Follow us…
Published By
Latest Issue
Ashland opens two more technical centres
Personal care in India, pharmaceutical applications in Germany
Ashland’s Ashland Specialty Ingredients unit, which supplies natural, synthetic and semi-synthetic polymers derived from plant and seed extract, cellulose ethers and vinyl pyrrolidones for various industries, has opened its new Care Specialties technical centre at the Jaswanti Landmark in central Mumbai. It has also announced plans to open a pharmaceutical application laboratory in Düsseldorf in December.
John Panichella, newly appointed group operating officer and senior VP of Ashland Specialty Ingredients, commented: “Looking at the number of requests for assistance from companies in India over the past several years, it is obvious there are a number of advantages, for both Ashland and our customers, with a local technical team in Mumbai.” This brings the total number of centres of excellence and technical centres worldwide to ten.
The centre will be a focal point for R&D work with Indian customers in personal and home care, a market that is currently growing at about 15%/year in India. It will also cover the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. Its main activity will be working with marketeers and manufacturers on new products. The technical team will also provide preservative efficacy studies and general formulation support upon request.
Key features will include: dedicated formulation laboratories for hair, skin, oral and home care; controlled environment laboratories for measurement science to support claims substantiation; a microbiology laboratory for preservative optimisation and micro challenge tests; consumer science laboratories, including a hair salon; a laboratory for customer collaborations; and, a training room.
The new pharmaceutical application laboratory, meanwhile, will similarly be part of a global network, which includes numerous laboratories and research centres. It will offer technical support to Ashland's European customers in both pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals and also give applications training and technical seminars.
The equipment there will cover all of the processes required for classical pharmaceutical formulation and research, notably drug solubilisation, including hot-melt extrusion and spray drying. Other areas of focus will include granulation, coating and tableting, including direct compression, roller compaction and wet granulation.