Development of Advanced Functional Absorbent Products

Project Information

DAFAP

Grant agreement ID: 674192

DOI

10.3030/674192

Project closed

EC signature date 6 May 2015

Start date 1 June 2015

End date 31 October 2015

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Nanotechnologies

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

COTTON HIGH TECH SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DAFAP (Development of Advanced Functional Absorbent Products)

Reporting period: 2015-06-01 to 2015-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

DAFAP overall innovation project aims at improving the performance of feminine hygiene items (i.e. sanitary pads, tampons and pantyliners) by adding specific elements with important preventive and/or therapeutic properties. To achieve this, DAFAP’s goal is to develop advanced manufacturing and industrialization processes that allow COHITECH to benefit from this business opportunity.

DAFAP will introduce to the market a natural and ecological choice for their intimate hygiene. These new products will be competing against the conventional products, made with viscose, petroleum-based polymers and chemical additives, which can cause dangerous risks to the women who use them (as irritation, itching allergies or other more dangerous damages). DAFAP will be based on 100 % hypoallergenic and ecological pure cotton, and also will present functional features (Smell neutralization, Antimicrobial properties...).

The goal of the overall project is to transform the prototype solution which is currently in a TRL6 development stage to TRL9 market commercial product by the end of Phase 2. Hence, COHITECH needs to develop a sustainable and efficient process to use this eco-friendly material, improving an internal technology, to produce a very complete range of products with strong benefits for women. These products will be sold released in international markets.

The current feasibility assessment is decisive to anticipate all development constraints and identify possible market entry risks before Phase2.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The current feasibility study has analysed how to progress to a commercial profitable product. To do that, we have studied the feasibility of the development and we defined the reference Business Plan.

During the project execution we have undertaken a deep analysis of the different related areas of the project, studying the technical, economic and commercial viability of the project. Concretely we have focused in:
- Needs analysis: aimed at gathering key data about gaps, trends, needs and wants from the European sanitary protection market stakeholders.
- Technical analysis: in which we studied the technical requirements of the DAFAP’s advanced manufacturing process as well as prototype’s redesign for reaching a commercial level.
- Market & Competitive advantage analysis: where we studied the sanitary protection market, identifying the major market drivers, restraints, and opportunities, and to determine DAFAP’s Unique Selling Proposition.
- Business Model feasibility: focused on evaluating the effectiveness of DAFAP for creating, delivering and capturing economic value.
- Risk & Sensitivity studies: aimed at assessing the risks associated with DAFAP with their mitigation measures.
- Economic and Financial analysis: in which we analysed the sustainability of the development of DAFAP and COHITECH’s projection.
- Project implementation analysis: concerned at studying the Managerial and operational capacity of the company, the Innovation strategy plan and all issues related to improve DAFAP’s Impact.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The expected final results of the project are a series of feminine hygiene items (Sanitary Pads, Maternity Pads, Tampons, Panty Liners and Breast Pads), 100% natural, without any chemical product added, and achieving the same efficiency as the conventional, currently present in the World market.

The resulting new products will also become more environmentally friendly than the current solutions due to they are based on biodegradable 100% pure cotton instead of viscose fiber, bleached with chlorine, and chemical additives.

The current project directly addresses feminine hygiene problems that are global and the application has no geographical limitation. Moreover, the associated environmental benefits the project faces are of worldwide interest.

The result of this project is fully aimed at sanitary products for feminine hygiene. However, in some cases, these results could be extrapolated to many other sectors hence enlarging the impact. These additional sectors are: baby diapers and specific medical devices for the incontinence affected men and diapers and panty liners for patients treated or being treated for urinary problems.

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