Solazyme, producer of renewable oil and bioproducts, has won the 2014 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for its breakthrough platform technology to produce sustainable oils and products from microalgae for commercial use in a wide range of industries.
The company produces renewable oil and whole algal products from microalgae that produce a nearly unlimited variety of sustainable oils. This technology also provides the ability to produce multiple types of higher value sustainable oils regardless of season, geographic origin and feedstock source. Moving forward, Solazyme's microalgae-based technology platform is poised to deliver new building blocks of green chemistry that can help reduce environmental impact while creating innovative and better performing products.
The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award promotes the environmental and economic benefits of developing and using novel green chemistry. This annual award recognizes technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture and use. Since its inception in 1996, the EPA in partnership with the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute has received thousands of nominations from leading companies, entrepreneurs and academic researchers pioneering new discoveries.
In July, Solazyme and AkzoNobel announced they have expanded their agreement for the joint development of Tailored™ algal oils. The expansion provides for funded development, as well as agreed key terms for a multi-year supply agreement targeting annual supply of up to 10,000 MT of the oils, pending successful product development. The parties expect that the algal oil will be able to replace both petroleum- and palm oil-derived chemicals.
Solazyme has a similar development agreement with Unilever — in April, the companies announced the incorporation of their Tailored™ algal oils into Unilever’s Lux brand soap (branded Caress in the US), the world’s first soap brand to be made with algal oil.
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Founder, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published Oct 20, 2014 7am EDT / 4am PDT / 12pm BST / 1pm CEST