Pair plan pectin production from food waste

Food ingredient company Pectin 360 says it is using homegrown technology to re-establish pectin production in Australia, something that hasn’t been possible in decades.

Pectin is a vegan setting or gelling agent made from fruits and essential for products including jams and preserves, yoghurts, nutraceuticals and confectionery. It’s also currently an obstacle for some local producers wanting to claim 100 per cent Australian-sourced products.

Pectin 360 has teamed up with commercialisation and engineering business Scimita Ventures to make pectin and dietary fibre locally, upcycling these ingredients from waste streams such as citrus skins and apple pomace. 

The pair first met in the second half of 2021, and since then Scimita’s assistance has included a technology landscape analysis, selecting the most promising technologies, and process improvement. Scimita has also become a shareholder.

“By using our TRL / CRL methodology to cut through the cross currents and complexity of this project, to discover the signal in the noise, we were rapidly able to distil both the technical and commercial keys that will drive Pectin360’s viability and help Australia restore a critical manufacturing process,” said Dr Mobin Nomvar, Scimita’s co-founder, in a statement on Thursday. 

“We can be a world leader in this space.”

According to Scimita, a February 2024 detailed techno-economic assessment for a pectin and dietary fibre plant highlighted “attractive economic returns and the production of pectin at a cost-competitive price to imported pectin.” 

The two are apparently not the only ones with pectin plans.

According to Ingredient supplier Extracta’s website, it plans to begin manufacture this year, “re-establishing a lost industry in Australia, with new manufacturing sites on the horizon – Australian-produced pectin will be back on our shores.”

Nomvar was a recent guest on the @AuManufacturing Conversations podcast and Scimita is part of this title’s Australia’s 50 Most Innovative Manufacturers list for 202. Click here for the interview.

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