ICURe Discover
Innovate UK commercialisation programme
Innovate UK commercialisation programme
Nitrocellulose is frequently the least reliable material in a product and the least dependable link in the supply chain that delivers it. We are developing a fully synthetic alternative with consistent, repeatable performance batch after batch — and we want to hear how the current material is failing you.
One unreliable material. Three industries built on top of it. The same problems everywhere it goes.
Rocket motors, lateral-flow tests, printing inks and nail varnish have almost nothing in common — except a dependence on nitrocellulose, and the reliability and supply headaches that come with it. A synthetic alternative addresses all four at once.
A drop-in synthetic replacement for the largest and least reliable component of your product — removing a failure mode that currently affects a real share of what you make.
A homogeneous, repeatable precursor that does not drift between batches — so you no longer need to stockpile two years' worth of a single batch just to guarantee consistency.
Consistent chemistry removes the recommissioning project — frequently over £100,000 every two years — that precursor variability forces on regulated manufacturers today.
Synthetic production is resilient to geopolitical and supply-chain disruption, and can scale to whatever quantity you need — rather than whatever the market happens to have.
Nitrocellulose fails differently depending on what you build with it. Choose your sector below.
Nitrocellulose is the largest and most unreliable component of a rocket motor — failing in around 5% of cases. It comes in just four grades, and its supply is exposed to exactly the geopolitical pressures a defence or space programme cannot afford. The same material, and the same problems, sit inside flares, gas generators and line-throwing charges.
Replace the single most unreliable component of your rocket motor with an alternative engineered to perform consistently, every time.
A three-fold increase in available grades compared with the four grades of nitrocellulose — giving motor developers far more design freedom.
A synthetic route that is not susceptible to geopolitical disruption or complex international supply chains, available in whatever quantities a programme requires.
Eliminate the recommissioning project — regularly in excess of £100,000 — that your key precursor forces on you every two years.
Propellant and rocket-motor manufacturers, small-arms ammunition producers, space delivery vehicle builders, ejector-seat and drone manufacturers, and producers of flares, gas generators, cable cutters and line-throwing charges — along with the precursor suppliers who serve them.
In lateral-flow tests and immobilisation membranes, nitrocellulose is the component that decides whether the device works. Its batch-to-batch variability is why manufacturers stockpile years of a single lot — and why performance still drifts.
Replace the largest and most unreliable component of your immobilisation membranes with a synthetic alternative built for consistent, repeatable binding performance.
A homogeneous, repeatable precursor that does not vary batch to batch — removing the need to hold two years' worth of one batch to protect device performance.
Consistent chemistry means fewer revalidation cycles and less risk of a supply change quietly altering how your assay behaves.
Available in the quantities you need, when you need them — without exposure to the disruptions that have repeatedly hit membrane supply.
Manufacturers of lateral-flow and rapid diagnostic tests, immobilisation membrane producers, and makers of sterilisation and filtration membranes.
Inks, coatings, varnishes and cosmetics all lean on nitrocellulose — and all inherit the same variability, storage burden and supply fragility, usually without the budget to absorb it.
A synthetic alternative that behaves the same way every time — whether it is going into a printing ink, a coating, a varnish or a cosmetic formulation.
A repeatable precursor removes the reformulation and re-testing that batch-to-batch variation forces on production lines today.
Avoid the stockpiling and storage burden that comes with securing a consistent supply of conventional nitrocellulose.
Synthetic manufacture can meet demand in whatever quantity is required, insulated from the supply shocks affecting the wider market.
Manufacturers of printing inks, coatings, lacquers and varnishes; cosmetics and nail-lacquer formulators; and producers of adhesives, films and other cellulose-based specialty products.
We are in the discovery phase and genuinely want to understand your challenges. The survey takes about two minutes, and there is nothing to buy — this is research.
This research is led at the University of Edinburgh's School of Chemistry as part of ICURe Discover, Innovate UK's commercialisation programme. Whether you have two minutes for the survey or half an hour for a conversation, your input directly shapes where this technology goes next. Discussions can be held under NDA where appropriate, and no confidential or export-controlled information is requested through this page.
