UK company gains CDR / HSE authorisation
“We provide a complete service, and can deliver EMC2 Ethanol on a next day basis.”
The Ethylene Management Co designs and manufactures ethylene generators for ripening fruit such as bananas and avocados. These catalytic generators were developed by John O’Brien who is now a Director of The Ethylene Management Co. John used to run British Ripening Machines (BRM) and prior to 2014 BRM were also supplying ethanol to put into the generators. This was until they were informed by the Chemicals Regulations Division of the Health and Safety Executive (CRD / HSE) that ethanol had been classified as a pesticide and the company would require authorisation to carry on trading our EMC2 ethanol.
“Unfortunately, the cost of the new analytical requirements and consultancy fees far exceeded the amount our company could afford and we subsequently were forced to cease trading,” said John O’Brien.
“Over the next six years and with the help of an innovation bridge from the University of Bedfordshire we were able to prove that our ethylene generator (which is still branded BRM) and ethanol were more than capable of achieving the new levels of purity / impurities which are > 90% ethylene with no ethylene oxide (carcinogenic) above 1 mg per Kg. Our ethylene generator and denatured ethanol (which is branded EMC2) achieved a market leading purity of 99.6% ethylene with no impurities only 0.4 % 02 (water).
“With this knowledge we decided to re-finance the business investing this in extremely costly analytical and consultancy services. We also obtained legal help from Altion Law, a specialist law firm who have been a fantastic help to us in getting our approvals for EMC2 ethanol in place.”
Denatured alcohols, such as EMC2, are highly regulated substances and every part of the distribution chain must be licenced with the correct certification. In addition, some people aren’t aware that approvals are required not only from the CRD/HSE but also from HMRC. This is due to ethanol being alcohol. John has now managed to achieve all the required approvals and is now selling EMC2 Ethanol along with the BRM ethylene generators again. He is the only UK company who is doing this.
While John was out of the market the only source of ethylene has been from a US company with a UK subsidiary who seemed to have a monopoly on the market.
“Since we were last trading, the input costs have increased but we can still sell our products cheaper than the imported ones. Also, our ethylene generators are designed and built on our own premises from components sourced in the UK, and our EMC2 ethanol is a UK manufactured product blended and packaged in the UK. We believe this also gives them a lower carbon footprint than imported products, as well as being cheaper. It’s a win win.”
Ethylene Management Co Ltd are now the only UK company to hold CRD /HSE authorisation to the 2019 requirements, as well as the required HMRC approvals, and can now supply ethylene generators and EMC2 ethanol as a complete package.
“We provide a complete service, and can deliver EMC2 on a next day basis. Since the 2019 CRD deadline EMC2 Ethanol and our BRM ethylene generators are currently the only fully compliant product on the market in the UK.
“We have invested almost £100,000 in getting our product to market and unlike our competitor we will not be increasing the price due to our monopoly, we will give you a price promise to supply below the current price and once our investment is repaid we will further reduce this. The more UK Ripening companies that use our product the sooner our investment is repaid then the sooner we can bring the price down.”