SOY WIPES TAKE FIRST: Soy-based baby wipes were the winning product at Purdue’s Student Soybean Innovation Competition. Team members Kyle Han (second from left) and Ben Gottlieb received a $20,000 prize from Indiana Soybean Alliance. The check was presented by Jenna Scott (left), Courtney Kingery and Kevin Cox.
WINNER’S CIRCLE: What future soybean product could become bigger than soy crayons and soy candles, both inventions whose beginnings can be traced to the Student Soybean Innovation Competition? Listen to Kyle Han and Ben Gottlieb for five minutes, and they will convince you SoySilk baby wipes might just be the best thing since sliced bread — and definitely since soy crayons and candles. Their contest-winning product contains no plastic, yet outperformed leading brands in their tests. “I interned for a company which made baby wipes, and I worried about that material sitting in landfills for years,” Han says. “There has to be a better answer, and baby wipes made from soybean ingredients is it.”
SOY PACKAGING: Taking second place and winning a $10,000 prize was SoyBox, an alternative to current packaging products for liquid. The soy-based starch would be inserted into the production process of cartons that hold consumable liquids. Rather than compete with packaging giants, the goal for Team SoyBox is to work as a supplier to those companies. Their product would fit seamlessly into the manufacturing process. The product is 76% soy-based, and all components are food-grade and in compliance with Food and Drug Administration regulations. Team members are Laurian Lien and Lewis Polansky. Polansky says their product would simplify production for packaging companies, explaining, “We would turn their seven-layer manufacturing process down to only one, so that’s a sevenfold manufacturing reduction.”
SOY EGGS: Soy-based eggs are on the horizon with this team’s innovation. Receiving $5,000 for the third-place prize, Team Green Eggs, No Ham! developed a soy-based compound that resembles an egg and holds a similar nutritional value. The team describes it as a one-to-one match to a real egg, having the ability to be fried, scrambled, baked and used in all the ways a normal egg is used. A seaweed-based membrane around the yolk seals it in a way that it can be popped and flood out like a real yolk. A special type of salt is added to the compound to emulate an egg flavor. Team members include Alekhya Ankaraju, Chris Mechalke, Will Meyer and Amanda Wolf.
PLANT-BASED GUM: Team Soy Chew addressed the issue of typical chewing gum taking six to seven years to decompose. Soy Chew is a soy-based chewing gum that imitates the feel and flavor of typical chewing gum. While the team could not use human participants to test the gum, they created a mechanism with tongs to measure the gum’s elasticity and durability. They have experimented with agave nectar as a sweetener and peppermint oil for flavor in the soy-based gum. This product would replace the microplastics in chewing gum with soy protein isolate, creating a biodegradable product that won’t be as harsh on the environment. Team members include Karthik Digavalli, Munn Patel, Saanvi Venkatesan and Vincent Vo.
SOY CUP: Disposable coffee cups make their way in and out of millions of Americans’ hands each day, and eventually they land in the trash. Team ReSoy created a soy-based biodegradable lining for those cups and takeout containers. The polyethylene linings typically found in disposable cups and containers would be replaced by a lining formulated with epoxidized soybean oil, citric acid and stearic acid, all of which are food-safe and recyclable. This lining would allow for paper cups and containers to be recycled, which can’t happen with the polyethylene lining. The team consists of Nosa Idahagbon, Linh Nghiem, Mary Oluyemi and Alexandra Watson.
STOMP OUT CIGARETTE BUTTS: GreenGuard is an alternative, soy-based cigarette filter created to address the cigarette butts that litter the street. The team found that the cellulose acetate filters in those butts take more than our lifetime to biodegrade. While not trying to encourage smoking, the creators of GreenGuard want to provide an environmentally friendly replacement for a product that is widely used. The active ingredient in GreenGuard is denatured soy protein, which can bind to a variety of chemicals in smoke, unlike the current cellulose acetate filters. Team members are Joseph Diamond-Pott, Andrew Rosenberg, Anthony Scott and Brandon Verone.
LAUNDRY MADE EASY: Two-in-one laundry sheets that are good for the environment are what Team Soy Sheets worked to create. While their product is not exactly where they want it to be yet, they have developed a soy-based laundry detergent coating that binds to a traditional laundry sheet. The detergent dissolves in the washing machine, and the remaining dryer sheet is transferred to the dryer with the load. Eventually, Team Soy Sheets would like to create a soy-based dryer sheet as well. The detergent is made with soy milk, wax, glycerin, lecithin, other soy extracts, olive oil, distilled water, lye and coconut oil. Team members are Owen Connelly, Travis Seward, Fabian Sixl and Charles Wang.
LAUNDRY MADE EASY: Two-in-one laundry sheets that are good for the environment are what Team Soy Sheets worked to create. While their product is not exactly where they want it to be yet, they have developed a soy-based laundry detergent coating that binds to a traditional laundry sheet. The detergent dissolves in the washing machine, and the remaining dryer sheet is transferred to the dryer with the load. Eventually, Team Soy Sheets would like to create a soy-based dryer sheet as well. The detergent is made with soy milk, wax, glycerin, lecithin, other soy extracts, olive oil, distilled water, lye and coconut oil. Team members are Owen Connelly, Travis Seward, Fabian Sixl and Charles Wang.
Team SoySilk emerged the winner of Purdue’s 2024 Student Soybean Innovation Competition. The soy-based baby wipes the team members pitched to the contest’s judges address concerns with current wipe contents while also creating another avenue for Indiana soybeans.
Purdue students from 15 teams displayed their ideas for soy-based products at the competition following a rigorous development process and multiple pitches. The annual event, hosted and funded by Indiana Soybean Alliance, draws students from a variety of majors to combine their ideas and create a product that could help drive demand for soybeans while addressing drawbacks with current product offerings.
Ben Gottlieb and Kyle Han pioneered the idea for plastic-free baby wipes that would use Indiana soybeans. Taking the first-place prize, the pair will receive $20,000 to put toward patenting and further development of the product.
Coming in second place and receiving $10,000 was Team SoyBox. Laurian Lien and Lewis Polansky developed a soy-based packaging board for liquids that would simplify the manufacturing process for making those packages.
Team Green Eggs, No Ham! earned the third-place prize of $5,000. They developed a soy-based egg that can be used as a one-to-one substitute for real eggs, mimicking their properties and flavor. Team members include Alekhya Ankaraju, Christopher Mechalke, William Meyer and Amanda Wolf.
Here are an additional four teams that showcased their products at the event:
Soy Chew. Team members Karthik Digavalli, Munn Patel, Saanvi Venkatesan and Vincent Vo created a chewing gum from soy protein isolate.
ReSoy. This team developed a lining for coffee cups and other containers to make those paper containers biodegradable. Members are Nosa Idahagbon, Linh Nghiem, Mary Oluyemi and Alexandra Watson.
GreenGuard. Team members Joseph Diamond-Pott, Andrew Rosenberg, Anthony Scott and Brandon Verone created a soy-based cigarette filter to make cigarette butts more biodegradable.
Soy Sheets. This team made a soy-based laundry detergent to coat dryer sheets and create a laundry product that can move from washer to dryer. Creators include Owen Connelly, Travis Seward, Fabian Sixl and Charles Wang.
Browse the slideshow to learn more about these products. The remainder of the teams and their products will be highlighted in a second story, tomorrow at IndianaPrairieFarmer.com.
Read more about:
EducationAbout the Author(s)
You May Also Like