Soma water filter
Soma is the first designer water filter in the world made from natural resources. The bioplastic used for this filter is Bio-Flex, a material developed by Fraunhofer UMSICHT in cooperation with FKuR.
It all started with an accident. When Mike Del Ponte, founder of Soma, was hosting a dinner party, he was unwilling to upset his well-presented tabletop with a cheap plastic water filter and so he poured his filtered water into a glass wine decanter.
But as he poured, the lid of the water pitcher fell off, causing a spillage. This was the Soma eureka moment, when Del Ponte decided to combine a pure, modern design with a sustainable and holistic approach.
Soma’s designers spent a long time searching for a suitable material for the filter unit. This material needed to be functional, but also made from sustainable resources and had to be biodegradable when disposed of. Soma finally obtained what it was looking for from bioplastics specialist FKuR. The bioplastic Bio-Flex S 9533 used in the manufacture of the water filter has been developed in cooperation with Fraunhofer UMSICHT and FKuR and is based on the bioplastic PLA.
Hendrik Roch, Fraunhofer UMSICHT, explained: "For us it was important to develop a material running on conventional injection moulding equipment."
"By means of an intelligent additive package and our special compounding technology we have been able to develop a PLA compound meeting all requirements,” said Carmen Michels, Managing Director of FKuR.
The filter unit is composed of a casing made from biodegradable Bio-Flex S 9533 and contains absorbent carbon derived from coconut shells. Customers receive a fresh filter from Soma every 60 days. For each filter sold, Soma donates to the nonprofit organisation Charity: Water, which provides access to clean drinking water to people in need. Thus, the Soma water filter meets all of founder Mike Del Ponte's requirements as a beautiful and sustainable water filter that gives back.
The filter is proven to reduce chlorine, taste and smell through its special filter system and fulfills all requirements of the NSF/ANSI standard 42 of the Water Quality Association.