The contracts will enable the Chinese company to utilize the Hydal technology, developed by a team of assistant professor Ivana Marova at Brno University of Technology (BUT) in Brno, Czech Republic. It is a unique and revolutionary biotechnology that can convert waste frying oil on biopolymer, of which bio-plastics are produced. “We have just entered a phase of pilot line constructing and at the same time building of the first large factory,” said Ladislav Mares, Chairman of the Board of NAFIGATE Corporation. The revenue generation expected from the deal has not been revealed.
The Czech Hydal biotechnology utilizes used frying oil from which polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is produced — a material that can be used especially for the production of bioplastics and other products. The Chinese company, Suzhou Cleanet specializes in the collection and processing of used frying oil in several places in China and is preparing for further expansion. Ladislav Mares, Chairman of the Board of NAFIGATE Corporation explains: “The Chinese party has a great interest in our biotechnology because we offer a solution to one of China’s major waste problems: the Chinese market has a huge surplus of used frying oil. It is a waste product, so Hydal biotechnology can achieve significant economic operation. Its biggest advantage is that, unlike competitors’ solutions, it does not require input from the food chain — it does not consume corn or sugar, which is then missing in the balance of food supplies”.
H. E. Libor Secka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to China, confirmed that a joint venture in the field of applications of such unique technologies as Hydal is exactly the kind of project that deserves support of official authorities of the Czech Republic and China. “We do not just perceive it as a bilateral project, but as concrete fulfilment of cooperation in a hi-tech area, which has been intensively discussed at the EU-China level or in the context of negotiations of Central and Eastern European countries with China (so called Warsaw Initiative). I firmly believe that similar projects will continue to increase in number. This course will be supported by a planned CzechTech China Center, which is currently being built in Suzhou and which should serve as a platform for Czech technology companies in various industries which are interested in the Chinese market,” said Libor Secka.