Key innovations during FY 2022-23

Our R&D efforts translated into several breakthrough innovations across our business segments during the year.

Specialty Materials

• Green silica: Continuing the development of specialised grades of highly dispersible silica (HDS) from rice husk ash (RHA) for tyre applications
• Environment-friendly process for silanes: Developed organic solvent-free process technology, having less volatile organic compounds (VOCs), to make tyre-grade silanes
• Water-based ZnO grade developed with customers: Replaced organic solvent to create water-dispersible ZnO for personal care applications, to provide better UV protection

FOS & Nutrition

• New FOS variants: Developed a new variant of FOS powder, having low bulk density and low water activity, to facilitate probiotics with longer shelf-life
• Development of healthy gummies to help replace sugar with a sweet and healthy prebiotic, scFOS, providing healthier and guilt-free choice for end-customers’ sweet tooths
• Co-created innovative applications of FOS with customers, to improve mouth feel in end-products, leading to better customer delight
• Improved availability of bioactives in medicinal plants through Aeroponics (Davana, Rose Geranium and Patchouli), leading to lower mortality of plants and increased natural oil content

Agrochemicals & Seeds

• Developed multiple active ingredients based synergistic herbicidal combination (RIL-401) to control all types of weeds as post emergent application for wheat
• Formulated “RALLIZIN”, a suspension-based highly efficient micronutrient fertiliser, rich source of zinc for foliar application, that helps in reducing heavy metal load in soil
• Established customised water soluble fertiliser as a platform technology for development of crop for apple, cotton, vegetables and grapes

The way forward

Specialty Materials

• Next-generation Silica: Building product portfolio for catering to silicones, paints, and other emerging areas
• Continued co-development: Of various application-specific silica products to deliver science-differentiated product and solutions
• Sodium chemistry for batteries: Focus on developing sodium-based energy storage solutions for next-generation batteries
• Biomass-based Bio-Energy: Focus on developing high-energy solutions products (bio-briquettes, bioChar) from energy-rich biomass / agri-waste

FOS & Nutrition

• Continued co-creation with customers for innovative FOS applications
• Encapsulations: Building encapsulation technology platform to enhance the thermo-stability and increase the shelf-life of minerals and bioactives
• Sustainable Next-generation agricultural technologies: Enhancing aeroponics and hydroponics technologies for the production of bioactives from medicinal plants and creating awareness among the farming community on sustainable agri-practices and opportunities
• Focus on strengthening fermentation-based platform through development of effective probiotics, synbiotics, bio-enzymes
• Seeding synthetic biology technology platform to develop high performance bio-enzymes for higher enzyme activity

Agrochemicals & Seeds

• Development of safer formulation developments (e.g. water-based, vegetable oil-based, non-solvent-based)
• Exploration of bio-based reaction systems for synthesising the products linked to the biological origin
• Development of efficient solvent recovery and recycling of reagents across all projects, to achieve the process chemistry targets