The days of wasting condiments — and other products — that stick stubbornly to the sides of their bottles may be gone, thanks to MIT spinout LiquiGlide, which has licensed its nonstick coating to a major consumer-goods company.
Norwegian consumer-goods producer Orkla has signed a licensing agreement to use the MIT’s LiquiGlide’s coating for mayonnaise products sold in Germany, Scandinavia, and several other European nations. This comes on the heels of another licensing deal, with Elmer’s, announced in March.
According to the LiquiGuide press release,
LiquiGlide Inc. today announced a licensing agreement with Orkla ASA, giving the branded consumer goods company rights to use LiquiGlide’s slippery coating for mayonnaise products in the Nordics, Germany, Benelux and the Baltics. LiquiGlide’s slippery coating enables products to easily slide from packaging, eliminating food waste and providing a better consumer experience. The customized coating for Orkla’s mayonnaise products is made entirely from natural ingredients.“We chose to work with Orkla because they are an innovative and leading consumer goods company in the Nordics and the Baltics. Our exclusive agreement affirms that LiquiGlide’s coatings create substantial value for consumers by enabling them to get every last drop,” said LiquiGlide CEO and Co-Founder, Dave Smith. “At LiquiGlide, we’re changing the way liquids move.”
MIT has developed a liquid-impregnated coating called LiquiGlide in 2009 by MIT’s Kripa Varanasi and David Smith, that acts as a slippery barrier between a surface and a viscous liquid. When applied inside a condiment bottle, for instance, the coating clings permanently to its sides, while allowing the condiment to glide off completely, with no residue.
For instance, in 2009 Consumer Reports found that up to 15 percent of bottled condiments are ultimately thrown away. Keeping bottles clean could also drastically cut the use of water and energy, as well as the costs associated with rinsing bottles before recycling.
In 2012, amidst a flurry of media attention following LiquiGlide’s entry in MIT’s $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, Smith and Varanasi founded the startup — with help from the Institute — to commercialize the coating.
A video of ketchup sliding out of a LiquiGlide-coated bottle went viral. Numerous media outlets picked up the story, while hundreds of companies reached out to Varanasi to buy the coating.
The startup, which just entered the consumer-goods market, is courting deals with numerous producers of foods, beauty supplies, and household products. Apart from providing savings and convenience, LiquiGlide aims to reduce the surprising amount of wasted products — especially food — that stick to container sides and get tossed.
LiquiGlide develops coatings for clients and licenses the recipes to them. Included are instructions that detail the materials, equipment, and process required to create and apply the coating for their specific needs. “The state of the coating we end up with depends entirely on the properties of the product you want to slide over the surface,” says Smith, LiquiGlide’s CEO.
Varanasi says LiquiGlide aims next to tackle buildup in oil and gas pipelines, which can cause corrosion and clogs that reduce flow. Future uses, he adds, could include coatings for medical devices such as catheters, deicing roofs and airplane wings, and improving manufacturing and process efficiency.
