CuanTec begins Chitosan production in Scotland

After 7 years of scientific development, CuanTec, the Scotland-based bio-science company, announces the start of production of high-quality Chitosan at its manufacturing facility in Glenrothes, Scotland. Cuantec's customers will benefit from high-quality products made from sustainable raw materials with the added support of a highly skilled workforce.

CuanTec Ltd ("Cuan": Scottish Gaelic word for "ocean"), is a British bio-science company producing Chitosan from natural, sustainable sources such as crustacean shell. It is committed to the highest quality production and traceability standards to meet the exacting standards and specific needs of our customers. CuanTec has been perfecting the process to successfully extract Chitin, the naturally-occurring structural biopolymer contained in crustacean shell, and to then convert into Chitosan. It will be sold as an ambient storable dry powder to customers across industries and applications such as biomedical devices, dental, veterinary, agriculture, water purification, cosmetics and university research as a valuable ingredient with unique properties.

CuanTec is targeting a rapidly growing global market for Chitosan, with various estimates around 23% per annum and worth about $12 billion in 2023. While the global market is largest in South East Asia, the most rapid growth is expected to occur in the USA and Europe in the next 10 years.

As Chitosan is a natural biopolymer, which is biodegradable and ocean-friendly, it has attracted interest in replacing fossil-fuel based polymers. Also, due to its many natural properties such as medical therapeutic performance, metal chelation, gelling, film and fibre forming, chitosan has increasingly found favour in situations improving people's quality of life such as wound dressings aiding recovery from medical procedures or other trauma situations. An amazing product indeed with multiple benefits, which is now being commercially realized across the world.

Rupert Maitland Titterton, CEO of CuanTec Ltd, commented: "I am absolutely delighted that this full team effort, from investors to the scientific team to everyone in the construction team, means that we are now ready to produce. In all our discussions with customers, they have demanded a high specification product, with very traceable supply chains -and I am delighted that we can now provide this Chitosan to the market. From the scientific results I have seen, I am confident that we can produce to the very highest standards the market requires. I am also very pleased that by processing shell-fish byproduct to upcycle into a valuable product, we are building a sustainable circular economy business, creating valuable bioscience-based jobs and helping society towards our collective Net Zero goal".