Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence

Botanix specialises in the handling, processing and marketing of hops and other botanicals. With their traditional extraction crop, hops, in decline, Botanix were keen to identify alternative products and markets, and enlisted the help of the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence.

UK industries relying on imported plant waxes are finding that supply is running short of demand. A clear need has arisen for a sustainable UK source of natural plant waxes. The Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence had demonstrated that waxes extracted from readily available and inexpensive wheat straw have properties comparable to industrial waxes, and that there is potential to use a green chemistry approach to extract the wax, without increasing costs which formed the basis of a patent application. To successfully trial and bring the product to market; the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence formed a consortium including Botanix and Croda Chemicals Europe Ltd.

Trials were undertaken at Botanix to investigate firstly the optimal conditions for extraction of the wax, and secondly, to scale-up the extraction process. Croda, who were keen to identify greener products for their existing markets, including personal care products and cosmetics, tested the wax in finished product formulations. Without the Centre's involvement, Botanix would not have risked the scale-up of the extraction and Croda would not have had sufficient wax material for product formulations.

For further information visit:
www.botanix.co.uk
www.greenchemistry.net

Benefits of using the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence:

• Exploitation of new markets
• Anticipated additional revenue of £0.72m in 3-5 years
• Production of a marketable naturally derived, and possibly organic product
• Environmentally friendly extraction process