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Cyrene production to increase

Posted on 1 March 2021

GCCE industrial collaborator Circa Group have successfully raised over €50 million through a private placement enabling them to fund the construction of a one thousand tonne a year plant for the manufacture of Cyrene, the solvent invented in collaboration with the GCCE.

Circa Group's new plant will be located in France. Larger manufacturing plants are already being planned to meet the increasing interest in Cyrene^TM.  Shares in the company are expected to be listed on Euronext Growth Oslo.

Cyrene^TM is a novel biobased solvent that can replace existing, toxic and fossil-based solvents like NMP and DMF in some applications. The total market potential for Cyrene^TM is estimated to be more than one million tonnes, and there are currently almost no viable and safe alternatives available at large scale. Global chemicals distribution giant, Merck KGaA, has already provided a Letter of Intent covering the entire Cyrene^TM production capacity of the French plant.