Glob­al Bioen­er­gies & Clari­ant: devel­op­ment of new bio-based cos­met­ics poly­mer for more nat­ur­al formulations

Glob­al Bioen­er­gies (IBB net­work mem­ber), a lead­er in indus­tri­al bio­tech­no­logy and Clari­ant (IBB net­work mem­ber), a world lead­er in spe­cialty chem­ic­als, today announced the devel­op­ment of a new bio-based poly­mer for cos­met­ic creams and lotions, which is derived from renew­able isobutene. Developed with Glob­al Bioen­er­gies’ sug­ar-based isob­utene, Clari­ant’s new ingredi­ent is a rhe­ology mod­i­fi­er that influ­ences for­mu­la­tion vis­cos­ity and achieves spe­cif­ic sen­sori­al and tex­tur­iz­ing prop­er­ties for creams and lotions. It con­tains more than 50% renew­able car­bon, and con­sequently meets the ISO 16128:2016 stand­ard for nat­ur­al and organ­ic cos­met­ic ingredi­ents and products. The bio-based poly­mer is a break­through for the industry as it is proven not to change the prop­er­ties of an applic­a­tion, offer­ing for­mu­lat­ors a dir­ect 1:1 altern­at­ive to pet­ro­leum-based equi­val­ents. The build­ing block of Clari­ant’s new cos­met­ics ingredi­ent is cur­rently pro­duced on a small scale at Glob­al Bioen­er­gies’ demo plant loc­ated in Leuna, Ger­many. The com­pan­ies are work­ing on upscal­ing pro­duc­tion with lar­ger volumes. Ralf Zer­rer, Head of Stra­tegic Mar­ket­ing and Innov­a­tion at Clari­ant, states: ​“Sup­port­ing our cus­tom­ers in the Per­son­al Care industry with sus­tain­able, bio-based ingredi­ents is a key pri­or­ity for Clari­ant. The demand for ingredi­ents based on renew­able resources is here to stay and will become the norm among brands in the very near future. With our new poly­mer, we are delighted to expand cur­rent lim­ited oppor­tun­it­ies for for­mu­lat­ors look­ing to improve the sus­tain­ab­il­ity of their for­mu­la­tions, let­ting them make an imme­di­ate switch without com­prom­ising applic­a­tion prop­er­ties or per­form­ance.” Marc Del­court, CEO of Glob­al Bioen­er­gies com­men­ted: ​“Renew­able isob­utene is a widely used build­ing block for cos­met­ic applic­a­tions and we are excited by the oppor­tun­it­ies it presents for new bio-based ingredi­ents to address the needs of niche mar­kets. Our rela­tion­ship with Clari­ant is strength­en­ing, and we expect to con­tin­ue build­ing our net­work of part­ners as we pre­pare for lar­ger capa­cit­ies.” Source: Glob­al Bioen­er­gies S.A.