OC gas production know-how.

When you say "OC gas" I assume you are referring to what we carry here in the US as "pepper spray."

First, you will need a source of the highest-yielding peppers in your region. The natural compound is better and causes fewer toxicity reaction issues than the synthetics (like the Russians have tried). For instance, Mexican seeds for "hot" strains of Habenero may be imported to any farm with which you have a contract (to grow them for you).

Capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) is what you are after, along with a method of keeping it a fresh liquid (not gas) in a thin carrier solvent/oil and a compatible propellant.

The method used to determine the strength of your current batch of extract (oil-based, by the way...it is not water soluble) is called High Performance Liquid Chromatography. You can find a good university description and links to manufacturers and other info here: pharm.uky.edu/ASRG/HPLC/hplcmytry.html - and the individual equipment manufacturers can help you with the details of setting up a testing station that meets your quality control and volume needs for the OC liquid extract.

Other compounds are sometimes added to the better quality products, such as UV active dye, so the police can positively identify a suspect after he has run away and washed off the pepper.

Your packaging (size of can, thickness of the aluminum, method of sealing the valve, supplier for the nozzle) can probably be simply purchased from an existing manufacturer of cannisters for other uses, such as small travel-size anti-perspirants or perfumes; or find the supplier of the equipment that one of these non-competitors used to make them in-house.

I have read of a similar product that was injected into each open cannister, after which the cannister was inspected for correct fluid level and continued to the next machine, where each was mechanically sealed with the valve assembly (not under pressure yet), then the propellant was injected under pressure through the valve.

Good luck - and hope that helps a bit.

Most helpful. you are right on the money.

We have the facility to grow the pepper, that is no problem. and we did experiment with extraction of locally grown pepper which turn out to be too mild. However, I would like to cut the learning curve to minimum, and do not want to invent the wheel. This is why I want to buy know-how. All the mechanical and electronics, are again no problem. just the chemical, and the expertize on how to make, store load the gas is what we need to learn. any recommendations?

Wangito.

OH - a couple of misc thoughts/notes...

UV dyes may make your solution unstable, be sure to test your non-water-based UV dye (over time), if you add one.

IF you decide to purchase the extract rather than make it yourself, do NOT use "food grade" OC, pay the extra bit for a "pharmaceutical grade capsaicin" and sell that as a superior feature of your spray. The cheap OC sprays that come out heavy, red, and don't aerosol much or have to be shaken, are the ones that used cheap food-grade OC. They also don't work well. No one will buy your spray a second time after seeing that. Go for a non-vegetable-oil, non high-carotenoids pure Capsaicin, which is nearly colorless, and keep it that way so users can tell your quality immediately as "better than the other cheap one."

You may wish to simply search www.ecplaza.net for "capsaicin" or if you are in China, try Nanjing Elegant Nutraceuticals at phone #86-25-83241153 for their 60/20/15 extract, which would be effective enough, I believe. Ask them for what solvents they use for extraction, and you may have a good idea of what will keep it in solution.

Do NOT use methylene chloride, as it is toxic and can cause permanent eye damage, resulting in the user being possibly held liable for injury to the attacker (stupid as that may seem. We have the "ACLU" lawyers here in the US that will sue any victim in court for damages or injuries they make to their attackers).

You will also likely wish to avoid vegetable oils, as the scent from pepper spray in solution with vegetable oils may actually attract wild animals like bears.

Don't bother with tiny lip-gloss-sized mini-sprays for self-defense unless you find some unique nozzle and make it very strong % of capsaicin, since the amount they spray, the distance and the stream vs. aerosol distribution make tiny sprays fairly ineffective against a large attacker, bear, or dogs.

I have seen some 40g cans (2.5cm diameter, 9cm tall) that were borderline, but OK for up-close personal repellant, like for a girl scaring away one person - the smallest I'd bother to have around would be the 80g can - it seems to be the smallest compromise between size and any effective range/product delivery. Most full size cans here are "8 ounce" cans (225g), with others saying 12-15 ounces but that appears to be including the weight of the can, which is fraud.

Oh, and as for marketing, we often see something like "10%" or "15%" OC, which as you know is misleading, since food-grade OC is very low in % of actual capsaicin. You could make a valid marketing claim that yours has an "effective OC%" much higher than food-grade competitors, using typical percentages for the comparison.

Also seen in advertising here is the so-called "Scoville Heat Unit" or S.H.U., even though it is an antiquated term from back before we had scientific chemical analysis and it is misleading, and often misused. However, people here expect to see it, so go ahead and calculate an approximate valid number, and explain in your marketing literature what the difference is between your solution and the cheap stuff. 100% Capsaicin has a reference rating of 15,000,000 SHU. Reference SHU's for the other OC components, like Dihydrocapsaicin and Nordihrocapsaicinoids at about 9,000,000 give you a good idea of what a 60/20/15 product is made up of, then calculate from your dilution ratio to determine a valid number, but don't let your product get below about 2,000,000 SHU calculated this way, to maintain effectiveness - which is about 17% (I'd shoot for >3mil at 25% so you have a marketing advantage, or make that a "Premium" formula available in the same sizes and packaging with a different color).