Lanaco has expanded its portfolio of wool-based air filtration products, secured international deals, and now exports to the US, Europe, and Asia.

Lanaco founder Nick Davenport received an unexpected email one day in 2018. “It said, do you want to apply for this NASA tender?”

“I said to my chief science officer, ‘You think this is real?’ He didn’t know, so we rang them up and asked if they meant ‘space NASA’. They said, ‘Yeah, there isn’t any other NASA. Can you send us some samples?’”

Lanaco won the tender, beating global competition. Its EcoStatic® air filters, engineered from New Zealand wool, are now part of the emergency breathing apparatus on NASA’s Orion spacecraft. These filters were part of a 2022 test flight and are slated for future lunar missions, providing extended breathing time and reduced hazard inhalation during fire emergencies.

Their performance is documented in a NASA technical paper. Davenport says it was one of the most exciting times in the company’s history, which has seen both highs and lows.

AGMARDT has supported Lanaco’s journey (initially as Texus Fibre Limited) with $192,600 in funding across seven grants over seven years. “All have had equal impact,” says Davenport. “We’ve been able to travel to places we would otherwise have been unable to go, to gain knowledge on specific markets and industries.”

“I don’t think we’d be here without AGMARDT’s support.”

In 2015, the business was looking to narrow its focus from six workstreams to one. AGMART’s first grant enabled participation in a market-shaping programme at the University of Auckland, where strategic market focus became embedded deep into the company’s DNA.

AGMARDT then supported the initial design of wool-based air filters in 2016, redesign for medical use in 2019, and a biodegradable version in 2022. The result: EcoStatic®, a high-performance, low-resistance wool filter now used in air purifiers, HVAC systems, and industrial applications – and space.

In 2024, Lanaco signed a deal with Unilever-owned Blueair to supply wool-based filters for air purifiers. Blueair called the move to natural filters a “transformative moment for the air purifier industry”. The filters are also used in DVS home ventilation systems throughout New Zealand.

Market projections indicate Lanaco’s sales pipeline will require several thousand tonnes of wool annually, around 3% of New Zealand’s wool production. The Lanaco filters are consumables, typically replaced multiple times a year room in air systems, and millions of single-use medical filters are used daily, even hourly.

“The productivity we have for every dollar spent is immense. We’ve created sheep genetics, we’ve created a manufacturing platform, we’ve created a branded product, we’ve reached markets, and we’ve even gone a bit to the Moon and back.”

Despite successes, Lanaco has faced setbacks. Pre-Covid, there was a cancelled consumer mask deal for China. Post-Covid, a New Zealand government contract for Covid-19 masks was terminated after significant investment in plant, people and accreditation.

Lanaco has since pivoted to a linear export model, focusing on producing filter material compatible with global standards, allowing manufacturers in North American and Europe to produce licenced goods. “We’re focused now on making a difference to the wool industry, to agriculture, and to New Zealand exports with our patent-pending 100% biodegradable product,” says Davenport.

The next challenge is to shift and reshape market perception. Wool has surprisingly been seen in recent years as less eco-friendly than synthetic plastic-based fibres. It’s down to the focus on carbon footprint, and as methane-emitters, sheep don’t compare well. Lanaco is now highlighting the total product lifecycle, including measurement of the “carbon handprint”, which is the carbon consumed or saved during use of the final product. It is here that Lanaco EcoStatic technology reduces air resistance compared to synthetic filters, which in turn lowers energy use and therefore carbon emissions.

That first AGMARDT grant continues to shape Lanaco’s strategy. “If we want to shape the world, we tell a better story. It’s true, people can relate to it, and science can validate it,” says Davenport.

He is rightly proud of what the company has achieved. “The productivity we have for every dollar spent is immense. We’ve created sheep genetics, we’ve created a manufacturing platform, we’ve created a branded product, we’ve reached markets, and we’ve even gone a bit to the Moon and back.”

Grants included:

• L15017 Leaders attending Strategies for Market Shaping for Primary Industries
• A16041 Design and Customisation of Wool – Based Air Filters
• A19005 Investigations & demo of wool-filters in medical & surgical
• A22007 Developing a fully biodegradable, high performance, wool based disposable mask

Dates: 2015 – 2022