The R&D Department of POLYHEALTH S.A. is one of the strongest competitive advantages of the company. Is served by a modern and high tech Laboratory with extensive pilot scale Engineering facilities and access to novel cutting edge processing techniques oriented to be used in the natural bioactive compounds research and new product development. The infrastructure and the equipment of this Laboratory allows research on nanotechnology applications and isolation and encapsulation of polyphenols from olive vegetation waters as well as from any other natural source.
The Department has access to membrane technology facilities (Microfiltration, Nanofiltration, Reverse Osmosis) which are used for the clarification and concentration of the natural antioxidants or any other bioactive natural substances. Additionally, there is an installation with macroporous selective adsorption resins for separating the polyphenols by adsorption-elution process. An ATEX type spray drying equipment is also available and it is capable of creating micro or even nano-capsules of polyphenol in various encapsulants and consequently dry the sensitive natural bioactive material in a safe way without compromising their bioactivity and functional properties. Furthermore, two pilot scale freeze dryers are available to be used for lyophilization of even more sensitive raw materials preserving thus their bioactivity and bioavailability. An advanced CO2 supercritical extractor is also available for experimentation and developmental work concerning the production of high quality natural extracts from any kind of natural raw material.
In addition, a complete analytical Lab. Consisted of:
- GC-MS-MS Chromatography
- HPLC-MS-MS Chromatography
- FT-RAMAN , FT-IR & FT-NIR Facility including microscope
- ICP-MS Equipment
- UV-Vis Equipment
Also is available to be used by the personnel of the R&D Dept as well as a synchronous Microbiology and Bioassays Laboratory to complete the full panorama of the available facilities that allow high level research , development and validation of novel bioactive natural products which are intend to be used for human health without imposing a negative footprint to the environment.
The current projects of R& D Department are:
- Optimization of the extraction of lycopene from solid tomato wastes by Super Critical Fluid Extraction. This project has been successfully completed and its industrial application is pending.
- Production and nano-encapsulation of natural bioactive extracts from olive leaves by supercritical extraction and validation of them. It has just started.
- Production of an antioxidant enriched syrup containing hydrotyrosol, tyrosol and other olive polyphenols to be used as dietary supplement for human consumption.
