The manufacture and purification of Tissuemed’s adhesive polymers and film products has traditionally relied on the use of a significant quantity of flammable solvents. Solvents are excellent for purification purposes but they present handling and storage challenges and are not particularly environmentally friendly. As part of the scale-up of its manufacturing, Tissuemed is continually striving to switch to more environmentally friendly processes and is making significant progress. Specifically:
- Implementation of a water-based purification process for polymer manufacture will reduce solvent usage by 2000 L/yr.
- Ongoing work to minimise the use of solvents for film casting processes
- Continual research into and adoption of environmentally friendly low solvent alternatives.
- Carbon capture of solvent fumes rather than venting into the environment.
- Recycling of waste materials and minimising electricity consumption used during manufacturing processes.
- The company has the longer term goal of achieving ISO14001 Environmental Management accreditation