Sustainable Ingredients JV Future Origins Completes Pilot Scale Activities

Future Origins—a US-based joint venture aimed at commercializing sustainable alternatives for cosmetics, personal care and cleaning products—has formally launched. Founded by Geno, Unilever, Kao, and L'Oréal, the JV will commercialize and manufacture high-volume sustainable ingredients for widely used surfactants.

The companies behind the JV say product development activities are already achieving important benchmarks, including completed 63,000-liter pilot-scale fermentation runs that produced several tons of material. A fraction of that material was further processed to make hundreds of kilograms of detergent alcohols. Future Origins says it 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, according to stakeholders.

Future Origins plans to have its first commercial-scale manufacturing plant under construction by 2025. Under the current timeline, Future Origins will start the full-scale production by 2028.

“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 fermentation-based technology and proprietary engineered microorganisms to produce more sustainable surfactants.

“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,” said Richard Slater, chief R&D Officer at Unilever, which commands the No. 1 spot on Happi's 2024 International Top 30 Report.

“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” added 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.”

Mohamed Kanji, chief open innovation officer and operational excellence for North America at L'Oréal. said the beauty giant was thrilled to see Future Origins reach its latest milestone.

“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,” Kanji said in a statement.

“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, SVP of business operations at Future Origins.