TAGS: Sustainability / Natural Cosmetics
Holiferm announces that it has opened its first commercial biosurfactant plant. The plant at Wallasey is a first of its kind facility, it will initially be producing circa 1100 tons of biosurfactant using patented fermentation with integrated gravity separation technology.
Manufactures Biosurfactants Using Fermentation
The initial process will produce a range of sophorolipids for use in many applications including cosmetics, home care, personal care, and I&I. This is the first of many such processes Holiferm hopes to design, test, patent, and roll out to meet its mission to facilitate the manufacture of holistically sustainable bioproducts at a value point at which they are affordable to everyone, therefore, eliminating the need for petrochemicals.
Holiferm manufactures biosurfactants using fermentation with integrated gravity separation technology. This method was designed and refined by their CEO Ben Dolman during his Ph.D. studies at the University of Manchester. It underwent many design phases including a pilot plant trial stage to prove the efficacy of the system at a bespoke facility at SciTech Daresbury. As soon as this was proved plans to scale up production was developed. A prime site at Ocean Park in Wallasey was quickly located. Once secured the design and build stage began.
Holiferm hosted an opening ceremony on 16th February. The opening was done by the mayor of Wirral, Jeff Green. The ceremony was well attended by representatives of the biosurfactant community around the world, including those from Japan, Thailand, South Africa, Germany, France, Belgium, and Australia. There was a very positive atmosphere within the room and the tours of the plant were well received. It is hoped that this event will springboard Holiferm to commercial success and help the biosurfactant community to work together towards a common goal to remove the need for petrochemical-based production methods.
Related read: Cleansers 101 - Selecting the Right Surfactant
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We took control of the premises in January 2022 and set ourselves an ambitious target to be running and manufacturing products within a year. This proved a challenging deadline for a number of reasons including the lengthening of delivery times and rising costs of materials. Throughout all the difficulties we have faced we have kept moving forward. We have adjusted to each challenge and pushed each other to find solutions to the issues we were presented with.”
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Although we did not quite manage to meet our deadline, we were not far away and came together as a team to get the project across the finish line in February 2023. This has been a massive undertaking and thoroughly tested everyone at Holiferm and pushed us to be the very best we can be. We are all looking forward to seeing the plant and the first barrels and IBCs of biosurfactant coming off the production line and making their way to our customers across the globe.”
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We are not content with sitting still though. We are already advanced in our research and development of processes for other molecules including rhamnolipids and MELs and hope to bring these to pilot plant scale in short order. Once successful we will then scale up those methods again and incorporate them into our commercial plant to further penetrate the market and move closer to achieving our mission,” said the company.
Source: Holiferm
