Libra boosts salt-free betaines

Libra Speciality Chemicals of Irlam, UK, which makes and blends active ingredients for home and personal care, has invested £3.5 million in a new plant to manufacture the new low-salt betaines it has developed. This will also increases the site’s total betaine capacity by around two thirds and double the firm’s size.

Libra, a subsidiary of the GRI Group, claims that these betaines perform better as formulators, while also requiring a third less energy to manufacture using its own manufacturing technology. Certain brands are already working to reformulate products using them and these could be on sale within a year.

The AI-powered plant can produce more than 1,000 tonnes/week of betaines and can be operated by a single worker, the company added. GRI CEO Graham Royle called it “a transformational investment that will help create a new generation of environmentally-friendly, renewable plant-based cleaning products that are sulphate-free, energy-efficient and create zero waste”.