Western Australian biomaterials company Nanollose has just commenced onshoring its core production, analytics and testing capability domestically to speed up its journey towards commercial output.
Nanollose has been pioneering tree-free fibres and biomaterials, used across textiles and other products such as wet wipes. Over the last year, the company began focusing more heavily on textiles, with much of this material being used in the fashion sector.
Australian fashion brand Lee Mathews and global fashion group Inditex have been some of the companies trying out the fibres.
According to Nanollose, onshoring its core operations will give it more control over the pace of development and the ability to dispatch material for equipment evaluation.
“This will dramatically shorten our development and iteration cycles, allow us to prepare material for vendor trials and generate data required to support process optimisation and the design of the company’s first dedicated pilot-scale facility,” CEO and managing director Andrew Moullin said.
Initial analytics equipment is now operational and improving the speed of in-house analysis. Further key equipment has been ordered for delivery during the current quarter.
Nanollose is also progressing site selection for larger, fit-for-purpose premises in Western Australia to house the incoming equipment, as well as an expanded team and pilot-scale capability. Establishing this capability locally “may improve” the firm’s access to non-dilutive R&D grant funding opportunities tied to Australian research and development activity, which the company is pursuing with an advisor.
As part of this major transition, sustainability and engineering expert Danielle Nardini has been appointed as operations and engineering manager. She brings more than 16 years of experience, including leading the transition of emerging technology from prototype to commercial deployment.
The move towards onshore production is being bolstered by ongoing improvements in Nanollose’s current production, with the company reporting an 80 per cent efficiency uplift over the revised method used for the fourth pilot spin of Nullarbor fibre.
The company is also reporting growing interest in its materials, with a “high-profile international brand” requesting a 50 kilogram sample of a specialised fibre grade that sits outside its core commercial pathway. Nanollose is endeavouring to fulfil this using its existing process.
The grade requested is technically challenging, and success is not a prerequisite for the broader commercial viability of Nullarbor fibre. But Nanollose noted the enquiry nonetheless demonstrates genuine interest in the technology/product and that delivering it would represent a significant technical achievement.
“We also made tangible progress across key process stages,” Moullin said. “Successful local trials identified a potential solution for industrial dewatering, while equipment testing with a European supplier identified a pathway for washing at scale.
“Further trials are focused on confirming performance with larger volumes and determining the appropriate equipment specifications for purchase.”
Nanollose ended the fourth quarter of FY26 with a cash balance of $1.35 million, more than double what it held at the end of March 2026.
Much of this came from a $1.58 million funding raise in April.
During the fourth quarter, Nanollose incurred net operating cash outflows of $647,000, comprising research and development expenditure of $261,000, advertising and marketing expenditure of $33,000, staff costs of $71,000 and administration and corporate costs of $282,000, together with $2,000 of finance costs, offset by $2,000 of interest received.