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Ceapro Inc.
April 2012
Ceapro Develops Dehydrated Beta-Glucan
Ceapro PEI is a branch of Ceapro Inc., based in Alberta, and has had a laboratory operating on Prince Edward Island for nearly two years. They have been producing beta-glucan and other therapeutic ingredients from oats for the past fifteen years. Unlike other oat beta-glucans of high molecular weight (800-1500 kDa), CP oat betaglucan has been shown to effectively penetrate into the skin.
Ceapro's proprietary extraction and formulation technologies produce a liquid beta-glucan for use in nutraceuticals, personal care products, and pharmaceutical applications. Ceapro has now succeeded in making beta-glucan in dried form at BIO|FOOD|TECH's pilot plant in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. This new dehydrated beta-glucan is an improvement over the liquid beta-glucan now used because it is preservative-free, will have a long shelf-life, and is very light in weight to transport.
Process data obtained though studies will allow Ceapro to determine the economic viability of this novel and innovative process. The extraction vessel that was used to produce the dehydrated beta-glucan is unique and some of its parts were tailor-made specifically for Ceapro's beta-glucan process. The vessel uses recycled carbon dioxide and is very environmentally friendly. Bernhard Seifried of Ceapro noted in a CBC Compass interview that, "We wouldn't have been able to perform this pilot scale production anywhere else in Canada". BIO|FOOD|TECH was pleased to be contracted for the $40,000 project and is looking forward to further project work with Ceapro.
December 2010
Client Profile: Ceapro Inc. - Printed with permission of Ceapro Inc.
Ceapro Inc. is a Canadian growth-stage biotechnology company. Primary business activities relate to the development and commercialization of active ingredients for personal care and cosmetic industries using proprietary technology and natural, renewable resources. The commercial line of natural active ingredients include beta glucan, avenanthramides (colloidal oat extract), oat powder, oat oil, oat peptides, and lupin peptides. These active ingredients are used in brand name products by industry giants for applications ranging from wound-care to baby-care, and from sun-care to anti-aging.
As part of a recent news release (Marketwire, Nov. 8, 2010) Ceapro announced that the project the Food Technology Centre is working on for the company continues to make progress. This involves supercritical extraction of active ingredients and downstream processing and purification of avenanthramides. Supercritical extraction uses carbon dioxide in a closed system at high pressure to extract bioactive ingredients from natural resources. This is done in one of the natural products extraction pilot plants at the Food Technology Centre.
"We are very pleased with our collaborations with the Food Technology Centre. This has given us an opportunity to apply these technologies to our business with the goal of improving our products and increasing manufacturing efficiencies as well as to access to the Centre’s top caliber scientific and technology personnel." said David Fielder, Chief Scientific Officer. “We are looking forward to a long-term relationship with the Food Technology Centre”