startup spun out of the college, is getting ready to launch a brand new materials generally known as Superwood – a wood-based product engineered to have a strength-to-weight ratio almost ten instances higher than metal, but lighter and extra sustainable.

The story started in 2018, when Dr. Liangbing Hu, a supplies scientist on the College of Maryland, developed a patented method that transforms strange timber into a fabric as much as 12 instances stronger and 10 instances harder than its unique kind.

As an alternative of letting the invention languish in tutorial obscurity, Dr. Hu additional refined his method, dramatically lowering the manufacturing time from over every week to only a few hours.

Recognizing its business potential, Dr. Hu licensed the know-how to InventWood, which is now led by CEO Alex Lau. With $15 million not too long ago secured in a Series A funding spherical (a part of greater than $50 million raised so far), the corporate is getting ready to open its first business manufacturing facility in Frederick, Maryland. Shipments of Superwood are scheduled to start within the third quarter of 2025.

Superwood’s innovation lies in its molecular engineering. The method begins with strange wooden, which is usually composed of cellulose and lignin. By selectively eradicating sure parts and making use of “meals business” chemical substances, InventWood strengthens the cellulose fibers, then compresses the fabric to extend the hydrogen bonds between molecules.

This new materials isn’t just sturdy, it is also extremely purposeful. Superwood is resistant to fireside, water, rot, and pests. It retains the pure heat, texture, and great thing about wooden, and with some polymer remedy, can be utilized for outside purposes like siding, decking, and roofing.

Initially, InventWood will give attention to producing facade supplies for business and high-end residential buildings. However the firm’s ambitions go additional. Lau envisions a future the place structural beams and different constructing parts are produced from Superwood, providing architects and builders a fabric that isn’t solely high-performing but additionally environmentally accountable.

The environmental advantages are important. The development business is a significant contributor to international carbon emissions, largely attributable to its reliance on concrete and metal. By providing a domestically sourced, sustainable different, InventWood goals to cut back the business’s carbon footprint whereas supporting American manufacturing and native economies.

The corporate has additionally shaped a strategic partnership with Intectural, a number one distributor of architectural supplies, to speed up Superwood’s adoption throughout North America.

InventWood’s progress has attracted assist from each private and non-private sectors, together with the US Division of Power, the Division of Protection, and several other climate-focused funding teams. Environmentalist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken has referred to as Superwood “a unprecedented breakthrough that exalts the genius of the pure world,” predicting it’s going to play a pivotal function in the way forward for international development.