Lanaco Hall 8 / C31

Unilever chooses Lananco's New Zealand wool filters

New Zealand’s Lanaco has signed a major deal with Unilever-owned air purifier manufacturer Blueair for its world-leading New Zealand, natural, renewable woolen air filter.

The company has hailed the new partnership as a truly significant step in the commercialisation of its Ecostatic® wool filters and a boost for the air purifier market that has previously relied on synthetic air filters.

Lanaco’s Ecostatic® wool filters have made it into outer space on NASA rockets for Moon and Mars missions, and were part of the facemasks that kept the New Zealand team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics free of COVID. Now they have found a home on Earth.

Lanaco founder and chief executive Nick Davenport says the new partnership with Blueair, a leading Swedish air wellness pioneer, represents a step-change in the global air filtration market. Blueair is the first to integrate Lanaco’s natural, renewable New Zealand wool fibre-based EcoStatic® technology into its range of portable air purifiers.

“Blueair's dedication to innovation, sustainability and quality resonates with our core values at Lanaco,” Nick Davenport says.

“Our company has developed wool-based filter media because wool provides both the basis for true performance and the best sustainability credentials. We are thrilled that our partnership with Blueair captures this capability whilst also recognising the environmental benefits of woollen filters as well.

“Just as Icebreaker did for wool clothing, Lanaco is bringing its branded New Zealand wool technology to the global filtration market by partnering with one of Europe’s greatest consumer goods companies.”

Blueair chief executive Andy Lu says partnering with Lanaco to produce the industry's first woollen, biodegradable filter is not just a milestone for Blueair, “but a transformative moment for the entire air purification industry”.

Lanaco’s EcoStatic® electrostatic filter technology is uniquely supported by the established Ovis Global® Astino® sheep breeding programme, which is pivotal in its success as wool with superior filtration performance is being bred for. This initiative presents a long-term growth opportunity for the farming sector, with thousands of tonnes of New Zealand wool potentially benefiting from this scientifically sophisticated application of wool as a novel biomaterial.

Targeting a global filter media market valued at over $US8 billion, Lanaco says the Unilever partnership is the first of several high volume market opportunities that Lanaco is presently progressing to full commercialisation.

About Lanaco

Lanaco is an Auckland-based, predominantly New Zealand-owned company that manufactures woollen-based, natural and renewable materials for use in air filtration. Focused on the principles of sustainability, performance and innovation, Lanaco’s Ecostatic® product range provides superior, natural solutions for use in air conditioning, appliance safety and healthcare products, which all share the principal function of delivering clean air for people to breathe.

The technology is underpinned by extensive wool science and a bespoke New Zealand sheep breeding programme called Astino®, providing the unique data and knowledge of fibre performance, which make its output wool increasingly relevant to Lanaco’s customer needs.

EcoStatic® is a non-woven, natural, wool-rich fibre material which possesses a strong electrostatic charge enabling it to remove the tiniest particles from the air. Filters from this are being used in space by NASA in its trials of vehicles to go to the Moon and Mars.

About Blueair

Founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1996, Blueair is a world-leading producer of air purification solutions for home and professional use. Blueair delivers innovative, best-in-class, energy-efficient products and services sold in more than 60 countries. The company became a part of the Unilever family of brands in 2016.

Lanaco's wool filters used on NASA mission to the moon

A New Zealand wool product will be making its way into space later this month, as part of NASA's mission to the moon. An Orion spacecraft will launch on an unmanned test flight on August 30 ahead of scheduled manned missions. On board for the ride will be Kiwi company Lanaco's filters made from New Zealand sheep wool.

Lanaco founder Nick Davenport said it was the same technology as in the company's personal protective equipment, face masks and home air purifiers. "It's a very small, tiny piece of wool technology which protects astronauts in the event of a fire on board the capsule," he said. "It's part of their critical life support system. This technology increases the window of opportunity for survival significantly, so it's a really, really important part of the programme but a tiny piece of wool is the key."

The company was sought out by NASA in 2017 and sent samples the following year. "We made some prototypes using our existing material, so we've made some finished prototypes which they've then adopted," Davenport said. "Basically it's exactly the same product that is used in face masks that we use for everyday people in New Zealand."

Eighteen months later, their filter was chosen over every international competitor. Davenport said it showed investment in wool science could produce more than just socks. The company is currently exploring medical and automotive uses for its wool, to protect people in cars and hospitals.

Meanwhile, using Lanaco's technology in space also illustrated possible applications closer to home, Davenport told The Country's Jamie Mackay. "If you think around the world at the moment, with wildfires, which have got hot particles and water vapour being sprayed around to protect firemen – that's exactly the application that can be used [here] on earth - or in fact anywhere where a person is breathing air in a highly moist environment. "Every person breathes out moisture, so, collecting particles in a moist environment is where our technology shines and the NASA example holds that out to the whole world."

While sending a tiny piece of wool into space wouldn't save the New Zealand wool industry, it had definitely made a financial impact for Lanaco, Davenport said. "It's certainly probably the most expensive piece of wool we've ever supplied at the greatest return per kilo," he laughed.

- Credit RNZ, with additional reporting from The Country