Women and girls in many parts of the developing world lack access to menstrual products.This is something many girls do for at least one week each month. don’t go to schoolAs a result, they often fall behind educationally and are unable to catch up financially.
Many traditional menstrual products have traditionally been made from hydrogels made from toxic petrochemicals, so there has been a push to make them from biomaterials. However, this usually means cellulose from wood, which is in high demand for other purposes and is not readily available in many parts of the world. So Alex Odundo found a way to solve both of these problems. The idea was to make maxi pads from sisal, a drought-resistant agave plant that grows easily in semi-arid climates like his native Kenya.
Make effective use of exotic species
Sisal is an invasive plant in rural Kenya, where it is often planted for livestock fencing and fodder. It does not require fertilizer and leaves can be harvested all year round for 5 to 7 years. Odund and his partners in Manu Prakash’s lab at Stanford University have developed a process to produce a soft, absorbent material from sisal leaves. Treat with dilute peroxyformic acid (1%) to increase porosity, then wash with sodium hydroxide (4%), and spin in a tabletop blender to increase porosity and soften.
They tested it with a mixture of glycerol and water to make the fibers as thick as blood, and found it to be as absorbent as the cotton used in commercial maxi pads. It was also as absorbent as wood pulp and more absorbent than fibers prepared from other biomaterials such as hemp and flax. Additionally, their processes consume less energy than traditional processing procedures, which are typically performed at high temperatures and pressures.
A life cycle analysis of sisal’s carbon footprint from cradle to gate, including cultivation, harvesting, manufacturing, and transportation, shows that the production of sisal cellulose microfibers is roughly equivalent to the production of cellulose microfibers from wood. , which was much better than the production of cellulose microfibers from cotton in both respects. carbon footprint and water consumption, perhaps because cotton requires a lot of fertilizer upstream. Much of the footprint comes from transportation, highlighting how beneficial it is to make products like this in the same communities that need them.
Science for the greater good
This is not the first time Odundo has used sisal.in orex techno enterprise In Kisumu, Kenya, he continues to make Machine that turns sisal leaves into rope Over 10 years. This benefits local farmers, as sisal rope and even sisal fiber can sell for 10 times the price of sisal leaves. In addition to making maxi pads, Odundo also made a stove. Burn sawdust, rice husks and other biodegradable waste.
By reducing the number of wood burning stoves, we are reducing deforestation and improving the health of women who inhale smoke from cooking fires.recruitment ofStoves like this have long been a goal of environmentalists.And while many prototypes have been developed by primarily male engineers in developed countries, they are neither practical nor attractive to primarily female cooks in developing countries, the people who actually need to cook. It is not widely used because it is not available. , had not yet been consulted during design.
The website of Manu Prakash’s laboratory declares:We are dedicated to inventing and distributing “frugal science” tools to democratize access to science. ” Partnering with Alex Odundo to produce menstrual products in low-income, rural areas where they are most needed seems like the apotheosis of that goal.
Communication Engineering, 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s44172-023-00130-y
