In-cosmetics Global 2026: AmphiStar spotlights sustainable biosurfactants
05 May 2026 | AmphiStar
We spoke with Pierre-Franck Valentin, CEO at AmphiStar, to discuss the company’s work in biosurfactants. AmphiStar is “the only” producer making biosurfactants from waste streams, ensuring that its products are free of toxic components and fully biodegradable. Its AmphiNova range offers over 80 cost-effective, sustainable biosurfactants that can be tailored to meet the needs of each partner. Pierre-Franck shared the company’s plans for the future, including the launch of new biosurfactants with a multicustomer approach.
This is Ella Ja Donal for Personal Care Insights at In Cosmetics Global 2026.
I am joined by Pierre Franck Valentin, the CEO of Amphistar.
Hello, Pierre.
So just to get started, you are showcasing AMIcare surfactants at In Cosmetics Global 2026.
Can you expand a little bit on how these bio-based surfactants differ functionally from traditional fossil or palm derived surfactants in personal care formulations?
So these surfactants are made from waste and side streams, and of course they differ first from the life cycle analysis, which is much better than all other surfactants that exist on the market and especially the fossil and palm base, but what we differ also is that we have products which are made from bioprocess which have and absolutely no problematic or toxic type of components in it.
There is no dioxane, for example, which is something that you can find in some fossil surfactants.
They are biodegradable and also they have some enhancedmless properties which are very important in the cosmetic market.
And your recent life cycle analysis shows significant reductions in CO2, land use, and water impact.
Like you said, How can formulators leverage these sustainability advantages to meet upcoming regulatory and brand commitments to futureproof their operations?
More and more push on the market to get rid of palm-based, fossil-based surfactants.
This is a really a good offer that we have to be able to replace these types of surfactants in all types of formulation and of course what we do, we also propose some enhanced formulation to our customers which are optimized in terms of cost and performance, of course.
And can you please explain how your microbial fermentation.
An upcycled feedstock approach helps brands accelerate clean beauty and circularity credentials without compromising on sensory or mildness metrics.
So we are the only producer producing biosurfactant coming from waste streams.
So that's really something which is a brand new offer on the market.
And here we are evolved because of the formulation support that.
We can provide to help our customers in formulating with these biosurfactants because a biosurfactant doesn't replace 1 to 1 fossil or palm oil base.
You need a formulation really to enhance a new formulation to enhance the properties, and that's what we are proposing with these totally 100% upcycled biosurfactants.
And you recently launched the Amphinova platform offering over 80 molecules sourced from biological waste byproducts.
How does this expand what formulators can achieve in sustainable personal care?
So these Ofhinova are really brand new surfactants, biosurfactants that don't exist on the market, and what we bring with these new Orfinova brands and products are products that have new and enhanced.
Functionalities which really bring for example better foam, better mildness, better emulsification properties, and of course what we also do with this Enova platform is to enhance the cost because it's very important to have cost effective biosurfactants as , performance, cost, and of course we have the sustainability because they are also 100% upcycled.
OK, and my final question is, looking ahead, how is AMIStar's biosurfactant designed a molecule platform enabling tailored solutions for specific personal care categories?
So what we do with this, we have a double approach, a dual approach.
So either we go in specific partnership where we tailor made some biosurfactant for different applications or different benefits, and here we work with some big customers, big companies in this area.
And what we do, that's the second approach is launching, and this will be happening in a few months, new biosurfactants with a multi-customer approach that we are proposing with, of course, enhanced functionality compared to any biosurfactant that exists on the market.
So that's really this dual approach that we have on our Infinova platform.
OK, perfect.
Thank you very much, Pierre for joining us.
