Herty Advanced Materials Development Center (Herty), Savannah, Ga., USA, an applied research center of Georgia Southern University, has officially launched the opening of its new Advanced Chemical Processing (ACP) pilot facility. The new ACP pilot facility allows Herty to expand its research programs and client services to those companies seeking to develop and test new advanced materials required in today’s international and increasingly competitive markets. Applications range from the development of protein specific fibers for pharmaceutical purification to the production of biomaterials for automotive parts.

The new ACP, a significant complement to current in-house capabilities, allows the development, testing, and production of a wide range of advanced, specialty, and high performance materials, like nanocrystalline cellulose—an exceptionally strong, low-cost, renewable composite material that has multiple applications in the automotive and aerospace industries, and one of the most promising renewable biomarterials for this industry. It also enables Herty to process a wide variety of materials from minerals to polymers for industrial, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical applications, as well as for pulp bleaching.