Chemicals research creates top formula for UK spin-outs

While life sciences may be grabbing much of the limelight at the moment, chemistry remains one of the most important industrial sectors.

The diverse, exciting and commercially valuable developments by spin-outs from UK universities underline the quality of chemicals research in this country.

In particular, environmentally-friendly, or so-called “clean-tech” products and processes, being developed in the UK are catching the eye of venture capitalists and other investors.

“Green solvents”

A good example is Bioniqs, a 2004 spin-out from York University, which is commercialising a new generation of ionic liquids in the production of novel industrial solvents.

These “green solvents” can be reclaimed and recycled at the end of the process, rather than being discharged.

They are also biodegradable, with low toxicity and low production costs.

Last year Bioniqs finalised a licence deal with Merck KGaA in which the German company agreed to manufacture and distribute generic products.

Commenting on this deal, Dr Urs Welz-Biermann, project manager at Merck’s ionic liquid division, said, “We believe the properties of Bioniqs’ reagents offer considerable market potential.”

Support network for start-ups

One important attribute of the UK’s framework for commercialising chemistry research is the close relationship between industry and academia.

The UK has a very sophisticated framework for setting up and financing start-ups.

This ensures that academic research is relevant to the needs of the industry, allows start-ups to trial new techniques with users, and fosters technology transfer.

The UK chemicals industry is also supported by a sophisticated framework for setting up and financing start-ups.

There is Government support in the form of university seed funds and a wide variety of other schemes, a strong network of business angels, and a well-developed venture-capital sector.

NiTech’s mixing technology

NiTech Solutions spun out of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, in 2003, with technology for improving process efficiency, a major preoccupation for companies manufacturing a wide range of products from food to pharmaceuticals.

NiTech’s innovative mixing technology makes it possible to move from batch to continuous processing.

Building on its close relationship with industry, NiTech has installed the first production-scale system to use the mixing technology in a dye-manufacturing factory in Huddersfield.

NiTech and Bioniqs are just two of the ground-breaking spin-out companies at the forefront of chemicals development in the UK.

The continuous process system provides more consistent results, takes only a third of the floor space required for batch reactors, and reaction time has been reduced from 12 hours to 20 minutes.

Using this as a demonstrator, NiTech is building relationships with potential customers.

Roadmap for a greener future

NiTech and Bioniqs are just two of the ground-breaking spin-out companies at the forefront of chemicals development in the UK.

They and others will now be able to take advantage of the Government-funded Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Network.

This brings together academics and companies and sets out the Sustainable Technologies Roadmap, showing the route to a greener future for chemicals.