Unilever partners biotech firm to develop plant-based alternative for its cleaning ingredients

UK – Unilever has announced an ambitious partnership with Nufarm, a global agriculture innovator, to develop and commercialise a crop of the future, which if successful, could reduce its reliance on petrochemical-based ingredients

According to the leading home and personal care products maker, the project aims to cultivate a crop of the future with significant biomass to produce more sustainable oils, from abundant crops such as cane and the cereal, sorghum.

The company adds that the breakthrough of the new technology is that the oil will be grown using the entire plant, not just the seeds and fruits.

“The biomass oil – derived from plant material, including the leaves and stems – will be a source of fatty acids, a core base ingredient for our laundry detergents and beauty and personal care products,” the firm revealed, in contrast to the typical scenario, where plant oils like sunflower and canola are produced in the seeds and fruits.

Big ambitions for sustainable future

“Our investment will leverage recent breakthroughs in biotechnology to develop a new, commercially viable variety of energy cane that can also produce biomass oil,” added Unilever.

“The goal of this technology is to reduce our reliance on petrochemical-based ingredients and would be the first time a biomass crop has been optimised to produce the plant-based oil which, if successfully grown at scale, will be used as an ingredient in consumer goods products.”

Nufarm, Unilever’s partner in the project, has previously developed and commercialised a variety of sugar cane called energy cane, a sustainable crop which generates significantly more plant matter and sugar than traditional sugar cane.

In its current form, energy cane already has sustainability benefits such as climate stress tolerance, drought resistance and more efficient protection of soil against erosion. It also has harvesting benefits for farmers and the environment.

The project aims to replicate and build on these traits in the new crop which would contribute to Unilever’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction ambitions in ingredient sourcing.

“As well as being more robust, the aim is for no parts of the crop to go to waste. In addition to oil, the plant will also continue to produce sugar, which we hope could be used in other biotechnology processes to generate speciality ingredients such as fragrances and enzymes,” explained the company.

Unilever further added that it will also explore if the leftover plant fibre can be used to produce paper and board for packaging.

“By continuing to invest in biotechnology, we aim to further unlock the power of nature and build a more sustainable and diverse supply chain for the future,” says Neil Parry, Head of Biotechnology at Unilever.

“This partnership enables us to identify alternative ingredients for our household, beauty and personal care brands which will further support our ambition to reach net zero emissions across our value chain by 2039.”

According to the company, raw materials and ingredients account for approximately 52% of its GHG emissions in scope of its net zero ambition and represent the largest emissions source.

The partnership is one way in which they are seeking to utilise biotechnology to advance sustainable sourcing of critical raw materials.

The first phase of the project will be used used to support the research and development of the plant biotechnology.