NiTech Solutions, has gained additional investment funding of approximately £800,000  (approx $1.6m) by PUK Ventures, the venture capital arm of Partnerships UK.  The funding follows on from a previous investment of about £1 million by Braveheart Investment Group and the Scottish Enterprise Co-investment fund made in December 2006. 

NiTech was introduced to PUK by Braveheart, the technology commercialisation and investment management company, and this funding will allow further development and commercialisation of its applications, such as their use in producing biofuels. 

NiTech Solutions has developed a patented mixing technology for use across a wide range of industry applications.  The technology, known as the Continuous Oscillatory Baffled ReactorTM (‘COBR’), was developed to meet the specific needs of manufacturing customers such as Genzyme and FujiFilm in the UK and Avebe in Holland. 

COBR can be used by companies within the process industries to lower costs by 50% and reduce process time by 90% in manufacturing a wide range of commodities including chemicals, drugs and biofuels.  The technology has advantages over traditional manufacturing processes in terms of cost and performance – making manufacturing faster but without compromising on product quality.  Use of COBR also reduces the environmental impact of a process because of its lower use of energy compared to traditional methods. 

The investment will enable NiTech to create additional reference sites for its applications and drive forward its commercialisation activity.  Ian Laird, Managing Director of NiTech Solutions, said: “Since Braveheart’s initial investment last year we have demonstrated the use of our technology for commercial applications such as crystallisation and hydrogenation, and won new customers across a range of industries.  We welcome this additional investment from PUK Ventures which will allow us to accelerate the next phase of commercialisation.  It will enable us to further strengthen our proposition and build on what we have already achieved.”

NiTech has recently signed a contract with its first biodiesel customer, Phoenix Fuels based in Nottingham UK.  Their live production plant will be commissioned in December 2007.