With respect to the overall project objectives;
-i- Technology validation trials of LIRON technology have demonstrated that many types of contaminant can be removed from cotton and poly-cotton fabrics most commonly used within clothing. A major achievement has been the removal of highly-stubborn stains that have survived several high temperature wash cycles. Further work is still required in order that the process can be optimised, but the general concept has been further validated within the LIRON-2020 project.
-ii- Analysis of the Global market has been carried out. For laundry appliances, the market amounts to more than 120 Million units per year (€37.6 Billion), with an additional 104 million steam irons (€3.1 Billion) utilised within global domestic laundry care. Growth of these markets is on average less than 1%, dominated by replacement sales. However, as disposable income increases, many customers in Europe look to purchase more expensive, higher-performance products with specific targets of; reducing energy and water consumption, improved garment care and reducing the time and effort involved in the laundry process.
In addition, a new disruptive laundry technology such as LIRON, will have an associated laundry care market, having LIRON-specific detergents, stain removers and other care products.
The parallel laundry care market (detergents, fabric conditioners, stain removers etc) is an enormous €59.9 Billion and is forecast to reach €66.3Billion by 2019. LIRON has potential to leverage significant share of this highly profitable laundry-care market.
-iii- Within LIRON-2020, two worldwide families of patents have been filed for LIRON technology and are currently being prosecuted through the US patent office, European patent office and through the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT). Initial searches have identified that claims are novel and patentable and these patents will continue to be prosecuted to gain strong IPR coverage across the world; a strong base for commercial exploitation of the technology. Claims relate both to the fundamentals of the LIRON technology as well as methods and associated laundry care products, providing a basis on which to produce an expansive IP portfolio for the technology.
-iv-LIRON-2020 activity has highlighted what needs to be done to best exploit the potential of LIRON technology through continued investment and industrial partnership.
