Can an olive oil waste product reduce the cost of biosurfactant production?
When olive oil is obtained through a two-phase process, one of the byproducts is alperujo. This material is something of an environmental burden downstream. “Alperujo is… a first-class environmental and management problem for the regions where oil is elaborated, due to its polluting load and the immense quantities in which it is produced,” explains a press item from the University of Granada (where some of the researchers are based).
Ingredient production
The researchers, from the Regional University of Blumenau in Brazil, Ulster University in North Ireland, and the University of Granada, have found a way to use alperujo in the production of both biosurfactants and monoglycerids.
In their biotech process, the olive oil waste product was the carbon source. And strains of Bacillussubtilis and Pseudomonasaeruginosa were also used.
According to the University of Granada press item, “this may be a breakthrough for obtaining biosurfactants at a lower cost.”
Ecological advantage
Ingredients that limit industrial waste and otherwise “make beauty products more ecologically responsible” are becoming quite prevalent. It was just last month that Cosmetics Design honored ingredient companies and their product developers with the first Best Ingredient Made from Recycled Materials Award. The award calls attention to innovation in this space.
Sustainable and environmentally responsible ingredients are evermore viable as science and technology advance. Today, ingredient makers “don’t need to compromise performance or cost to put forward a sustainable alternative,” Ro Oteri, global business director for the Neossance portfolio at Amyris, told Cosmetics Design when his company won the 2016 Best Ingredient Made from Recycled Materials Award.
