Photo: Tallinn University
Tallinn University and Teras Perfumes tested how domestic pine, eelgrass and yarrow could be used to produce natural essential oils and, in the future, domestic perfumes. Teras Perfumes reached out to Tallinn University’s chemical analysis laboratory through the Adapter collaboration platform, looking for a research partner to implement its development project. The company’s goal was to create natural perfumes from plants of Estonian origin, but the project quickly expanded beyond what was originally planned.
“During the initial meetings, we came to the understanding that it would be worth starting from the beginning – with the production of perfume components, or essential oils,” explains Mari-Liis Leinus, head of the Tallinn University of Technology’s chemical analysis laboratory.
“We developed a production process, optimized it, and determined the yield to assess whether the production of essential oils would be economically feasible. We also analyzed the composition, quality, and potential for use in the perfume industry of the resulting oils.”
Essential oils from Estonian plants
The project tested the production of essential oils from pine, eel wax and yarrow. Although the perfume industry is traditionally strongly rooted in France, for example, Leinus sees a clear opportunity for Estonian entrepreneurs. “There are not many manufacturers of perfumes or their components in Estonia, but rather producers of hydrosols. Therefore, Teras Perfumes has a great competitive advantage in the immediate region in producing more concentrated fragrances that can be used in the creation of perfumes,” he says.
During the work, practical challenges also had to be faced.
“The main difficulty was combining the growing season of the plants with the summer vacation period and organizing the picking at the right time,” says Leinus.
“We had to catch the moment when the plants were ripe, pick them at that exact moment, and after picking, quickly deliver the plants to the laboratory and immediately start experimental work so that the plants would be at their freshest during distillation and contain as much essential oil as possible.” The challenges were solved in close cooperation with the company. “The client did everything possible to quickly pick the plants and deliver them to the laboratory, and we started work immediately upon arrival of the material,” says Leinus.
The project lasted one year, during which the plants to be tested and their collection areas were mapped, distillations were carried out, and the material preparation process and distillation parameters were optimized to obtain the highest yield and highest quality result. This was followed by quality control, during which the volatile compounds contained in the essential oils were determined by gas chromatography.
The analysis focused on the qualitative analysis of the volatile compounds of the highest yielding prototypes and the quantitative determination of key compounds. “Every project is different for us,” emphasizes Leinus.
“We always start from the client’s needs and look for the best solution together. Based on our experience so far, there have been no two development projects that are completely similar.”
To finance the work, Teras Perfumes used the Innovation Share of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Foundation (EIS), which covered 80% of the project cost. The company itself paid only 20% of the costs excluding VAT, plus a portion of VAT.
Although the collaboration with Teras Perfumes focused primarily on the development of essential oil production and analysis, it clearly shows how partnerships between research institutions and companies can lead to the birth of new, locally-sourced products that have many opportunities for follow-up projects. “Within the framework of follow-up projects, it is definitely possible to reach the point of creating a perfume,” Leinus is convinced.
Product development with the support of EIS
To facilitate the creation of new products, Tallinn University, in cooperation with the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Foundation (EIS), offers companies the opportunity to collaborate and order services within the framework of the innovation unit, applied research and applied research small project support.
The innovation component is a targeted support from the EIS to procure services necessary for product development from an innovation service provider, such as Tallinn University. EIS support can be applied for by a small and medium-sized enterprise entered in the Estonian Commercial Register and a project aimed at developing a novel solution for which the applicant lacks the resources, knowledge, skills or experience. Support can be applied for, for example, to manufacture a prototype, technological development of components, testing and demonstration, to organize product testing and industrial experiments, to conduct a feasibility study, to provide legal advice, research and registration of a patent, utility model or industrial design, but also, for example, for accreditation or certification.
