Summary:
A UK (Scottish) biotechnology company is looking for a contract manufacturer or collaborative partner to produce its innovative home compostable packaging films for food, medical device and pharmaceutical markets.
Description:
The UK based biotechnology SME was established 4 years ago and has perfected the extraction of a natural biopolymer. From this, it has produced home compostable thin packaging films which have attracted huge interest from global brands and others who now wish to use this to replace single-use plastics in a wide range of situations.
The company is preparing to build its own extraction facility to produce its biopolymer at commercial scale during the second half of 2022 and wishes to collaborate with a manufacturing partner between now and then, to perfect its home-compostable packaging film and its manufacturing process, under a manufacturing agreement.
Production methods must include accurate film forming (via casting, slot extrusion, tubular extrusion, knife-over-roller deposition or similar) in the range of 20 to 50 microns with state-of-the-art drying to achieve high speed low cost of manufacture of reel-stock packaging. Capacity should be a minimum of 15M square meters per annum in the first instance and preferably able to be done on a single site and with potential to scale-up rapidly thereafter.
Type (e.g. company, R&D institution…), field of industry and Role of Partner Sought:
An established manufacturer of packaging films (20 to 50 microns thick) to produce a minimum of 15M square meters per annum, in the first instance. Capabilities include operating under ISO compliance standards for regulated markets such as food, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals.
Technical Specification or Expertise Sought:
It is expected that interested parties provide a profile of their organisation comprising their expertise and capabilities against the outlines provided as follows:
Production methods must include accurate film forming (via casting, slot extrusion, tubular extrusion, knife-over-roller deposition or similar) in the range of 20 to 50 microns with state-of-the-art drying to achieve high speed low cost of manufacture of reel-stock packaging. Capacity should be a minimum of 15M square meters per annum in the first instance and preferably able to be done on a single site and with potential to scale-up rapidly thereafter.
Other advantageous capabilities include:
1) a pilot facility to enable different blends/recipes to be trialled to speed up the transition from the lab to the factory environment, and further improve product functionality;
2) existing compliance standards for Food, Pharma and medical devices such as BRC, FSSC22000, ISO13485, GMP;
3) quality testing facilities on-site;
4) facilities for converting finished reels of packaging film to articles such as pouches and bags to add further value to the products; 5) expertise in blending water based biopolymers to produce viscous solutions or gels for extrusion or equivalent film-forming;
External code:
BRUK20210820002
