Partnership bids to boost biomass-based cosmetic ingredients production

P2 Science and Desmet Ballestra SpA (DBI) have joined forces in a bid to use both companies’ technology and process to produce biomass-based flavor, fragrance and cosmetic ingredients.

The deal sees the renewable chemical company (P2) and the global engineering firm (Ballestra) enter into a partnership for the commercialization of Ballestra's reactor technology in P2'S proprietary ozonolysis process for the production of these ingredients.

Green chemistry

“The clean, value added conversion of biomass is a key route to renewable specialty chemicals,” says P2 Science, whose novel ozonolysis technology for the conversion of vegetable oils and terpenes has demonstrated lab-scale success, particularly in the fragrance ingredient market.

The U.S.-based company has already installed and run a pilot scale falling film reactor from Ballestra at P2's lab in New Haven, Connecticut.

It says the partnership is initially focused on scaling up the technology to support production and sale of commercial quantities of products within a 12 month timeframe.

Looking ahead, the companies recognize many larger scale markets beyond flavors and fragrances where the jointly developed technology could be applied, including surfactants and polymer intermediates.

Partnership

P2 Science is a venture backed company, using patent pending ozonlysis technology to convert biomass into specialty chemicals.

Initial target products include renewable versions of existing F&F ingredients as well as brand new molecules, to date inaccessible via existing chemistry.

P2’s proprietary process known as hybrid ozonolysis (HO) converts biomass into aldehydes for use in fragrances and flavors, di-acids for use in cosmetics and polymers, and derivatives of aldehydes, such as alcohols, esters and surfactants, for use in cosmetics, personal care products and lubricants.

The process advances existing technology by improving efficiency, safety and end-product diversity. The company has licensed some of its intellectual property from Yale University.

Ballestra is a global chemical process engineering company with a leading market position in plants for oleochemical, surfactant and detergent production.

The partnership with P2 around P2's ozonolysis process is an important part of Ballestra’s strategy to broaden the application of its technology to additional growing chemical markets.