It's been a long time coming, but Procter & Gamble Co. might soon be seeing some bottom-line benefit from olestra.

Twin Rivers Technologies is making new versions of "sucrose polyester" in the plant it bought from P&G at Ivorydale. And in partnership with P&G Chemicals, it's getting some interest in those products from companies that need a lubricant for machines that process food.

"We've had some success generating a lot of interest, and we're just starting to see our first orders," said Paul Angelico, president of Quincy, Mass.-based Twin Rivers.

Olestra, remember, was the fat substitute P&G once touted as a breakthrough. P&G spent 30 years and more than a half a billion dollars developing olestra, eventually putting it on the market under the brand name Olean.

But it fell flat with consumers, and P&G wrote down its investment in the product in early 2001. Last year, it sold the Ivorydale plant to Twin Rivers, retaining the brand and marketing rights.

One of the first jobs is getting the plant up to capacity. It had fallen to about 10 percent before the purchase, but has increased that another 10 percent, Angelico said.

Come one, come all

We've heard for years that biotechnology was going to be the Tristate's future high-tech centerpiece, and in March, we'll hear it yet again.

Educators, researchers, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs will converge March 10 and 11 on the Kingsgate Conference Center for a Life Sciences Conference. Presented by a consortium of the University of Cincinnati, the University of Louisville, the University of Kentucky and Wright State University, along with high-tech advocates in each city, the program will explore how educators can turn research into profits.

Conference information on Web site.

No more bananas?

"It is one of the world's favorite fruits, but the banana hasn't had sex in years and its days may be numbered," the Reuters report from London said.

According to Chiquita Brands International Inc., it's not as bad as that. Not the sex part, but the rumored end of the banana.

A Belgian scientist is predicting that unless genetic manipulation intervenes, diseases and pests will ravage international banana crops. For companies like Cincinnati-based Chiquita, that obviously would be, as they say, a negative development.

In 2001, Chiquita harvested more than 106 million boxes of bananas. Spokesman Mike Mitchell said the company has been fighting the same diseases for years, and isn't about to stop.

"We're very confident bananas aren't going to go away," he said.

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com