Over a year has passed since Hive partnered with CuanTec last January; a very busy and exciting year for the CuanTec team who are now rapidly approaching some exciting milestones in the development of their Commercial Demonstrator Plant.
WHAT DO CUANTEC DO?
CuanTec’s facilities utilise shellfish waste that would otherwise be incinerated to extract chitin, a naturally occurring biopolymer, with a wide range of applications in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries. CuanTec’s proprietary technology naturally maintains the full chain length of this amazing biopolymer while providing the purest grade chitin available anywhere in the World. This year, Hive has been supporting CuanTec in their activities in preparation for scale-up to industrial-scale production, with construction now underway. Their site, located in Glenrothes, Scotland, is set to go live in summer 2023 and will kick-start CuanTec’s goals of reducing plastic pollution, reducing carbon emissions, and tackling food waste.
CUANTEC’S FIRST BIODEGRADABLE PACKAGING PROTOTYPE
CuanTec have now also created their first fully biodegradable packaging prototype, made in collaboration with Colpac. This prototype was on show at The Packaging Innovations and Empack show in Birmingham this February. These initial prototypes included the fully biodegradable CuanSaveTM films in use in a sandwich box window and would be suitable for disposal even in paper recycling. CuanTec’s ultra-pure chitin is now enabling the production of products, like these, that have never been commercially available before. With the support of their partner Colpac, CuanTec hope to further develop this, and other, prototypes and have a positive impact on the packaging industry.
THE FUTURE FOR CUANTEC
The next steps of CuanTec’s development will be to complete the construction of the first factory in Glenrothes, as well as finalising trialling and commissioning their product ready for their big entrance into the chitin and packaging markets before the end of 2023. Looking further ahead, CuanTec will be rapidly seeking to expand its production capacity and its business into 2024 and beyond. We look forward to sharing more news with you as CuanTec move on to the next steps of its journey!
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