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Unilever signs $200 million deal for renewable algae oils

TerraVia, formerly known as Solazyme, has pioneered the use of algae technology to produce specialist ingredients for the food and consumer goods sector on a commercial scale. The oil will be produced at its Solazyme Bunge Renewable Oils facility in Brazil, which produces more oil per hectare with a lower greenhouse gas footprint than nearly all major commercially available plant oils. The latest agreement builds on an initial supply relationship between the two companies for renewable algae oils that Unilever began incorporating into its products in 2014.

Jonathan Wolfson, TerraVia’s CEO, said: “Our mission is to deliver products from algae that are better for people and better for our planet.”

Published 8 years ago | About a 2 minute read

Jonathan Wolfson, TerraVia’s CEO, said: “Our mission is to deliver products from algae that are better for people and better for our planet.”

He added: “The growth of our partnership reflects over seven years of collaboration during which we have demonstrated our ability to develop and deliver unique, high performance, and highly sustainable oils at scale, as we continue our shift to focusing on higher value products.”

"The decision to use algae oils is fully aligned with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and with our goal to grow the business while reducing our overall environmental footprint"

Alan Jope, personal care president of Unilever said: “The decision to use algae oils is fully aligned with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and with our goal to grow the business while reducing our overall environmental footprint. We have been working with Solazyme for many years to develop novel ingredients from algae, which improve the performance and sustainability profile of our personal care products. Solazyme has already been delivering consistent, sustainable and high performing algae oils, and we look forward to this next and greatly expanded commercial phase of the relationship.”

The production facility in Brazil is co-located with a Bonsucro-certified sugarcane mill that uses the waste sugarcane material, known as bagasse, as a renewable source of energy.