Phytocat funded for two-more years!
In funding results announced today by the New Zealand Government’s Catalyst Fund, the Phytocat collaboration between University of York in the UK, University of British Columbia in Canada, and Chris Anderson, was awarded NZ$300,000. This two-year project will further develop the findings of the initial G8-funded Phytocat project which finished in 2015. Chris Anderson leads this next phase of research from Massey University, and the collaboration has been bolstered through the inclusion of world-class New Zealand chemists from Massey University and the University of Otago.
The funding awarded today will allow Phytocat to explore the yield and value of functional chemicals that can be generated from nickel-rich biomass. These chemicals have tremendous relevance and application into Green Chemistry, a strategy that exploits waste to manufacture products with minimal effect on the environment. Over the next two years the Phytocat team will develop current ideas into a business plan for commercial-scale research and development.
The Phytocat team is at the forefront of phytomining technology. Phytocat is redefining the value proposition of phytomining away from the actual metal, towards the products that this metal can catalyse within plants.
A description of all projects funded by the Catalyst Fund this year is available here.
