Profitable Plant Extracts
May 16, 2011 7:14 PM   Subscribe

I have a chemist friend who specializes in extracting compounds and chemicals from organic matter. I was thinking of running some numbers around to find the feasibility of creating a profitable endeavor with his skill and lab equipment. What is a very profitable plant extract that is legal (well.. legal to sell in most states in the US)?
posted by digdan to Science & Nature (15 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Huh? I'm not really understanding how you're going about this. Unless your friend is going to invent and patent some kind of novel method of extraction, the hard part is running the operation at scale and getting your product in the hands of distributors and consumers. Why should people buy from you and your friend instead of a larger manufacturer that makes massive batches of your product? Who will you sell your compounds to and what kind of pricing and terms will they demand? How much product are they going to want to see before you are worth their time to talk to you?

Maybe it would be worthwhile to seek out someone with experience in the organic compound manufacturing and supply industry and to get more insight into how the industry operates before you jump into this further.
posted by zachlipton at 7:31 PM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


Agreed with the other responder. It's a huge leap to go from "skilled at chemistry in a lab" to being able to run a business with that skill as the product.
posted by dfriedman at 7:39 PM on May 16, 2011


There are already companies that do this on a large scale, too efficiently for you to compete. They'd bury you on cost alone.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 7:56 PM on May 16, 2011


You can try to extract Taxol from Yew tree, but you need to do it industrial scale to make it profitable.

I can't really think of anything useful you can extract on laboratory scale. If there's something plant-based that's legal and profitable pharmaceutical company would already have made a pill for it.

Have you think about about how much regulations you need to comply to set up a lab?( Federal EPA, State EPA, OHSA, Dept of Transportation, and etc. agencies. ) I can tell you right now, FDA is not fun to deal with. Organic chemicals you need to extract anything useful from plants are no joke to deal with, most of them are extremely flammable. Lab equipments are not cheap. All the chemical wastes generated are not cheap to dispose either.

Unless you already have a product in mind, I can't really see how you can make this a profitable business.
posted by Carius at 7:58 PM on May 16, 2011


One other question: who owns the lab? Unless the lab and all the equipment is your friend's personal property, the lab's ownership is a likely problem for this business endeavor. Most university and corporate labs aren't going to be too happy if one of their employees is using the lab for personal profit. Even though all the equipment might be there and available, using it to make compounds for sale puts additional wear and tear on the equipment, consumes common resources, including utilities, stock chemicals, and waste disposal, and potentially creates health and safety risks that the lab has no interest in assuming on your behalf.

This would, in fact, be a very good way to get fired at many institutions.
posted by zachlipton at 8:08 PM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


Taxol already has a famous artificial synthesis pathway.

When I first read your question I first thought alternative medicine and food related stuff. But really anything medicinal requires GMP procedures, which you cant do in your kitchen, and food extracts are all done on massive industrial scales. If there is a nitch that you and your friend on a two person scale can fit into it would be in riding the edge of quasi-legal and new things that arn't or haven't yet been commercialized and marketing by word of mouth to communities of enthusiasts.

Just please please don't kill anybody with a half understood process or use a research lab for any of it, there is a reason why chemists don't live so long.
posted by Blasdelb at 8:13 PM on May 16, 2011


Perfumes, perhaps?
posted by hattifattener at 8:33 PM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


I wonder if you could do custom smaller jobs profitably. I have zero expertise here, so it's just an idea.
posted by theora55 at 8:54 PM on May 16, 2011


You could do well in the "naturopathic" or whatever scene. Go to a "health" "herbal" shop and see what they're offering.

Buy said stuff in bulk from non-boutique store. "Extract" the "good stuff" and sell online.

That's all shit, though.

What is your friend's extraction experience? The technique/process actually matters as to what/kinds they're experiences in extracting.

extracting compounds and chemicals from organic matter

You ever brew coffee? You're extracting compounds and chemicals from organic matter.

Make a mug/pot of tea? Yeah, you're doing the same thing.

Need to know more about your friend's expertise, experience, and techniques.

I have extracted "fake lebanese blonde" from "industrial" shake with butane but that doesn't mean that I have access to commercially worthwhile stocks of raw ingredients or have a profitable pipeline to disperse it.
posted by porpoise at 9:33 PM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


Perfume or essential oils for flavoring might do well, actually, if you're selling it as a boutique product. Small-batch, handmade perfume; extracts of a certain flavor from a particular cultivar of fruit or vegetable that you can sell to a fancy molecular gastronomy restaurant; etc.
posted by Jon_Evil at 9:55 PM on May 16, 2011


Not sure what's the popular herbal extract at the moment, but it's possible to make a very small business depending on what plants are in your area. When I worked at a Wild Oats in the plant extract fru-fru section one of my co-workers would go out into the New Mexico outlands and pick some plant or another and make an extract to sell to friends. There was a relatively good market for that type of thing among the hippy types in New Mexico. Valerian, Shitake, Rescue-Remedy blends, Rose, Echinecea, you name it, shelves and shelves of the stuff, some 1 fl.oz. bottles going for $15-$20. But that is totally not chemist/lab work. Little more than dumping plant material into high proof alcohol and letting it seep for a while and pressing. I think it's more of a you have the plants and are making the extract for yourself and selling the extra than a business plan though.
posted by zengargoyle at 10:10 PM on May 16, 2011


Poke around in herbal gram research reviews for plants that have potential for future profit.
posted by hortense at 12:14 AM on May 17, 2011


If the legal thing wasn't part of your criteria I would urge you to look into LSD synthesis. A big hungry market out there, I am sure there are profits to be made.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:52 AM on May 17, 2011


I've seen instructions for extracting the Nepetalactone out of catnip.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 4:47 AM on May 17, 2011


Best answer: digdan: "What is a very profitable plant extract that is legal (well.. legal to sell in most states in the US)?"

Stevia. It's well over a $100m industry at this point.
posted by mkultra at 8:27 AM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


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