Now part of the Personal Care Business Line, the company explains that new subsidiary was created in 2016 when Evonik acquired French start-up Alkion Biopharma SAS, ‘experts in biotechnological production of plant-based active ingredients’.
Evonik states that its plans to develop the site into a center for plant-based active ingredients, and notes that it hopes to maximise on opportunities posed by the facility’s proximity to the University of Tours’ plant biotechnology department.
“Our impressive portfolio of cosmetic active ingredient specialties already includes ceramides, sphingolipids, and peptides, so we are pleased to complement these with this very attractive technology,” says Dr. Tammo Boinowitz, head of Evonik’s Personal Care Business Line.
“Now, with this addition, Evonik can offer customers tailored, plant-based, high-performance active ingredients – in highly concentrated and reproducible forms, all manufactured in a process that conserves resources.”
Specific technology
Evonik Advanced Botanicals has developed a process for cultivating plant biomass under laboratory conditions and recovering beneficial extracts achieving an extraordinarily high yield of complex ingredients, it states.
The technology itself is based on the plants’ ability to produce a broad spectrum of secondary metabolites when required. Evonik hopes to utilize this potential without modifying the plant genome.
According to Evonik, this makes it possible to produce plant extracts with a high concentration of the desired bioactive substances.
The added value this kind of process offers is something many ingredients suppliers are investing in, with Naturex and Ashland examples of other players active in this area with similar or related technologies.