1 July 2006
University of Bristol
Riverlynx Ltd
Riverlynx Ltd, a Bristol-based business supplying herbicide carriers for weed control, entered into a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with the Bristol Colloid Centre at the University of Bristol to develop an in-house manufacturing facility which would enable the company to expand their product range.
One of the many benefits arising from this KTP was the launch of a new product with significantly improved properties, allowing conventional herbicides to be used in a new and more effective way. The establishment of the in-house manufacturing facility was completed sooner than expected and helped to increase profits from sales of these new products by 30%.
The KTP brought together the departments of Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering, two normally disparate areas of science, to deliver practical solutions to the company.
Riverlynx felt that the partnership with the University of Bristol had helped them to develop products of the highest quality to better meet the needs of their customers.
Riverlynx Future
Riverlynx is now the UK's leading supplier of sprayers and carriers for Controlled Droplet Application. Riverlynx has a huge range of customers including local authorities, the National Trust, landscape gardeners and contract weed control companies. The Lance and Controlled Droplet Application are the UK's premier products in this field.
Riverlynx has capitalised on the original programme by employing the Associate, Paul Chan, to help them register with Defra to develop and supply the CDA together with the herbicide, eliminating the need to mix at the point of use. A licence will be issued shortly.
"KTPs do exactly what it says on the tin. They transfer knowledge from a university to a company in order to improve a strategically important aspect of the company's business.
A large amount of formulation work was undertaken for Riverlynx by the Bristol Colloid Centre. A number of raw materials were studied to produce the final solution to match the original specifications. This was the trickiest part of the programme, but the lance spray head is now exceptionally easy to clean."
Dr. Paul Reynolds, New Business Manager of the Bristol Colloid Centre, University of Bristol and supervisor of this KTP programme.
