Commercialisation of a natural material – wool: a bio-based PCM

Abstract

Cold-chain temperature control is necessary to prevent damage to life-saving vaccines caused by heat exposure. However, keeping vaccines too cold is just as harmful, since freezing damages many vaccines. Protecting vaccines from freeze damage remains one of the most poorly addressed problems in vaccine management. Cold-chain practices tend to prioritise the protection of vaccines from heat damage, often at the risk of exposing them inadvertently to freezing temperatures. The maintenance of accurate and uniform temperatures is, therefore, of significant importance in improvements to global human healthcare. Exposure to heating or freezing conditions will weaken and subsequently break the hydrogen bonds holding the tertiary structure together, causing the vaccine to become ineffective. This paper demonstrates a design innovation process leading to the development of a high-performance, sustainable fibre material, with cradle-to-cradle credentials, that has transformed the market for passive insulated packaging used in the global distribution of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products for human use. The extensive scientific research on this natural ‘smart fibre’ has resulted in an insulated packaging material that substantially exceeds the temperature performance criteria required by European and US good distribution practice regulations for the distribution of medicines. This smart fibre is 100% pure sheep’s wool.