LU konference
The team behind the SaproGlue idea consists of three young scientists of the UL – students at the Doctoral Programme in Environmental Sciences Vaira Obuka and Karina Stankeviča, and Doctor of Chemistry Zane Vincēviča-Gaile. The team operates under the supervision of the professor of the UL Faculty of Geography and Earth Sciences, Māris Klaviņš.
The idea is based on the development of an environmentally friendly adhesive that is made out of the organic sediment in lakes – sapropel. Environmentally friendly adhesive in the development of composite materials is a natural binder with a high ability of gluing and maintaining the shape of the formation. It is an ecological alternative to inorganic and environmentally harmful glues available on the market.
The idea of using sapropel use in environmentally friendly materials was developed by V. Obuka during her bachelor studies, and the research was continued within her master’s studies and eventually led to the creation of SaproGlue as an innovative product.
V. Obuka stresses that “sapropel is widely found in Latvia, and it is important to find a practical application for it. One of the contemporary environment problems is the over-enrichment of lakes or eutrophication (this process, for example, reduces the oxygen concentration in the water, resulting in fish suffocation). In order to promote sustainable lake management, it is necessary to remove sapropel, reducing the over-enrichment of these bodies of water”. Market research shows that the majority of glues used in various industries contain toxic substances (for example, formaldehyde), so the production of environmentally and human friendly glue is a perspective challenge.
The idea to develop an environmentally friendly adhesive is supported by the Green Technology Incubator. The team presented the SaproGlue idea both in the Latvian finals of “Climate Launchpad 2015” and in “LAUNCH Nordic”.
“LAUNCH Nordic” is a global innovation platform that helps to tackle sustainability challenges. Among the founders are NIKE, NASA, the US Agency for International Development as well as the US Department of State. It announced a competition inviting the submission of ideas and already existing solutions on how to increase considerably a sustainable manufacturing and reuse of resources by using new types of raw materials or by using the existing raw materials in new ways. The international jury decided on the top ten best ideas, and the respective authors participated in the event “LAUNCH Nordic Forum” in Malmo, Sweden on the 4th and 5th of November. During the forum, the invited authors were offered trainings, consultations and networking with industry experts and investors.
 has successfully participated in the international innovation platform “LAUNCH Nordic” with their idea of manufacturing sapropel-based glue – SaproGlue. Their idea was in the top ten of the most highly evaluated ideas. In total, there were 100 applications from 35 countries, and the UL team were the only representatives from the Baltic States. ){kind=link}