Future Origins scales up zero-deforestation ingredient for sustainable surfactants

Future Origins has announced a large-scale demonstration campaign of Nalo, its zero-deforestation replacement for C-12/C14 fatty alcohols. Nalo replaces the alcohols commonly used to produce surfactants, which are part of formulations for products such as face cleansers and laundry detergents.  

The company says the campaign has produced more than 10 metric tons of in-spec material in an integrated refining facility. The campaign forms part of Future Origins’ goal of commercializing sustainable ingredient alternatives for personal and home care.  

“Global demand for personal and household cleaning products continues to rise, with the surfactants market projected to grow into a US$57 billion industry by 2028. As this industry grows, manufacturers face an increasing challenge around sourcing sustainable materials, and that is where Future Origins steps in,” John Gugel, the company’s CEO, tells Personal Care Insights. 

According to Future Origins, Nalo offers superior quality and supply chain stability that companies require to meet the increasing demand for sustainability.

Supply chain disruptions

In recent years, the personal care and cleaning industries have faced repeated supply chain disruptions.

“Home and personal care companies currently face a lot of disruption in their raw material supply, especially palm oil. Many contributing factors have led to this disruption, including geopolitics, labor shortages, declining harvests, and recent regulations and concerns relating to sourcing from environmentally sensitive areas,” says Gugel.

“From global geopolitical and trade challenges to raw material shortages, these disruptions have increased delays, price spikes, and operational challenges. When supply chains aren’t transparent, local, or traceable, uncertainty and risk always increase.” 

In recent years, the personal care and cleaning industries have faced repeated supply chain disruptions.Companies across the globe are looking for sustainable, high-performing alternatives to traditionally sourced ingredients. 

“The demonstration-scale success of Nalo shows that Future Origins can meet their volume, performance, and sustainability requirements, making it a credible and reliable alternative for their supply chains,” he says. 

“Supply chain resiliency has always been a top priority. What we are creating with Nalo isn’t just a ‘nice-to-have,’ it’s a must-have for global consumer packaged goods companies. We believe that real success comes from building sustainable, resilient, and sustainable models to enable future business growth.”

Scaling up with technology

Future Origins produces Nalo using proprietary fermentation-based technology and highly engineered microorganisms developed by industrial biotechnology leader Genomatica. 

“We’ve developed and scaled up this technology to ferment plant-based sugars at an industrial scale to manufacture this drop-in replacement. Future Origins will source locally grown, plant-based feedstocks that offer greater traceability and a lower carbon footprint than the current C-12/C14 fatty alcohols used across the personal and home care industry,” says Gugel.

The technology scale-up is in the final stages of completion. “We now know Nalo meets the technical and performance standards required for real-world applications such as detergents, face wash, and cosmetics,” continues Gugel. 

He argues that Nalo’s performance is critical as it makes the ingredient scalable and helps meet the same performance expectations as traditional palm or petroleum-derived fatty alcohols. Moreover, it can be processed using existing equipment and processing facilities.

“This indicates that Nalo can be ready to meet future supply chain needs and represents a major step forward in our efforts toward a Final Investment Decision for our first commercial-scale manufacturing plant.”

Gugel shares that Future Origins is advancing plans for a commercial-scale manufacturing plant. Potential sites are being considered in US states where the necessary feedstocks are available. 

Big industry players

The data from the demonstration-scale work is also being used to advance the engineering design for a commercial facility. 

Future Origins is advancing plans for a commercial-scale manufacturing plant.The purified product from the large-scale production will be shipped to prospective and current partners for testing in multiple applications. 

Future Origins says it is similar to the testing work already conducted for the material produced from pilot-scale production by big industry players such as L’Oréal, Kao, Unilever, and Galaxy Surfactants.

“Our goal is to deliver the materials that are not only sustainably and reliably sourced, but also meet the high standards for our customers. We are pleased that Nalo meets this need, offering functionality and greater supply chain resilience,” says Daisuke Hamada, senior executive officer in charge of Chemical Business at Kao.

Richard Slater, Unilever’s chief R&D officer, comments: “Future Origins is a powerful demonstration of how scientific innovation can enhance our supply chain, bringing together breakthrough biotechnology with scalable execution.” 

“It’s a milestone that reinforces our belief that through leading-edge science, we can create desirable and sustainable products.”