- Innovate UK support: New Innovators Fund and Collaborative Research & Development
Case Study: Turning Welsh wool into sustainable feed ingredients for the future of farming
LanoTech Ltd is developing an innovative feed ingredient that transforms British sheep wool into a valuable resource for agriculture. With support from Innovate UK, the company is tackling two pressing challenges facing Welsh farming: the low value of wool and the UK's reliance on imported feed fats such as soya and palm oil.
For many upland farmers, wool is worth less than the cost of shearing, creating a real economic burden. At the same time, the UK imports large volumes of environmentally damaging feed ingredients, relying on long global supply chains and subject to price volatility.
Clodagh Weingart, LanoTech's founder and managing director, describes LanoTech's innovation as "solving two problems with one solution". LanoTech produces feed-grade lanolin from the natural grease found in all British sheep wool. Lanolin naturally has a higher energy density than soya making it suitable for use in monogastric animal feed. LanoTech's circular approach returns value to an underused by-product of sheep farming.
Innovate UK support has been central to progressing the technology through successive stages of development. Early funding through the New Innovators programme established technical feasibility. Welsh Government SBRI support validated digestibility, the first live feed trial and significant progress on the regulatory pathway. LanoTech's feed-grade lanolin is now provisionally listed on the UK Feed Materials Register.
Clodagh Weingart explains that "The support from Innovate UK has allowed us to move from an idea to a validated feed ingredient with a clear route to market. Our extraordinary rate of progression simply would not have happened without it."
Current Innovate UK Collaborative Research and Development funding will support two further live animal trials, in aquaculture and poultry respectively. The poultry trial will take place at Scotland's Rural College (SRUC). The five-partner project consists of LanoTech, Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, SRUC and Mentera Farming Connect, and advances the technology toward commercial demonstration.
The project is designed with rural deployment in mind. Lanolin refinement facilities will be established in sheep-farming regions across Mid and North Wales, creating skilled jobs in chemistry, engineering and operations while providing new income opportunities for upland farms. Prominent feed manufacturers sit on LanoTech's advisory board, providing commercial perspective and ensuring the product meets real market requirements.
Environmental impact is a core project driver. Replacing imported soya and palm oil with Welsh-derived lanolin has the potential to reduce carbon emissions in agriculture while strengthening domestic supply chains. Quantifying this impact with a complete Life Cycle Assessment is a project deliverable and the responsibility of Bangor University.
At its core, LanoTech's innovation uses Welsh wool, currently a low-value commodity, as the raw material for a high-performance, home-grown feed ingredient.
Project facts
- Business: LanoTech Ltd
- Location: AberInnovation, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion
- Innovate UK support: New Innovators Fund and Collaborative Research & Development
- Focus: Sustainable feed ingredients derived from sheep wool
- Key innovation: Refining lanolin for feed-grade use
- Wider impact: Reduced reliance on imported feed fats and new income streams for farmers
