Future Origins Launches from Joint Venture to Develop Sustainable Ingredients in Personal Care and Cleaning Products, Announces Completion of Pilot Scale Activities

Unilever, Kao Corporation, L'Oréal and Geno backed entity completed 63,000-liter pilot on time and is advancing toward 2025 decision on first commercial plant

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Future Origins, a U.S. based joint venture that is commercializing sustainable alternatives to critical ingredients in the formulations of everyday cosmetics, personal care and cleaning products, formally launched today at the American Cleaning Institute's Innovation Showcase. Future Origins was founded by industrial biotechnology leader Geno, Unilever, Kao, and L'Oréal to commercialize and manufacture high-volume sustainable ingredients for widely used surfactants such as laundry detergent and face wash.

Future Origins' product development activities are already achieving important benchmarks. The recently completed 63,000-liter pilot-scale fermentation runs have produced several tons of material. A fraction of that material was further processed to make hundreds of kilograms of detergent alcohols. Future Origins is shipping these products to commercial partners for use in a variety of applications. This run provides critical data necessary for the design of its first commercial plant, anticipated to start operations in less than five years.

"We are at a moment in time where the innovation in biotechnology is meeting the demand for sustainable alternatives. Support from the United States for growth in biotechnology and biomanufacturing has enabled businesses to produce innovative products with significant potential environmental benefits," said John Gugel, CEO at Future Origins.

Future Origins will use Geno's proven fermentation-based technology and proprietary engineered microorganisms to produce more sustainable surfactants. Future Origins' high-volume drop-in replacement ingredients will have a significantly lower carbon footprint than their current counterparts and will also align with increasing regulatory requirements and corporate commitments for a deforestation-free supply chains.

Richard Slater, Chief Research and Development Officer at Unilever, said: "We have invested in Future Origins because we believe in using science to help us transition to ingredient sourcing routes that are sustainable for the long term. Biotechnology sits at the intersection of science and sustainability and holds huge potential for futureproofing our business, as well as the planet."

"Through our partnership with Future Origins, Kao aims to produce more sustainable ingredients for use in our home and personal care products, as well as supply derivatives to its chemical business customers" said Masahiro Katayose Senior Executive Officer, President, Chemical Business at Kao. "By establishing such new supply chains that are traceable and transparent, we will further promote responsible raw material sourcing."

"We are thrilled to see Future Origins achieve this significant milestone with our joint efforts, propelling us towards our vision of a more sustainable and responsible beauty industry," said Mohamed Kanji, Chief Open Innovation Officer and Operational Excellence for North America at L'Oréal. "This collaboration reflects our dedication to innovation and sustainability and sets a precedent for the broader industry and consumer options. We are proud to lead in this transformative journey, demonstrating how partnerships can effectively unite beauty with environmental responsibility."

While product development activities continue to advance, Future Origins plans to have their first commercial-scale manufacturing plant under construction by 2025. Under the current timeline Future Origins will start the full-scale production within three years, by 2028 as planned.

"We look forward to meeting and working with industry partners interested in gaining early access to these sustainable products and reserving capacity in the commercial scale plant," said Dr. Priti Pharkya, Senior Vice President of Business Operations at Future Origins.

More information can be found at www.futureorigins.com.

SOURCE Future Origins