The Creation of So Sponge

A Collaboration

So Sponge was born from the collaboration between two researchers: Melaz Tayakout, professor at UCBL, and Elsa Jolimaître, research engineer at IFPEN.

Their work focuses on transition aluminas, porous aluminum oxide materials commonly used as active phase supports in heterogeneous catalysis for industrial chemical reactors (refining, petrochemistry, etc.).

However, these materials possess another property: the ability to condense gases below their saturated vapor pressure by confinement in mesopores.

They then envisioned a new application by repurposing this use. By exploiting the affinity of these solids for water vapor, they decided to use their thermodynamic properties to capture this vapor through capillary condensation.

Their innovation aimed to manage humidity spontaneously and without external energy input, capturing water vapor above certain relative humidity thresholds and releasing it below, functioning similarly to how a sponge handles liquid water.

An Ecosystem

The initiative was selected through the “Tech4Earth” competitive call, jointly administered by PULSALYS and the University of Lyon. This support enabled concept validation and led to patent filing in May 2021.

The Pulsalys incubation initiative targets innovative projects emerging from academic research and higher education. So Sponge received personalized support, access to funding, and a network of partners during incubation.

During 2022’s incubation phase, co-founders welcomed Guirec Courbon, who developed the business model viability, resulting in So Sponge’s official launch in early 2023.