Liverpool University 300
THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL is to collaborate with consumer goods and detergents giant Unilever and sugar producer AB Sugar to develop plant-based alternatives to petrochemical ingredients found in a wide range of personal care products.
The work to develop more sustainable sources of raw materials that could be used in shampoos, cleaners, moisturisers and many other products will be carried out at the Centre for Materials Discovery, part of the University’s chemistry department, and Unilever’s research laboratories at Port Sunlight.
The market for alternative chemicals is potentially huge.
The research has been funded by a £2.8m grant from the government’s £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund.
The money will be used to build a micro-refinery at the university.
Professor Andrew Cooper, who is leading the research, said: “Consumers don’t always realise that these products have some very sophisticated molecules in them based on oil and therefore there is a long term issue about sustainability.”