NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

Oil and water famously don’t mix – until surfactants get involved. These molecules act as tiny brokers between two opposites, one end binding to the oil and the other to water, allowing shampoos, detergents, creams and paints to form smooth, stable blends.

But most of the world’s surfactants come from sources with an environmental cost. “Currently 95 percent of surfactants are either derived from the petrochemical industry, so from fossil fuels, or from palm oil,” says Dr Jack Chen, associate professor of chemistry at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). “The rest are derived from food crops, which we want to avoid because it competes with food production.”

Chen and his team have found a new way to make surfactants from cellulose – the fibre found in plants – and in 2024 they launched a start-up, Dot Ingredients, to take their discovery beyond the lab.

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Currently, the nine-employee company is based in a lab at AUT. The particles are made here by first dissolving the cellulose, coaxing it into tiny spheres called nanoparticles, coating these nanoparticles in plant oil, and then finally peeling the oil from one half of the sphere to leave part of it oil-loving and the other water-loving.

Once a batch is made the team test them in the lab for their ability to form an emulsion – a stable mixture of oil and water.

Chen and the team have high hopes for their ‘celluspheres’ (their name for these cellulose particle surfactants) to be used in many different products and industries, but to start they are focused on the cosmetic industry.

“There’s a lot more demand, both from the surfactant producers, from the cosmetic brands, as well as consumers themselves, for greener and more sustainable ingredients,” says Chen. The industry’s higher margins also make it an ideal testing ground before scaling up for cheaper, higher-volume products like paints or detergents.

Even though they are tiny – a human hair is 50-100,000 times wider than a nanoparticle – these new particle surfactants are still larger than existing surfactant molecules.

Head of product Dr Victor Yim has been putting the particles to test in the lab by creating serums and lotions. Having previously worked in product development in a skin care company, Victor knows what to look for, and he’s interested in the differences between traditional surfactants, and their new, larger particle surfactants. “There’s a lot of exciting applications,” he says. “We can make something milky thin that molecular surfactants can’t really do as well.”

For now, they are sourcing cellulose from wood pulp – which is made from wood chips and used to make paper. Something they are investigating, with researchers at the University of Auckland, is whether they might be able to use waste from other industries instead. For example, could they use the cellulose in ‘grape marc’ – the leftover grape skins and stems from winemaking – thereby turning wine waste into a sellable sustainable surfactant.

Currently Dot Ingredients has funding support to get to March 2026, and scaling up production is the next challenge. “We’re still very small-scale, so 100 gram batches, but with the capacity to go up to one kilogram,” says Chen. “Our goal is that in two years’ time we’d be able to make 20 kilogram batches, and that’s enough to serve a couple of product lines in a cosmetic brand.”

They are also experimenting with different types of surfactants – positively or negatively charged, or both, and exploring temperature-responsive variations that could adapt their properties on demand.

While Chen describes himself as “primarily an academic with lots of ideas”, this start-up opportunity to bring something out of the lab into “reality” has energised him “I’m really, really enjoying this journey and it’s kind of sparked our creativity and we think we might have even other startups in the pipeline.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

WARNING: This story includes content that may be disturbing to some readers.

One Rotorua women’s refuge says it has been shocked at the increase in those needing to escape abusive homes over the past 18 months.

But the rise in those affected by family violence isn’t just a Rotorua problem – one Auckland provider told RNZ the economic situation in New Zealand over the last year and a half has compounded the problem.

Jonathon Hagger is on the board of Waiariki Women’s Refuge in Rotorua.

He said they had a feeling more women and their families were needing help, but it was still a shock to see their numbers from the last financial year.

“Our crisis line, which is where they will reach out and ring to say they need help, had a 30 percent increase in volume during the last financial year,” Hagger said.

That ended in June.

“What we are seeing is a trend upwards again, of even greater number of requests for assistance and help for women and families who are experiencing violence or unsafe living circumstances.”

Chief executive of the refuge Sarah Small said it knew the numbers would only increase as the year came to an end.

“And if we are experiencing those numbers I hate to think what other organisations are experiencing as well,” she said.

However, she said she felt lucky that in Rotorua, community services worked together to help people in need.

Further north in Auckland, specialist family violence service provider Shine said it saw a 58 percent increase in women needing to use its refuges over the last financial year.

The general manager of social services at Presbyterian support northern (of which Shine is a part), Grenville Hendricks, said these women had no other safe option and it was difficult to find space and money to support all those in need.

“We rely a lot on our sponsors and our donors to supplement money that we get from government,” he said.

Shine’s refuge manager Sophie Maclaren said food and housing insecurity, job loss, increased meth use and addiction had all contributed to the rise.

She said it was seeing families where violence had not been a problem before.

“Which tells us that all of these stresses are actually adding to [the country’s] problem of family violence,” she said.

Both organisations said more funding and easier access to government support would help as they struggle with the increased demand.

“There’s no extra funding and there’s no recognition for those extra costs so our refuge is at the point where we are considering where do we go from here and what choices do we make,” Hagger said.

Hendricks said bureaucracy could get in the way of quickly supporting families leaving violence.

“To get emergency accommodation for women that need that for safety reasons, often that’s a huge challenge and there’s a lot of bureaucracy we need to go through to try and get that emergency accommodation for them,” he said.

The Ministry of Social Development’s group general manager of enablement, Karen Hocking, said emergency housing continued to be available as a last resort.

“We are concerned to hear a women’s refuge is having difficulties helping vulnerable whānau to access accommodation,” she said.

Hocking said when someone approached the ministry with an urgent housing need, it considered all options to avoid homelessness including financial assistance to start a new tenancy or a referral to transitional housing provider.

“Where possible we refer people escaping violence to transitional housing providers because it offers more stability and tailored support.”

Anti-family violence white ribbon day is on 25 November.

Where to get help

• Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357.
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.
• Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202.
• Samaritans: 0800 726 666.
• Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz.
• What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds.
• Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and English.
• Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254.
• Healthline: 0800 611 116.
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155.
• OUTLine: 0800 688 5463.

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Sexual Violence

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand