Jatropha: Alive And Kicking

OTAI NEWS LETTER (WZ) Vol. XIII No.1 January - March 201111

OIL TECHNOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION OF INDIA WESTERN ZONE

Inside This Issue

News Letter

This news letter is for free circulation only to the membersof OTAI-WZ

January - March 2011Vol. XIII No. 1

C/o. Department of Oils, Oleochemicals & SurfactantsInstitute of Chemical Technology(Formerly UDCT)Nathalal Parekh MargMatunga (East), Mumbai-400 019INDIA.

Tel.: 91-22-32972206/91-22-24146526Fax: +91-22-24124017

Email: [email protected]: www.otai-westernzone.org

• The Soap Opera

• Green Trend

• Be Natural

• Mushrooms cosmetic magic

• Biomass & Surfactants

• Ecofriendly Soaps

• Jatropha - alive and Kicking


A.K. GUPTARAJEEV CHURI

S.N. TRIVEDIB.R. GAIKWAD

AMIT PRATAPD.N. BHOWMICK

B.V. MEHTA

EDITOR

EDITORIAL BOARD

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

OIL TECHNOLOGISTS’ASSOCIATION OF INDIA

WESTERN ZONE

V.V. RAO


From the Editors’s Desk

New year and new adventures. OTAI and IHPCIA work-ing in tandom will show new avenues in technology andeconomics. Exciting events will blister the new roadmaps. Come December - An International Conferenceon Soaps, Detergents and Cosmetics will unveil thesplendour of progress in the field in India and all overthe world. The stage will be set for mutual exchange oftechnologies and commerce. There will be good ex-change of ideas from abroad but India will show caseits own progress. The lead team is leaving no stoneunturned to make it a grand spectacle. Hard thinkingand ambitious ideas will sizzle in the event. Do youwant to pitch in?

Get on the phone. Now or E-mail your ideas to OTAI-Western Zone. Hurry. Time is running out.


Trade & Commerce

DISTRESSING

Prof M.S. Swaminathan, the father of GreenRevolution and Chairman of National Commissionon Farmers (NCF) that called for revamp of poli-cies to revitalise agriculture, says agricultural sec-tor in India is entering a state of serious crisis.

Quoting figures from National Sample SurveyOrganisation, he says half of the farmers in thecountry want to quit farming. Prof Swaminathan,who was here to deliver the Convocation Addressat the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture Universityhere on Thursday, called for the creation of spe-cific mitigation policies for each of the 128 agro-climatic zones. In an interview, he speaks on thecurrent problems Indian agriculture faces andpossible solutions to tackle them.

Farmers continue to commit suicide. Hundredsof tenant farmers are reported to have committedsuicide in the last few days. Why this crisis con-tinues to haunt farmers?

We are entering a state of agrarian crisis. Thiscrisis has many dimensions. It is not a single orsimple cause that is responsible for this. There isthe problem of high investments in some crops.There are problems peculiar to rain-fed and irri-gated lands. Farming has become unviable. TheNCF has recommended cost of production plus50 per cent. At present, they are giving 15 per centmore as against manifolds more in other indus-tries such as pharmaceuticals.

Probably, the Food Security Act would force theGovernment now to look at this issue seriously.Unless we revitalise farming and make our farm-ers enthusiastic it is difficult to feed 100 crorepeople and 100 crore farm animals. It is going tobe a difficult period.

Youth are shying away from agriculture. Whyis this happening and how do we make them look

at farming as a profession?

If farmers are committing suicide, why shouldthey come to farming? Farming sector is facing anumber of problems. Unless we attend to them,the younger generation will not take to farming. Ihave asked the students to look at different as-pects of agriculture in order to bring in technologyand value addition into the system. Besides, weneed to minimise risks and increase support ser-vices such as insurance and credit.

For different reasons more and more farmersare moving out of farming activity. Reports of shiftin land use patterns from agriculture to non-agri-culture are also causing a serious concern. Howdo you view this problem?

About 45 per cent of farmers interviewed by Na-tional Sample Survey Organisation wanted to quitfarming. The pressure on land is increasing andaverage size of land holdings is dwindling. Farm-ers are getting indebted and temptation to sellprime farm land for non-farm purpose is growingas land prices go up steeply. We need to improveproductivity and profitability of small holdings.

How is climate change going to impact agricul-ture sector and what could be the strategies tominimise risks?

We need to set up Climate Risk ManagementResearch and Training Centre in each of the 128agro-climatic zones. We also should evolve poli-cies for each of these zones and develop codesfor drought and flood management.

Calamity relief mechanism too needs a change.The traditional way of sending Central teams toassess the damages and bargain with States onrelief will not work. This is not a way to deal withcalamities. Money never reaches farmers on timeto invest in the next cropping season.

Tenant farmers seem to be the worst hit as cri-sis hits agriculture sector. How do you view thisproblem and what are your suggestions to over-come this?

45% of farmers want to quit farmingSwaminathan


It is a very serious problem. Tenancy reformsneed to get focus as part of agrarian reforms. Theissues of owner cultivation, tenant cultivation, ab-sentee landlords should get immediate focus.They should have a security of tenancy. Also, weare seeing increase in contract cultivation. Thisalso requires changes in regulation. It must be awin-win situation (for owners and producers).

We need to have new systems of manage-ment. We need to put all pieces together. We don’thave an integrated approach. In the West, theycall it farm to fork. So many Ministries and depart-ments are there to take care of water, rainwater,foodgrains and food processing. How are we go-ing to deliver it as one offering to farmers wouldhold the key.

None of these problems are insurmountable.They are problems created by us and we can findsolutions. It is right time to abandon indifferenceto agrarian problems.

The Hindu Business Line, 31st December,2010.

(Courtesy : AICOSCA Newsletter, December,2010).

“DO YOU KNOW”

FMCG players Godrej Consumer Products(GCPL) reported a net profit of Rs.131 crore forthe second quarter ended September 30,2010.

The company had a net profit of Rs.83 crore inthe quarter ended September 30,2009, GodrejConsumer Products said in a statement.

The company also said its board of directorshas declared a second interim dividend of Re 1per share for the financial year 2010-11.

During the period under review, the company’snet sales stood at Rs.575.59 crore in the corre-sponding quarter last fiscal. The company saidfigures for the current quarter are not comparable

with those of the corresponding quarter of the pre-vious year because of the acquisitions made bythe company since then.

“Enhanced penetration and improved volumeshave driven our sales growth. Continuing focuson optimizing our category m\x is also enablingus to improve our profitability,” GCPL ChairmanAdi Godrej said.

The company’s international operations havealso performed strongly during the period, he said.

The company is eyeing acquisitions and in thenext 12 months, we hope to complete some,” hesaid.

The FMCG major is scouting for acquisitionopportuni-ties all over the developing world besidesIndia, the company’s chairman said.

(Courtesy : Soaps, Detergents & ToiletriesReview/December 2010)

TAKE GOOD CARE

THE ailing US food safety system moved closerto towards its biggest overhaul in more than 70years after the House of Representatives passedlegislation that would increase inspections andgive regulators the power to recall tainted foods.The Bill, named the PDA Food SafetyModernisation Act, would empower the US Foodand Drug Administration (PDA) to order a foodrecall when a company refuses the agency’s re-quest to do so voluntarily. It requires the PDA toinspect food facilities more often, expand its ac-cess to food facility records, and requires foodproducers and processors to identify possiblehazards and develop prevention plans. The legis-lation also aims to make imported food safer bycalling for more inspections of foreign food pro-duction facilities and requiring importers to verifythe safety of foreign suppliers and imported food.

The legislation would be the largest overhaul ofUS food safety laws since 1938, when Congressgave the PDA the authority to give the safety of

Historic food safety & child nutritionlaws in US

Godrej consumer products Q2 profitgrows to Rs. 131 Cr


food, drugs and cosmetics. Since then the foodsupply has grown into a vast network dependenton more fresh foods and imported products, butoversight laws have largely failed to keep pace.

This is a big victory for consumers that finallybrings food safety laws into the 21st century,” saidlean Halloran, the director of food policy initiativeat Consumers Union. “For a long time we havebeen saying that we needed to do a better job ofmaking sure our food is safe, and under this Bill,we will,” she said.

Inyet another significant move President BarackObama has signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free KidsAct into law. Flanked by cabinet officials, top Demo-crats, and schoolchildren, Obama said that“across the country, too many kids don’t haveaccess to healthy meals.” The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act will expand the number of childrenin school lunch programmes by 115,000. increasethe reimbursement rate to school districts formeals by six cents, and replace the “junk” foodavailable outside the cafeteria, such as in vend-ing machines, with more healthful options. The$4.5 billion expansion of the school lunchprogramme, which feeds 16 million children,gained bipartisan support in the Senate.yet initiallystalled in the House before passing mostly alongparty lines.

“Today is a great day for kids throughout ourcountry as they will soon have healthier, and morenutritious food in their schools,” said US secre-tary of agriculture Tom Vilsack. ‘As we continueto focus on the twin issues of childhood obesityand hunger, we will increase access to good, qual-ity meals in school cafeterias so the nutritionalneeds of ouryoungsters are better met. The Presi-dent and First Lady have advocated strongly forpassing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of2010, and this Bill, along with the resources andthe powers provided under it, are going to allowUS FDA to be much more effective and aggres-sive in responding to obesity and hunger chal-lenges for America’s kids.”

In India, more than 30-35% of our population,especially, children below Syears are malnour-ished. Child nutrition is a major concern for ourplanners, but are handicapped by the sheer sizeof the problem. Feeding a population of 1.2 billion

is a gigantic task and the UPA government’s ef-forts to bring in a Food Security Act has met withroadblocks. India’s mid-day meal programme inschools is the biggest in the world, but is mired incorruption. As the country boasts of 9% GDPgrowth, it is of paramount importance that we lookinto food security, food safety and child nutrition.While half of India lives in ostentatious luxury, wecannot allow the other half to go hungry and mal-nourished.

pn vnair@saffronmedia.

(Courtesy : Ingredients South Asia, 1-15January 2011)

“THE SOAP OPERA”

JWALIT WAS & KIRAN KABTTA SOMVANSHI

Hindustan Unilever's (HUL) strategy to launch newproducts in existing categories with higher pro-motional budget appears to have worked. Thecompany reported substantial improvement inoverall sales volumes and margin for the Septem-ber 2010 quarter. In fact the numbers were thebest in the last three quarters.

Though on a year-on-year basis, HUL's num-bers were lacklustre, what caught the Street's at-tention was a better rate of growth in volumes andoperating profits compared with the previousquarter's growth. Volumes, for instance, rose 14%in the September quarter from the year-ago level.This was better than the 11 % growth in the Junequarter. Also,, operating margin before deprecia-tion was 16.3% as against 15.5% in the last quar-ter. The performance of the soaps and detergentsbusiness, the segment contributing almost 45%to HUL sales, has long remained a sore point forthe company. This is because of the difficulty topass on the full impact of rising raw material coststo consumers. In the September quarter, however,it increased prices of products in the category.This resulted in a higher year-on-year growth insales and better margin compared with the previ-ous quarter. Other revenue segments for HUL in-

Soaps business holds the key to go’sprospects


clude home products (28.7%), beverages (12%)and processed foods (4.6%), Compared with theyear-ago quarter, the sales growth in the homeproducts and processed food segments has beengood but not as impressive as the soap & deter-gent and beverages categories. This can bemainly attributed to the highly competitive natureof the industry and slow industry growth. In termsof segment-wise net profits; of the four catego-ries, only processed food category has shownincrease in profitability. Despite growth in sales,the remaining categories have showed decline inprofits mainly due to higher input costs. This ex-plains the 170 basis points decline in the overalloperating margin. Despite lower operating mar-gin, net profit grew by 32% mainly due to one-

time item, which includes the sale of property.Going ahead, food inflation is likely to ease giventhe better monsoon season. This should aid prof-itability and increase the company's topline. Thecompany's stock increased by 1.4% after the re-sults announcement. In the last two months, It hasincreased 14.5%. Given that HUL's earnings pershare has remained stagnant over the last fewquarters, the stock's current valuation seems tohave factored in the possible future growth. Whilethe company has delivered improved numbers inthe September quarter, the performance of itssoaps and detergents business will determine theextent i its future turn around.

(Courtesy : Soaps, Detergents & ToiletriesReview/December 2010)


Technology

INTERESTING

ByFred Bourland, University of Arkansas, USA

COTTONSEEDS were once considered as abyproduct of cotton fiber production. Now, cotton-seeds are important sources of oil and protein.However, utilization of cottonseed has been hin-dered by the present of gossypol, which rendersthe seed inedible by non-ruminant animals. Con-siderable work in the 1970’s led to the develop-ment of glandless cottons. These glandless cot-tons did not accumulate gossypol in glands thatare associated with most plant parts. However,the removal of these gossypol glands made theplant vulnerable to a wide array of insects andpests that feed on leaves and stems.

Using biotechnology, Texas A&M University hasnow developed cotton lines that produce gland-less seed on glanded plants. This technology mayfurther increase the value of cottonseed and helpto address the protein needs of millions of hungrypeople now and into the future. Gin trash was alsoonce considered as a byproduct of cotton pro-duction and was usually burned. New technologyis now being developed to greatly expand the useto gin trash.

These include:* Recycling back into the soil as a mulch on fields/

gardens or as mushroom compost* Mixed with water and grass seed and sprayed

on the sides of roads to control erosion* Pressed into briquettes to be burned as fuel* Slathered on walls for noise control* Mixed with construction materials and used to

make decking for homes* Used for the inner lining of bathtubs and other

containers.

(Courtesy : AICOSCA Newsletter,November, 2010)

SEARCH

HUGE amount of Research work is being car-ried out on cotton not only in India but all overthe world. However, it is conspicuous by it ab-sence in case of cottonseed even though itforms two third portion of the seed cotton. Weare more interested in immediate researchwork on removal of Gossyol from cottonseedmeal which will open flood gates of demandboth within and outside the country especiallyas poultry feed & fish meal. All over the worldcattle feed is assessed on the basis of proteincontents. However, in India the preference isfor oil content inspite of the fact that researchresults glaringly reveal that oil in oil cake is oflittle use to the cattle. Oil is required for gen-eration of energy. The cattle themselves gen-erate the required energy while rumination. Thuswe are wasting almost 6 to 7 lakh tonnes ofprecious cotton seed oil every year. It is a tragichappening in India, that the cottonseed oil cakewith protein content as low at 20-22% (6-7 per-cent oil) is sold on par or at higher rate thancottonseed meal (DOC) with protein content ashigh as 40 to 42 percent with negligible oil con-tent.

As per the research carried by the NationalDairy Development Board (NDDB) Anand. Pro-tein, content in cottonseed meal is of By-passtype i.e it by-passes rumen, i.e. first compart-ment of cattle’s stomach and therefore preventdegeneration and thus the maximum amountof protein is absorbed by the cattle. Educationof cattle feeders to use proteinous cottonseedextraction instead of traditional cottonseed cakeand adoption of scientific processing by the cot-tonseed processors is an urgent need in thelarger national interest.

(Courtesy : AICOSCA Newsletter,September, 2010)

New Developments inCotton Technologies

Lack of Research-fit Developmenteffort in cottonseed and cottonseed

processing


CURIOUS

Ever since their advent a few decades ago, syn-thetic fibres have been offering stiff competitionto cotton. Initially, they proved to be attractive be-cause of their easy care and wash and wear prop-erties. Subsequently, quite a number of new syn-thetic fibres came to be developed through re-search which entailed huge amounts of invest-ments by chemical industries. Cotton came tolose ground and its market share in the global useof fibres for clothing came down substantially.

However, later on, cotton could regain somelost ground as some of the problems with cloth-ing made of synthetic fibres came to light. It wasnoticed that they caused skin allergies to somepeople besides some other minor ailments. Also,cotton’s superiority over synthetic came to bebetter appreciated because of its unique proper-ties such as moisture absorption and weavingcomfort. It was the preferred fibre for inner weargarments, kids’ clothes, sports wear, etc. Morerecently, cotton also entered the fashion wearmarket. Fashion designers came to use cotton,especially finer cottons, for some of their cre-ations. All these enabled cotton to withstand fur-ther onslaught from synthetic and could even re-gain some of the lost market share. It is estimatedthat presently cotton’s market share in the globaluse of fibres for clothing is around 40 per cent.

It now appears that research undertaken at dif-ferent centres in countries like Poland and Japanhas established the scientific basis why naturalfibres are better than synthetic fibres in clothing.The ICAC Recorder of September 2010 carries adetailed article on the subject. Some of the high-lights of this article are mentioned below for infor-mation.

One of the results from the study of the reac-tions to human body from the use of synthetic fi-bres is said to have been that they may lead to ahigher tendency to fatigue. Due to the use of con-siderable amounts of man-made fibres in clothesand bed, bed linen, there are said to have been

more allergies observed among people who usedifferent textile products made from them. Stud-ies conducted in everyday conditions reportedlyshowed that garments made of natural cellulosicfibres like cotton or linen have a positive influenceon physiological parameters of the human bodylevel of immunoglobulin. The lowest level of bodytemperature and increase of immunoglobia dur-ing sleeping in cotton or linen bedding is said tohave proved that such raw materials have a posi-tive influence on human rest and steep quality.Further, wearing cotton paijamas positively influ-enced the activity of setacions glands that im-prove resistance to skin allergies. It is also statedthat wearing polyester clothes can be a reasonfor desynchronisation of muscle motor units andthus, an increase in fatigue among users. Cloth-ing made of natural cellulosic fibres is said to havebeen found to positively influence the human bodyensuring well being without causing fatigue.

(Source : ICAC Recorder September 2010).(CAI, Cotton Statistics & News 5thOctober, 2010)

(Courtesy : AICOSCA Newsletter,September, 2010)

AWAIT

Biotech major Monsanto is testing a Bt (Bacillusthuringiensis) corn that offers protection againstinsects and weeds but it is not looking to intro-duce genetically modified (GM) soyabean orpulses. The company is also readying to intro-duce a new variety of GM cotton that incorporatesthe properties of its Bollgard II and Roundup Readyf\ex cotton.

“The Bt corn that is being tested now has dualtechnology. The new cotton variety has charac-teristics of the Bollgard II and the Roundup ReadyFlex,” said Dr Gyanendra Shukia, Director, Cor-porate Affairs, Monsanto India Ltd, in an interviewto Business Line.

The reason why Monsanto is not ready to bringin GM soyabean, one of its popular offerings in

Scientific basis for natural fibresbeing better than sysnthetics

for clothing

GM soyabean not now : Monsanto


the US, is that there is no system in the countrythat can help the company recover its costs.“Soyabean or pulses or rice are open pollinationvarieties and hence farmers do not buy their hy-brids,” he said.

But the company is prepared to bring in thesecrops as well as know-how in other crops underpublic-private partnership. “Developing crops un-der such partnership will help us. We will helpdevelop technology and hand it over to the gov-ernment. In such circumstances, we will get com-pensation for our work,” he said.

“We are looking at a free market in which theintellectual property rights will be recognised andwhere the system will favour innovation that willhelp farmers,” Dr Shukia said, elaborating on rea-sons for not looking beyond the introduction of Btcorn.

On the moratorium announced by the Govern-ment on Bt Brinjal, he said it had slowed downresearch on GM crops a bit. “I don’t say that peoplehave stopped research but things are at a pointwhere clarity is required. We hope facts that arescientifically-based will prevail,” he said.

Dr Shukia said Monsanto is of the view that thereis ‘no sense’ in making labelling of products manu-factured from genetically modified organisms(GMOs) mandatory in India. However, it supportsother options such as individuals making a per-sonal decision not to consume food containinggenetically modified ingredients or companiesvoluntarily labelling their products as not contain-ing GMOs.

Pointing out that that the Food and Drug Ad-ministration (FDA) of the US has determinedthat genetically-modified crops do not differ fromnon-GM crops and products containing GMOSneed not be labelled, he said: “FDA does re-quire the product to be labelled if the ingredientis a potential allergen or somehow changes thenutritional properties of the food. “To date, noapproved biotech crop is either an allergen, orhas any significant nutritional differences fromnon-GM counterparts. If labelling is made man-datory in India there ought to be proper infra-structure in place for companies to comply withthe law,” he said.

A GMO is an organism whose genetic materialis altered using genetic engineering techniques.These techniques use DNA molecules from dif-ferent sources that are combined into one mol-ecule to create a new set of genes. This DNA isthen transferred into an organism, giving it modi-fied or novel genes.

(The Hindu Business Line, 10th October, 2010).

(Courtesy : AICOSCA Newsletter,October, 2010)

BE NATURAL

Anna Ibbotson

The natural personal care industry has continuedto gain momentum over the past year despite acrippling global recession. Driven by consumerdemand not only for natural products but also forsustainable manufacturing processes amongbrand marketers, the naturals market is expectedto maintain a healthy growth rate over the nextfew years. This is great news for raw materialssuppliers who now face a tremendous opportu-nity to innovate and develop key raw ingredientsthat not only meet formulators’ and consumers’demand for naturalness but also offer the perfor-mance required to be on par with their syntheticcounterparts.

On a global scale, the natural personal caremarket is approaching $300 billion at the retaillevel, with the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, In-dia, and China) and Argentina expanding theirshare at a rapid rate. In Europe, still the largestregion, the natural personal care segment postednearly 14% growth in 2009, compared to the over-all market at just 4%. In the United States, thesegment peaked at 8%—still quite robust consid-ering the overall performance in the industry as awhole.

GREEN IS GROWING

A number of key drivers have converged to spurgrowth in the natural personal care market from

Green trend drives personal careingredients market


the consumer, retailer, and brand marketer per-spective. These forces make the naturals marketquite attractive to ingredients suppliers:

1. Growing environmental awareness amongconsumers has lead to a global shift in their de-sire, behavior, and attitude toward natural prod-ucts. Going green is no longer considered an ec-centric behavior of a small but highly committedsegment of the population. Now, the average con-sumer has become more aware of his or her im-pact on the planet and has begun taking steps toreduce that impact wherever possible.

2. Innovative product development in thenaturals category has made green products morewidely available, fueling consumers’ demand formore environmentally friendly products. As greenproducts become more accessible and affordable,it becomes much easier for consumers to adoptthem as a viable alternative to traditional syntheticformulations.

3. Mainstream acceptance of organics and“locavore” eating habits, whereby consumerssource food products from their local region, hasalso prompted greater interest in natural personalcare products. As consumers strive to avoid pes-ticides as well as synthetic growth supplementsin their food, they have also begun reducing theincidence of other synthetic chemicals with whichthey come into contact.

4. Media hype and marketing have also playeda significant role in the growing green trend. Thepowerful combination of brand marketing tactics,retail promotions, celebrity endorsements, andwidespread media coverage has reinforced con-sumers’ awareness of and desire for more sus-tainable products and practices. In Europe, whereregulation under the REACH [Registration, Evalu-ation and Authorization of Chemicals] act makesavailable the certification seal for products thatmeet certain requirements, this adds to the mar-keting appeal of natural products. As a result ofthese factors, major global marketers havestepped up efforts to meet consumer demand andcapitalize on the market opportunity, as evidencedby key acquisitions that have brought some nichenaturals brands mainstream. Estee Lauder’sstring of acquisitions that began with Aveda in1997 has made the company a naturals power-

house in the personal care market. L’Oreal,Colgate-Palmolive, and Clorox have also recog-nized the potential, throwing the power of theirmega-marketing machines behind previously un-known small brands such as Tom’s of Maine andBurl’s Bees.

THE PROBLEM OF PERFORMANCE

Amid all of this attention, suppliers are workingovertime to develop natural ingredients to meetthe demand. While great strides have been madein some ingredient categories to deliver the natu-ral positioning and the performance required,some categories remain a challenge.

• Specialty surfactants. Of the $600+ millionspecialty surfactants market, only about 10% ofthe raw ingredients available in this category arenaturally derived. Natural alternatives for theseproducts, which reduce skin and eye irritation ofcommodity surfactants and boost foaming prop-erties in hair and skin-care rinse-off products, aregaining traction particularly in the mass-marketproduct categories. Growth in the naturally derivedsegment is expected to reach nearly 4% CAGR(compound annual growth rate) through 2013. Theleading product in this segment is alkylpolyglucosides (APG), supplied by Cognis (themarket leader), Clariant, and Croda.

APG are manufactured from plant-derived ma-terials such as vegetable oils and starch.

• Specialty emollients. Among the most widelyused ingredients in personal care, emollients areeffective in facial creams and cleansers, wipes,and other skin-care products for their moisturiz-ing, softening, and anti-aging properties. Here,naturally derived products have a stronger shareat just over 50% of the market, which totals in ex-cess of $400 million, and this market is expectedto grow by more than 3.5% CAGR through 2013.By their very nature, these ingredients are morereadily available, accessible and affordable toderive from natural sources, such as mineral andvegetable oils, and there is a general movementin the industry away from synthetics and animal-based ingredients (such as lanolin).

• Conditioning proteins. Similarly in condition-ers, there is a strong shift away from animal-based


to plant-derived proteins for the likes of skin andhair products. Now more than 60% of the condi-tioning market consists of plant-derived products,supplied in large part by Croda and Cognis, theclear market leaders. Despite their broader ac-ceptance, botanical proteins remain less eco-nomical to produce leading many manufacturersto consider fish-based proteins as possible alter-natives, as well as milk- and silk-based proteins,which have also shown some potential.

• Hair fixative polymers. Even more than sur-factants, fixative ingredients used in hair spraysand other hair styling products prove to be a sig-nificant challenge when it comes to developingan effective, viable natural alternative. Synthetics,such as vinyl, acrylic, and polyurcthane polymers,make up 99% of the active ingredients on themarket. It seems that, with the possible excep-tion of cornstarch-based formulas, devising thefixative properties from natural ingredients to meetthe hair-styling demands of consumers is a for-midable challenge.

• Substantiated specialty actives. Members ofthis unique class of ingredients, backed by scien-tific testing, are 100% naturally derived and usedby formulators specifically to make performanceclaims in the skin-care product category. Drivenlargely by the demand for anti-aging properties,this category is expected to post a healthy CAGRof 7% over the next three years as the enormousbaby boomer population turns to these productsto stave off the signs of aging. These ingredients,including peptides, bio-tech actives and enzymes,and their associated claims are key to formula-tors in the luxury, high-end mass market, profes-sional, and specialty trade classes as they caterto this mature population, which typically enjoys ahigher level of disposable income.

INNOVATION IS THE KEY TO GROWTH

The growth in the naturals market presents aunique opportunity for raw ingredients suppliersto carve out a strong position as a leader in thisindustry. To do so would likely require a block-buster R&D [research and development] break-through to discover and develop a viable naturalalternative to one of the more vexing performanceissues, such as surfactants or fixatives. Whilejust about every player in the supplier market has

built a “green” portfolio, much work remains to bedone to solve the problems of performance, avail-ability, and pricing that make the naturals propo-sition a significant barrier, especially in the hair-care and cleansing product lines.

With the naturals trend well-entrenched aroundthe globe, ingredients suppliers are eyeing theburgeoning opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region.Some, Cognis included, have already establishedproduction facilities, particularly in China, to lever-age the anticipated growth here and compete di-rectly with local domestic suppliers.

As suppliers and formulators strive to reducethe amount of “science” in their products toachieve a more natural slant, there is an overallmovement toward a more collaborative, interac-tive relationship. Working together to develop mul-tifunctional ingredients that solve multiple perfor-mance challenges not only helps reduce the num-ber of ingredients in the product, which imparts amore natural position, but also works to reducethe overall cost of production—which benefits bothparties, as well as, ultimately, the consumer.

Anno Ibbotson ([email protected]) is industry manager with K//ne&, Company. Reprinted with permission.

(Courtesy : inform, November 2010,Vol. 21 (11)

“NEVER SAY NEVER”

JATROPHA

India established a mandate in 2009 that by2017 it would be able to supply at least 20% of itsoil consumption with home-grown biofuels. To thisend, the government has been encouraging thecultivation of Jatropha curcas as a source ofbiodiesel feedstock.

The Inter Press Service (IPS) reports, however,that Suneel Parasnis, Asia coordinator of PrivateFinancing Advisory Network, said, “Biofuels havefailed because of unavailability and high price of

Second thoughts on jatropha in India


stock feed for biodiesel processing plants all overIndia.”

Federal planners in India initially bought into theidea that jatropha can grow well and produce oil-rich seeds when grown on waste land. The ideawas attractive because it avoids the question ofusing land for growing food vs. growing fuel. In2003, potentially 36 million hectares of land wereidentified as being ideal for jatropha growth in In-dia, much of it government waste and forest land,land in railroad rights of way, and in hedges andwindbreaks around private farms.

In response to governmental land and tax in-centives, many Indian farmers and oils compa-nies were growing jatropha by 2006. Enthusiasmhas waned, however, as farmers have found thatjatropha produces better yields on fertile, irrigatedland. Application of fertilizer increases yields stillfurther.

Smallholders are finding that jatropha can sur-vive on “waste” land, but not in volumes that pro-duce enough yield to support the needed inputs.Another issue is impatience. The IPS interviewedK. Kotesh-war Rao of Nandan Biomatrix Ltd.(Hyderabad, India), which has developed patentson higher oil-yield genotypes of jatropha. He said,“One of the biggest problems is having farmerspull out of jatropha before fruit-bearing starts bythe third year.... For the next 35 years they needonly tend and harvest but they run out of patience.”

The report is available at http://ipsnews net/news.asp?idnews=52890.


BEWARE

The UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) hasruled that an advertisement for hair care productsdescribed as “naturally organic” was “likely to bemisleading” to consumers.

The magazine ad for US-based natural and or-ganic beauty brand Simply Organic contained the

claims “Simply Organic” and “Naturally Organic.”These claims were challenged by Herb UK, whichargued that they were misleading because “theyimplied the products met an independent organicstandard.”

After studying a response from Simply Organic,including the submission of documentation andcertification from some US-based certifiers, theASA upheld the complaint.

While noting that the US organic certificationprovided by the advertisers covered a list of in-gredients, the ASA said it had not seen any docu-mentation that set out which ingredients were usedin the Simply Organic product range, or thatshowed whether those ingredients were coveredby the certified list. The Agency also noted that acertificate of analysis provided by the advertiserwas out of date, concluding that “the status of theadvertised product range was unclear.”

The ASA has instructed the company not to usethe ad again in its current form.


THE REVERSE

Sakai, M., et al., Kabushiki Kaisha YakultHonsha, US7695944, April 13,2010.

A method for producing a phospholipid usingtransphosphatidylation, which comprises homog-enizing a mixture of a raw material phospholipid,a hydroxyl-containing acceptor phospholipase D,and water in the absence of an organic solvent toobtain a homogenized mixture; and subjecting thehomogenized mixture to a transphosphatidylationreaction at 15-65°C. The homogenized mixturehas a lamellar lyotropic liquid crystal structure. Anobjective phospholipid can be obtained from thehomogenized mixture throughtransphosphatidylationn without using an organicsolvent or calcium.


Method for producing phospholipid

Organic hair care claims misleading


KNOW HOW

Parawira, W., Sci. Res. Essays 5:1796-1808,2010.

Biodiesel has attracted considerable attentionduring the past decade as a renewable, biode-gradable, and nontoxic fuel alternative to fossilfuels. Biodiesel can be obtained from vegetableoils (both edible and nonedible) and from animalfat. Jatro-pha curcas Linnaeus, a multipurposeplant, contains high amounts of oil in its seedsthat can be converted to biodiesel. Jatopha curcasis probably the most highly promoted oilseed cropat present in the world. The availability andsustainability of sufficient supplies of less expen-sive feedstock in the form of vegetable oils, par-ticularly J. curcas, and efficient processing tech-nology to biodiesel will be crucial determinants ofdelivering a competitive biodiesel. Oil contents,physicochemical properties, and the fatty acidcomposition of J. curcas reported in the literatureare provided in this review. The fuel properties ofJatropha biodiesel are comparable to those of fos-sil diesel and conform to the American and Euro-pean standards. The objective of this review is togive an update on the J. curcas L. plant, the pro-duction of biodiesel from the seed oil and researchattempts to improve the technology of convertingvegetable oil to biodiesel, and the fuel propertiesof the Jatropha biodiesel. The technological meth-ods that can be used to produce biodiesel arepresented together with their advantages and dis-advantages. The use of lipase as biotechnologi-cal solution to alkali and acid catalysis of transes-terification and its advantages are discussed.There is need to carry out research on the detoxi-fication of the seed cake to increase the benefitsfrom /. curcas. There is also need to carry outlife-cycle assessment and the environmental im-pacts of introducing large-scale plantations. Thereis also still a dearth of research about the influ-ence of various cultivation-related factors and theirinteractions and influence on seed yield. Manyother areas that need to be researched on Jatro-pha curcas L. are pointed out in review.

(Courtesy : inform, November 2010,Vol. 21 (11))

Graham Warwick

IN just five years, the aviation industry’s decades-long reliance on petroleum-based fuels has beenturned on its head. The future lies in fuels fromsources that range from animal fat to microal-gae.But with the technology in hand, the question nowis whether biofuel producers can raise the invest-ment needed to launch commercial-scale produc-tion.

Approval of biofuels for use in aircraft, expectedby mid-2011, is a critical step. A standard for jetfuels using synthesized hydrocarbons has alreadybeen crafted and the first annex, covering syn-thetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) produced via theFischer-Tropsch (F-T) process, was approved lastyear. But a second annex covering bio-SPK—alsocalled hydrotreated renewable jet fuel (HRJ)—iseagerly awaited, as these promise to reduceaviation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

For an industry that has used one jet fuel fordecades, development of the new D7566 specifi-cation by standards organization ASTM Interna-tional has moved surprisingly quickly. But it hasnot been easy, requiring substantial fuel and en-gine testing to ensure synthetic kerosenes aretruly drop-in replacements for petroleum-basedjet fuel.

As expected, the proposal to amend D7566 toinclude bio-SPK did not pass a ballot of ASTMmembers in June. Opponents, mainly the enginemanufacturers, argued that more data are neededon different fuels from different manufacturers andmore engine testing is required. One reason isthat most of the fuel tested came from HoneywellInternational’s UOP, which won a Pentagon con-tract to supply HRJ for qualification testing, saysTim Edwards, who is leading biofuels research atthe US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL;Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio).

After the vote, the Air Force agreed to sharefuel to allow additional commercial engine dem-onstrations. The service is also conducting biofuel

Biodiesel production fromJatropha curcas: A review

Biofuel could be clearedfor aircraft use

NOW, AIRCRAFT


tests on military derivatives of commercial en-gines, which will help with certification. These in-clude flight tests of the Fl 17 derivative of Pratt &Whitney’s PW2000 turbo-fan on the C-17 airlifter.An aircraft flew in August with all four engines fu-eled by a 50:50 blend of conventional JP-8 andHRJ [made from] from beef tallow.

Data from the additional fuel and engine test-ing will be presented to ASTM members, and are-ballot in December 2010 is expected to suc-ceed. This should lead to approval early next yearof an annex to the D7566 synthetic-fuel standardallowing bio-SPK to be used in aircraft in blendsof up to 50% with conventional jet fuel. This willbe a pivotal event, as certification is expected toremove a significant barrier to investment in large-scale facilities to produce HRJ fuels in economicquantities.

“Nothing matters until you get that approval,”says Tom Todaro, chief executive officer (CEO)of AltAir Fuels (Seattle, Washington, USA) andchairman of the board of Sustainable Oils(Bozeman, Montana, USA), which produces oilfrom camelina, a plant that largely does not com-pete with food crops for land or water. “The prob-lem is the availability of financing, not camelina.We can’t get the money until the fuel is certified,”he says.

AltAir Fuels is the first to license UOP’s pro-cess to produce HRJ. The Seattle-based com-pany signed memorandums of understanding with14 airlines in December 2009 to negotiate the pur-chase of up to 750 million gallons (2,800 millionliters) of camelina-derived fuel. This is to be pro-duced at a facility in Ana-cortes, Washington, andwould replace about 10% of the fuel consumedannually at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.“Once ASTM approves the fuel, we can begin thepermitting process,” he says, adding that con-struction will take 18 months.

The creation of AltAir illustrates the challengesof starting biofuel production. Sustainable Oilsworks by signing contracts with farmers to growcamelina that it will buy back at an agreed price.Farmers grow a specific strain of camelina de-veloped by biotechnology company TargetedGrowth. Sustainable Oils extracts the oil fromcamelina seeds, “but we hoped someone else

would build the refinery,” says Todaro.

Eventually, to kick-start the market, SustainableOils decided to form AltAir as an independent com-pany. The business plan is to build add-on unitsat traditional refineries. With 100-million-galloncapacity, these bolt-on facilities will each cost “acouple of hundred million dollars” and provideabout 10% of the fuel required annually at an av-erage-sized airport, he says.

While the near-term focus is on plant oils andanimal fats as feedstocks, aviation is enamoredof algae because it promises high oil yields fromsmall land areas and does not compete with foodfor land or water. Work is underway scaling upalgae production in both open ponds and closedbioreactors, in a bid to drive down costs, but SanFrancisco-based Solazyme says it is ready tomove into commercial-scale oil production usinga different algae pathway (for more informationon Solazyme, see inform 27:373-375,2010).

Solazyme has adapted the fermentation pro-cess used to produce ethanol, replacing yeastwith algae. Sugars produced from a wide rangeof feedstocks—switchgrass, corn stover, sugarcane, municipal waste, and cellulosic biomass—are fed to the algae, which convert the sugar tooil. The oil is then extracted from the algae andconverted to HRJ using UOP’s process.Solazyme has delivered 1,500 gallons of algal HRJto the US Navy for engine testing.

The company says it is on track to be cost-competitive with petroleum-based fuel in 18-24months, targeting $60-$80 a barrel. “We shouldbe producing quantities that can fill some demandin the aviation market in the next three years,” saysCEO Jonathan Wolfson.

Solazyme is talking to airlines about long-termsupply agreements and to refining partners aboutestablishing a supply chain. “We are working withnumerous partners to provide a rapid path to com-mercialization that includes access to feedstockand financing,” he says, noting the addition of USagribusiness Bunge as a strategic investor “is anindicator of how we are thinking about feedstock... we are confident that the supply will be there.”

After playing a key role in the rapid progress of


biofuels from idea to reality, UOP is turning its at-tention to new processes and feedstocks.

“We’ve made [bio-SPK] fuels from about 12 dif-ferent types of natural oils,” says Jim Rekoske,vice president and general manager of UOP’srenewable energy business. “We are confidentwe can look at an oil and say what yield of jet fuelyou will get from that feedstock.”

UOP’s process “is completely feedstock flex-ible,” Rekoske says, and can convert any naturaloil with hydrocarbon chains of appropriate lengthsinto jet fuel. “A flexible process allows you to sourcethe cheapest available oil.” The challenge now,he says, is in bringing together three different in-dustries—agriculture, refining, and transporta-tion—to reach long-term agreements that will pro-vide the confidence needed to scale up feedstockand fuel production. “That’s the process that istaking time.”

Feedstock flexibility will allow an HRJ fuel pro-ducer to switch to a higher-yield feedstock. “If thequestion is, do you want to invest in growingcamelina if you can be supplanted in five years byalgae, the answer is long-term agreements withcustomers and refiners. It’s just negotiation,” saysRekoske. He believes there has been significantprogress, with two groups close to definitive sup-ply agreements with airlines.

With approval for bio-SPK now within sight, in-terest is shifting to more advanced biofuels, andthere is growing excitement—and debate—overwhich pathways will be next to be approved. “Partof our work is to figure out what is next, what’s themost mature,” says AFRL’s Edwards. “It startswith people sending us fuels. We’re working ondifferent feedstocks, different processes, and fullysynthetic fuels.”

Much of the work is focused on processes forproducing jet fuel from ligno-cellu-losic feedstockssuch as forest, agricultural, and municipal waste,which is available in huge quantities. UOP is work-ing on upgrading pyrolysis oil to liquid fuel. Fastpyrolysis is the rapid decomposition of biomassin the presence of heat and absence of oxygen.The resulting bio-oil can be upgraded to fuel. “Weare looking at a variety of different things for next-generation fuels. But there is a tremendous ca-

pacity to supply natural oils without going to bio-mass and other carbon sources,” arguesRekoske.

One of the most promising new pathways,Edwards says, is being called “alcohol oligomer-ization.” This starts with an alcohol, like ethanolor butanol; removes the oxygen; and grows hy-drocarbons from the molecules. Gevo, Virent, andSwedish Biofuels are among the companiesworking on this “catalytic renewable jet” pathway.Brazilian biotechnology company Amyris, mean-while, is pursuing an advanced fermentation pro-cess that goes direct from cellulosic biomass toliquid fuel using specially tailored microorganisms.

Richard Altman, executive director of the Com-mercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, saysthe catalytic, fermentation, and pyrolysis renew-able jet pathways are competing to be the nextprocess approved by ASTM in the 2013timeframe. ASTM, meanwhile, has formed a taskforce to look at fully synthetic fuels, called SKA,for “synthetic kerosene with aromatics.”

Synthetic parafhnic kerosenes are limited to50% blends by the need for aromatic hydrocar-bons found in conventional jet fuel, but synthe-sized aromatics—or changes to engine seal ma-terials— could allow 100% synthetic fuels. “Weare doing a lot of work on fully synthetic fuels,”says Edwards. Honeywell and the FAA are work-ing to determine by 2013-2014 the minimum aro-matics required in engines, says Rekoske, add-ing that “100% synthetic is still the goal.”

Graham Warwick is senior editor, technology,for Aviation Week. He can be contacted via emailat [email protected]. Reprinted withpermission.

(Courtesy : inform, December 2010,Vol. 21 (11))

“JATROPHA ALIVE & KICKING”

THE European Union (EU) announced a projectto produce bio-energy at Walewale, in the WestMamprusi District of Ghana, on October 7. The

EU to build jatropha processingplant in Ghana


project is funded (•2 million) for five years.Unfertile lands in the Wale-wale area will beplanted with jatropha, and the seeds will be pro-cessed in-country to obtain crude oil and by-prod-ucts.

According to Giuseppe Enne, project coordi-nator of the Ghana Jatropha Project and theNucleo Ricerca Desertificatione of the Universitade Sassari (Italy), an “appropriate and cost-effec-tive expeller for jatropha oil extraction” will be con-structed (http://ghanaian-chronicle.com/?p=8812). Several governmental and non-govern-mental organizations within the country are col-laborating with the Ghana Jatropha Project toimplement the plans.

The project aims to improve Ghana’s sustain-able renewable energy, to create income-gener-ating activities, and to mitigate land degradationeffects in rural area in the country.

San Nasamu Asabigi, Deputy Northern RegionalMinister of Ghana, said jatropha could be an al-ternative to reduce the energy crisis facing thecountry. He added, “About 69% of the total energyconsumed in Ghana is from the already depletedforest, 10% from electricity, and 21% from im-parted petroleum.”

JATOIL SHIPMENTS

AFTER purchasing more oil-producing fields,Jatoil Ltd. (Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia)announced plans in October to make regularweekly shipments of crude jatropha oil from itsplantations in Central Java (Indonesia) to a powerstation customer in the Netherlands. Thecompany’s 70%-owned joint venture (JV), PTJatoil Waterland, purchased an additional 522hectares (ha) of three- to four-year-old jatrophatrees near its 1,000 ha plantation, which in Julypro-duced Jatoil’s first shipment of second-gen-eration biofuel for a consortium of airline compa-nies for use in commercial operations (inform27:555, 2010). A company statement indicated theacquisition of these additional hectares effectivelydoubles the JV’s current capacity of 700 metrictons over the next 12-18 months.

ANTONIO Brufau, chairman of Repsol, an inte-grated international oil and gas company head-quartered in Madrid, Spain, and FernandoSenderos Mestre, chairman of the KUO Group,one of Mexico’s largest conglomerates, signed anagreement on October 28 to create a joint com-pany called Kuosol,dedicated to the developmentof bioenergy from the cultivation of Jatrophacurcas,

Both Repsol and the KUO Group will have a50% stake in Kuosol; the total investment is esti-mated at $80 million. The headquarters of Kuosolwill be in Mexico, and its activities are envisionedto range from farming to industrial installations.Its main objective will be to use integrated biom-ass plantations of 7. curcas oil to generate biofu-els and bioenergy in a sustainable manner.

In 2008, the KUO Group began a pilot project inthe Yucatan state of Mexico to produce bioenergyfrom nonedible second-generation crops on landnot suitable for agriculture. The first phase wasdeveloped with more than 300 hectares of J.curcas oilseeds to obtain an oil to produce biodie-sel. The project allows the KUO Group to harnessvacant lots formerly used for pork-raising, to re-use recycled water, rich in nutrients, for irrigationon its farms, and to provide easy access to car-bon credits under the Clean Development Mecha-nism (CDM) of the 2007 Kyoto Protocol.

The immediate objectives of the Kuosol com-pany are (i) to plant and cultivate 10,000 hectaresof jatropha in Yucatan, Mexico, principally on third-party lands; (ii) to harvest 44 million liters of crudeoil for bio-fuels; and (iii) to develop an integrateduse of biomass from forest plantations, cogen-eration of steam and electricity for self-supply, withsurplus production sold.

It is estimated that agricultural development willbe completed in the next three years, allowing in-dustrial production to st§ in 2013.


Jatoil schedules regular shipments^ ofcrude jatropha oil

KUO Group signs agreement forbioenergy

MEXICO TO JATROPHA


DARE IT

Catherine Watkins

THE French proverb suggesting that the morethings change, the more they stay the same couldbe applied to the seven AOCS World Conferenceson Detergents held in Montreux, Switzerland. Al-though the speed of change in 2010 is exponen-tially faster than the speed of change in 1977 whenthe first conference was held, many of the busi-ness realities facing the global fabric and homecare industries remain the same.

Regulatory and environmental pressures, avail-ability and pricing of raw materials, poor margins,the fickle consumer, a volatile economic environ-ment, mature markets, the perpetual search forinnovation—these are constants of the industrythat have not changed over the years. Nonethe-less, in light of the global focus on sustainabilityby both consumers and regulators, everything haschanged.

Held October 4-7, 2010, the Montreux meetingwas billed as providing “New Strategies in a Dy-namic Global Economy.” Indeed, the “new nor-mal” of recession and volatile commodity costsfigured prominently during the three-day meeting,as did sustainability, innovation, collaboration, andthe promise of emerging markets.

BIG BUSINESS

Annual retail sales for the global laundry carecategory have reached $65 billion, Bill Schmitz ofDeutsche Bank told participants, comprising $49billion in detergent sales, $9 billion for fabric soft-eners, and $6 billion for laundry aids.

For consumer products companies like TheProcter & Gamble Co. (P&G), the laundry carecategory represents a significant percentage(30%) of revenue. But the industry is under pres-sure, P&G head Bob McDonald noted: Annualgrowth decreased to 4% in 2009, compared to5% the previous three years; established brandsin North America lost market share to private la-

bel brands during the recession; commodity andsupply costs are unpredictable; and regulation hastoughened.

Nonetheless, participants and speakers alikeremained upbeat. Despite slow growth in devel-oped markets, opportunities abound in develop-ing countries such as China and India. LatinAmerica is a more difficult challenge because ofloyalty to local brands.

“Developing markets were the only place in theworld last year where growth in the laundry seg-ment was acceptable,” Schmitz noted. Automaticwashing machines are gaining traction in China

and Eastern Europe, he added, but competi-tion among product manufacturers in emergingmarkets is “brutal.”

Looking to the future, Schmitz found that thereis still room for global consolidation in the laundrymarket. “The top three players could control over60% of the market in the next five years,” hesaid.Perhaps the greatest challenge for the indus-try is “discontinuous innovation, which opensdoors for private label” goods, Schmitz said. “Thelasting solution is innovation,” he concluded.

Also sounding the call for innovation was ChrisDeSoiza, vice president of Milliken Research Corp.(Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA), who spokeabout the future of the textile business. Sevencents of every dollar spent globally is on clothing/textiles, he said; Asia is the number one consumerof textiles and apparel. Furthermore, developingcountries produce more than 60% of all appareland textiles.

Textile trends that DeSoiza feels will affect fab-ric care include customized three-dimensionalprinted apparel as well as electroluminescentmaterials or stimuli-sensitive polymers. A technol-ogy developed by Milliken for food service uni-forms, called BioSmart, could be extended to othermarkets. When clothing treated with the Bio-Smartprocess is laundered with chlorine bleach, recep-tor sites bind the chlorine to the surface of thefabric, killing bacteria on contact.

SUSTAINABILITY HOW-TO

Kasper Rosted’s call for “truly sustainable busi-

Detergent industry faces the future


ness models” was answered in part by Martin Wolfof Seventh Generation, Inc. (Burlington, Vermont,USA). As the company’s director of product sus-tainability and authenticity, Wolf provided asustainability how-to for attendees. (Seventh Gen-eration is a self-declared “socially responsible”company that produces a variety of household,laundry, and cleaning products.)

“We look at the supply chain to understandwhere our materials are coming from, focusingfirst on palm kernel oil sustainability,” he noted.But the company goal is not just sustainable prod-ucts but rather sustainable relationships, gover-nance, social justice, and equity.

Several speakers examined how the Japaneseculture approaches eco-consciousness. EmileIshida of Tohoku University defined “nature tech-nology” as technology for the creation of a spiritu-ally ^.rich life using the least energy and fewestmaterials. He gave as an example a small, effi-cient wind generator currently under developmentin Japan that is based on the wing of a dragonfly.The generator has a rotor with a diameter of only200—500 millimeters, according to Ishida.

Koichi Nakamura of the Japan Soap & Deter-gent Association (JSDA) gave details of how theeco-consciousness of the Japanese has helpedshape buying habits. For one, the market shareof refill-able liquid detergents in Japan has reachedabout 80% in 10 years. (Consumers first buy aplastic container of detergent; refills are packagedin pouches.) For another, JSDA members havereduced the amount of plastic packaging by 15%from levels used in 1995. The issue of water uselooms large in any discussion of sustainabil-ity infabric and home care. (P&G’s McDonald noted,“There are some places where water is moreexpensive than detergent.”)

Life cycle analyses of laundry productsclearly show that the majority of water use oc-curs in the user’s home and not in the manu-facture of products. Unilever’s Randy Quinn,executive vice president of laundry, suggestedthat approximately 70% of the water used inlaundering clothes by hand or machine iswasted in rinsing. Adding up the billions ofwashes in water-scarce countries (which soonwill be virtually every country), and the rinse

cycle becomes something that is important forthe industry to address.

Quinn laid out the inescapable equation: Con-sumers equate the amount of foaming action withthe cleaning power of a detergent. But foam re-quires extra rinsing to remove and thereforewastes water. (Consumers also still believe thatbigger packs sold at the same price as concen-trated versions give better value, which slowsadoption of compacts.)

“We need to be bolder,” he said, “and formu-late for superior cleaning without foam for [laun-dering] without rinsing. But is this a step too farfor industry?”

Regardless of whether the industry takes thatstep in the future, Quinn called upon his col-leagues to roll out concentrates now “fasjsr andbetter, in collaboration if possible.”

CHINA AND THE RISE OFTHE REST

The optimistic tone of the conference was duein part to the growth prospects for fabric and homecare in emerging markets.

For example, India currently spends only $3 percapita on household cleaning products, whereasChina spends only $6. Compare those figures tothe US and Western European average of $60and the cause for optimism is clear. As DeutscheBank’s Bill Schmitz noted the Chinese detergentcategory would grow from $5 billion to $22 billionif Chinese consumption were equal to that ofRussia’s.

“When we think of China, we tend to forgetabout innovation and creativity,” said Max vonZedtwitz, a professor at Tongji University in China,who advised participants not to underestimate theintellectual sophistication of that country. “I wouldnot be surprised if the first person to set foot onMars is Chinese,” he added.

Chinese expenditures on research and devel-opment (R&D) have grown at eight times the paceof US expenditures; Chinese R&D spending likelywill reach 2.5% of GDP (Gross Domestic Prod-uct) by 2020. In 2008, Guangdong province alonefiled more patent applications (103,883) than Ja-


pan (38,408), the United States (27,656), andGermany (10,145).

The numbers are staggering: More than 10 mil-lion students take the college entrance examsevery year, von Zedtwitz said, and between fiveand six million freshmen enter college each year.Furthermore, more than 50% major in engineer-ing, science, or medicine.

“Send your most challenging R&D problemsto China,” von Zedtwitz urged. Many companiesalready have; more than 1,200 foreign-owned R&Dcenters had been set up in China by 2009, henoted.

Here are more statistics from Chor Pharn Leeand the Futures Group in Singapore: The globalmiddle class will increase from 430 million in 2000to 1.15 billion in 2030. In 10 years, the No. 1 En-glish-speaking country in the world will be China.By 2025, five of the top 10 most populous citieswill be in South Asia (Karachi, Pakistan; Dhaka,Bangladesh; and Delhi, Calcutta, and Mumbai inIndia). In 2030, 221 Chinese cities will have popu-lations of more than one million; Europe has 35today and the United States has nine.

But the story does not begin and end in Asia,the Futures Group notes. The Persian Gulf statesare reinventing their petrochemical industries andwill earn $9 trillion in the next 14 years from petro-leum.

Many questions remain. China’s working popu-lation is expected to peak in 2015. Will China getold before it gets rich? India’s working populationlikely will peak in 2035. Will India become the newcontender? Perhaps the answers to these ques-tions will be clearer by the time the industry meetsagain in Montreux in 2014.

The far-ranging program, which also coveredsmarter ways of conducting R&D andneuromarketing, was organized by an executivecommittee comprising J. Keith Grime, president,JKG Consulting, LLC, USA; and co-chairs Tho-mas H. Mueller-Kirschbaum, corporate senior vicepresident, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Germany; andManfred Trautmann, vice president and generalmanager, BU Detergents & Intermediates, ClariantInternational, Switzerland.

Co-sponsors of the meeting included the Ameri-can Cleaning Institute; the International Associa-tion for Soaps, Detergents, and Maintenance Prod-ucts (AISE); the Comite Europeen des Agents deSurface et leurs Intermediates Organiques(CESIO); the Japan Oil Chemists’ Society; andthe Japan Soap and Detergent Association. Par-ticipating organizations include the China Asso-ciation of Surfactant Soap & Detergent Industries,the Italian Chemical Society, the Oil Technologists’Association of India, the Swiss Cosmetic andDetergent Association, and the UK Cleaning Prod-ucts Industry Association.

Catherine Watkins is associate editor of informand can be reached at [email protected].


“WONDER STORY”

Mark Messina and Virginia Messina

COMMERCIAL soybean production in the UnitedStates began in the 1930s. Today, the UnitedStates grows more soybeans than any othercountry and is responsible for nearly one-third ofthe world’s more than 200 million metric tons pro-duced annually. The United States also leads theway in developing innovative soy products for hu-man consumption and in investigating health ef-fects of these new products, as well as those ofthe more traditional soyfoods such as miso,tempe, soymilk, and tofu. Nearly 2,000 peer-re-viewed papers from research related to soy andhealth are published annually.

For four days this past October in Washington,DC, the latest of this research was presented anddiscussed by scientists from around the globe atthe 9th International Symposium on the Role ofSoy in Health Promotion and Chronic DiseasePrevention and Treatment. Presentations ad-dressed emerging research areas as well as is-sues that are vigorously debated within the re-

International Symposium on theRole of Soy in Health Promotion and

Chronic Disease Prevention andTreatment


search community. These included the choles-terol-lowering effects of soy protein and the useof soyfoods by women with breast cancer. A ses-sion was also devoted to findings regarding equol,a compound that is not found in soybeans but isproduced by intestinal bacteria from the soy iso-flavone daidzein.

Highlights from the symposium are presentedbelow. A more in-depth report will appear in theJournal of Nutrition.

SOY AND BREAST CANCER

The influence of soy intake on breast cancerprognosis continues to be a contentious issue be-cause of its potential public health impact. Sev-eral presenters at the symposium directly ad-dressed this issue. Gertraud Maskarinec from theCancer Research Center of Hawaii (Honolulu,USA) and Seema A. Khan, Northwestern Univer-sity Feinberg School of Medicine (Chicago, Illinois,USA), discussed recently conducted clinical stud-ies; Xiao Ou Shu, Vanderbilt University (Nashville,Tennessee, USA) and Xinmei Kang, from theCancer Hospital of Harbin Medical University(Heilongjiang, China), presented findings fromepidemiologic research.

The clinical studies addressed markers ofbreast cancer risk. Maskarinec examined the ef-fects of soyfood intake (~2 servings/d) on nippleaspirate fluid volume in a 12-mo crossover study(6 mo per phase) that included 96 healthy pre-menopausal women, and Khan looked at breastcell proliferation in high-risk pre- and postmeno-pausal women aged 25 to 55 y by examining cellsobtained by fine needle aspiration, before and af-ter 6 mo of isoflavone supplementation (100 mg/d). These markers were not affected in eitherstudy, which suggests that soy was not associ-ated with breast cancer risk.

In the epidemiologic studies, soy intake was as-sociated with improved prognosis among womenwith breast cancer. Shu reported that recurrenceand mortality were reduced by about 30% amongShanghai breast cancer patients who consumedthe equivalent of at least 2 servings/d of soy. Pro-tective effects were noted in both pre-and post-menopausal patients and in patients with bothestrogen-sensitive and hormone-independent tu-

mors. There was also a 30% reduction in tumorrecurrence in the study by Kang, which took placein Harbin (China); however, benefits were limitedto postmenopausal women with estrogen-sensi-tive tumors and there was no effect on mortality.

The results of these two Chinese studies areimpressive, but the findings are from a populationof women who are likely to have consumedsoyfoods for all or most of their lives. BeforeWesternoncologists can recommend soyfoodsfor the specific purpose of improving prognosis, itwill be necessary to demonstrate that they applyto non-Chinese women who have not consumedsoy prior to their diagnosis.

CHOLESTEROL REDUCTION

In 1999 the US Food and Drug Administration(FDA) approved a health claim for soyfoods andcoronary heart disease, which was endorsed ayear later by the American Heart Association(AHA). However, over the past 5 years, the cho-lesterol-lowering effects of soy protein have beenchallenged, most notably by the AHA. In their mostrecent position paper published in 2006, the AHAin essence withdrew its support of the healthclaim. Although they acknowledged the rolesoyfoods can play in heart-healthy diets becauseof their fatty acid profile, the AHA concluded, onthe basis of 22 studies, that soy protein loweredLDL (low-density lipoprotein)-cholesterol by only3%. However, the AHA’s review of studies did notinclude a comprehensive statistical analysis.Based on a meta-analysis presented at the sym-posium, David Jenkins of the University of Toronto(Ontario, Canada) found that soy protein loweredLDL-cholesterol by almost 50% more than theAHA’s estimate for a total average reduction of4.3%. Furthermore, when the analysis was lim-ited to the 11 studies in which the soy and controldiets were evenly matched, LDL-cholesterol wasreduced by 5.2%. James W. Anderson, Univer-sity of Kentucky (Lexington, USA), presented simi-lar findings on the basis of a meta-analysis of 20parallel trials published since 1995.

The FDA is currently evaluating the evidencerelated to the soy protein health claim, and theresults of these two meta-analyses suggest thattheir 1999 decision will be affirmed. In contrast,the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) re-


cently rejected a petition for a soy protein healthclaim similar to the one approved by the FDA.However, as explained by Janice Harland,HarlandHull (Gloucester, United Kingdom), EFSAconsidered only four of the 23 studies included inthe petition. These were studies that used iso-lated soy protein (ISP) from which the isoflavoneswere extracted (ISP-) as the intervention product.This restriction was adopted in order to determinewhether soy protein specifically was responsiblefor cholesterol reduction. However, sinceisoflavones are naturally associated (via hydro-gen bonding) with the protein in soybeans andISP- is produced for experimental purposes only,this approach has limited practical implications.The issue is currently under discussion betweenEuropean authorities, EFSA, and those who sub-mitted the petition.

Finally, Arash Mirrahimi, Claire E. Berryman,and Li Wang, from The Pennsylvania State Uni-versity (University Park, USA), provided estimatesof the extent to which substituting soyfoods forcommonly consumed protein sources in the USdiet may lower blood cholesterol as a result ofdifferences in fatty acid intake. Using NHANES(National Health and Nutrition Examination Sur-vey) III population data, they estimated LDL-cho-lesterol levels were lowered by 4.3% when 24 gsoy protein (essentially the amount of soy proteinestablished by the FDA for cholesterol reduction)from soyfoods replaced 24 g protein from animalproducts. Taken together, these findings suggestthat soyfoods can lower LDL-cholesterol by ap-proximately 9%, which in turn will theoreticallylower the incidence of heart disease by 9 to 18%.

EQUOL

Equol is a bacterially derived product of the soy-bean isoflavone daid-zein that is believed to havepotential health benefits. Only approximately 25%of Westerners host the gut bacteria capable ofconverting daidzein to equol. Presentations at thesymposium greatly expanded knowledge of thesafety and efficacy of this compound. For ex-ample, Belinda Jenks, Pharmavite, LLC(Northridge, California, USA), discussed a widearray of safety studies that have been conductedusing SE5-OH, an equol-rich product producedvia fermentation of soy hypocotyledon. There nowexists a Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)

Self Determination Dossier for SE5-OH.

In regard to efficacy, Takeshi Aso, Tokyo Medi-cal and Dental University (Japan), described theresults of three Japanese studies showing thatequol alleviates hot flashes. Evidence was alsopresented suggesting that equol may exert/skel-etal benefits (Yuko Tousen, from the Japanese Na-tional Institute of Health and Nutrition) and promotecardiovascular health (Takeshi Usui, Clinical Re-search Institute, National Hospital OrganizationKyoto Medical Center).

EMERGING RESEARCH AREAS

In some cases, research presented in Wash-ington provided the most definitive data to date insupport of long-existing hypotheses. For example,Mindy Kurzer, University of Minnesota (Minneapo-lis-St. Paul, USA), presented the results of a sys-tematic review and meta-analysis, which included17 studies, that showed isoflavone supplementsreduced both the frequency and severity of hotflashes. However, there were also several pre-sentations that addressed emerging areas of re-search regarding soy and health.

For example, Robin van den Berg, Unilever, pre-sented the results of a 14-wk clinical study thatshowed an isoflavone-contain-ing beverage re-duced facial wrinkles and increased collagen syn-thesis in postmenopausal women. Animal datapresented by Thomas Badger, ArkansasChildren’s Hospital (Little Rock, United States),suggested that soy may have a role in helping toprevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, an emerg-ing public health concern as rates of obesity in-crease among children and adults. Finally,Grzegorz Wegrzyn, University of Gdansk (Poland),described clinical work indicating that the soybeanisoflavone genistein could play a role in treatmentof children with mucopolysaccharidoses, an in-herited metabolic disorder caused by geneticmutations leading to dysfunction of one of theenzymes involved in the degradation ofglycosamino-glycans in lysosomes.

CONCLUSIONS

The diversity of presentations at the ninth inter-national soy symposium is a testament to the con-tinued interest in understanding the health effects


of soyfoods and soybean components. Not allresearch areas will ultimately prove fruitful, but thesymposium in Washington certainly supports therole that soyfoods can have in improvin| standardWestern diets.


“FRIENDLY”

Ashishkumar A. Kanoje &Avinash M. Balbudhe

Department of Chemical Technology,Laxminarayan Institute of Technology, Nagpur

ABSTRACT

WITH the boom in population and industrializa-tion their exerts a great pressure on petrochemi-cal industries to produce large number of fuel tosatisfy the social need. In this context, productionof biodiesel from edible and non-edible oil sourceshas been identified as a major remedy for dieselproduction. Biodiesel can be simply produced bythe process of transesterfication of vegetable oilwith excess methanol in the presence of suitablecatalyst like sodium methoxide. During this pro-cessing of biodiesel a stage comes in which boil-ing water or hot water is added to the crudebiodiesel for the purification. Attempt should betaken to treat this waste water coming after thepurification of crude biodiesel. Because after ev-ery purification, waste water should be removedthis contains glycerol and untreated methanolwhich are useful byproduct. The byproduct glyc-erol is fed for the further purification and then pureglycerol can be utilized is the manufacture of soapand detergents. Soap is the sodium salt of fattyacid and detergents can also make from thiswastewater obtained during biodiesel processing.This lead to the conversion of waste effluent tovalue added products.

For every 100 liters of biodiesel that we will madecontains about 20-25 liters of glycerol and this glyc-erol contains 25% of methanol. This should be

considered as hazardous waste. As per as envi-ronment problem, we cannot thrown this glycerolas a waste. Hence, it is beneficial to use this wasteeffluent for the production of soaps and detergentsand it is called as eco-friendly soaps and deter-gents made by biodiesel processing. This glyc-erol can also be used for the manufacture ofepichlorohydrine & propylene glycol.

Keywords : Biodiesel, wastewater, soap & de-tergents.

(Courtesy : Seminar on “Recent Trends inOils and Oleochemicals, Western Zone OTAI,

Nagpur).

“GREAT FUTURE”

DeepakYadav, Suraj AhujaChemical Technology, LIT-NAGPUR

ABSTRACT

THE world is confronted with twin crises of fossilfuel depletion and environmental degradation .Thecontinuous increasing demand for energy and di-minishing tendency of petroleum recourses hasled to search for alternative clean renewable ndomestic fuel biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil oranimal based fuel, consisting of long chain alkylesters.

Biodiesel is produced from vegetable oil by pro-cessing like blending, microemulsification ,pyroly-sis n transesterification . Among which thetransesterification is attractive and widely ac-cepted technique. The purpose oftransesterification is to lower the viscosity of oil.

Biodiesel seems to be real fuel for the future, ithas become more attractive recently because ofthe environmental benefits like it is renewable, bio-degradable, non toxic and essentially free fromsulphur and aromatic content. It does not contrib-uted to rise of the level of carbon di-oxide andconsequently to the green house effect.

India is expected to be the world’s fourth larg-est consumer of energy by 2020, and will rely on

FORMULATION OF ECO-FRIENDLYSOAPS AND DETERGENTS FROM

BIODIESEL PROCESSING

BIODIESEL: FUEL FOR FUTURE


heavily on crude imports to satisfy the demandfor oil. Biodiesel play an important role in reduc-ing crude import by 18 percent.

Keywords:

1. Fossil fuel2. Transesterification3. Environmental benefits4. Crude imports

Conclusions:

For making this future fuel realistic all we haveto do is keep maximum target of non edible seedsin degraded or fellow land to make the availabilityof raw material in bulk for commercial production.

References:

1. Biodiesel - Handling and use guidelines, Thirdedition 2006, US Department of Energy.

2. “Progress and recent trends in biofuels”,Progress in Energy and Combustion Science 33(2001 pp. 1-18,

(Courtesy : Seminar on “Recent Trends inOils and Oleochemicals, Western Zone OTAI,

Nagpur).

WASTE TO WEALTH

C. S. Madankara, Subalaxmi Pradhana, LalitPrasadb, S. N. Naika*

aCentre for Rural Development and Technology,bCentre for Energy Studies,

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi,Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India

ABSTRACT

MOST of the Surfactants are produced from LABS(Linear Alkyl Benzene Sulphonate). It is having

BIO-SURFACTANTS FROM KARANJABIODIESEL WASTE

petrochemical origin, thus it is non-biode-gradable and causes harm to the environ-ment. With taking care of environmental fac-tors today’s need is the use of renewableresource like oils, fats and biodiesel wastefor surfactants production. Bio-surfactantsare obtain from renewable resources and arepreferred because of their renewability andecofriendly nature. Most of the bio surfac-tants are obtained from oils and fats or theirderivatives. Karanja bio-diesel waste mainlycontains crude glycerol and some amount ofsoap, monoglyceride, diglycerides, oil, me-thy l a lcoho l , water and t races o funsaponifiable matter. Crude glycerol can bepurified and used for the manufacture of themonoglycerides, diglycerides and other es-ters. These are mainly used as emulsifier,wetting agents, pesticides, fungicides andacticides etc.

In India Bio-fuel programme was intro-duced in 2003, Karanja and Jatropha oil havebeen identified as potential crop used for theproduction of bio-diesel which will go up to13 million tones by 2012, thus the biodieselwaste which is mainly crude glycerol will beproduced in huge quantity, nearly 1.3 milliontones and it was mandatory to blend 5% ofbiodiesel in petrol and diesel. The require-ments of the surfactants are increasing in allsectors with the rising socio-economic stan-dard of the countries. Hence the productionof the petrochemical-based surfactants isincreasing continuously as the technologiesare already available. However, with respectto the rising concern for the environment andhealth issues, the synthesis of surfactantsderived from renewable resources is timelyand important.

Keywords:

Karanja; Biodiesel;Glycerol;Transesterification;Biodiesel waste.

(Courtesy : Seminar on “Recent Trends inOils and Oleochemicals,

Western Zone OTAI, Nagpur).


Apart from being served in restaurants, sautedin garlic butter most people know little about mush-rooms. The exception perhaps being the minoritywho have a fringe interest in those varieties withhallucinogenic properties - the “magic mushrooms”of the 1960’s generation.

There are over 1,500 varieties of fungi growingin the UK today. These range from edible fieldmushroom (Agaricus campestris), the hallucino-genic Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) and LibertyCap (Psilocybe neolanceolata) a resident ofHampstead Health, to the deadly poisonous De-stroying Angel (Amanita virasa) and the aptly namedDeath Cap (Amanita phalloides).

Worldwide, over 64,000 have been identified.Fungi are unique amongst the plant kingdom, inthat they possess no chlorophyll. Thus they can-not take part in photosynthesis for their metabo-lism and have to resort to other means in order tolive.

Many enjoy symbolic or parasitic relationshipswith other plants whilst others are free growing,generally on decaying matter, from which they de-rive their nutrients. As they contain no chlorophyll,they do not take in CO, and give off O, as do greenplants, but respire in the opposite way, similar toanimals, as net consumers of oxygen.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

As with most plants, different peoples fromaround the Globe have over the ages investigatednot only the culinary attributes of fungi, but alsotheir medicinal and cosmetics properties.

There is some debate as to when we first startedeating mushrooms, no one seems to know forsure. Indications are that nomadic hunters as longago as the last Ice age feasted on various localfungi but it was during classic times that mush-

rooms came to the fore and their use was initiallyrecorded.

In the first century, the physician Nicander elo-quently spelled out the dangers of eating the wrongvarieties, Dioscorides making similar referencesome hundred years later, Greeks and Romanswere partial to mushrooms, and at least one Ro-man Emperor, the infamous Gladius, succumbedto the toxins of Amanita ceasarea, albeit with thehelping hands of his scheming wife Agrippria anda local witch Locuste. However, the beneficialmedicinal properties of mushroom were alsorecognised and recorded by Dioscorides who de-scribed Agaricus, actually a Fomes app, as beingeffective against colds, sores, fractures, asthmaetc.

In more modern times, the first serious attemptto classify mushrooms was made by French bota-nist Clusius. The famous herbals written by Gerardand Cupeper hardly give mushrooms a mention.

MUSHROOMS - A SOURCE OF COSMETIC MAGIC

“MORE THAN A SOAP”

THE mushrooms apart from being a delicacy to serve at the dinner table has manyunusual pharmaceutical and cosmetic properties. Dr Allan Onions ofHoneywill & Steinreveals some well-kept secrets of the fabulous fungi.

Kawaratake, is known in the UK as the turkey-tail mush-room. In Japan, it is drunk in the form of a tea for thetreatment of flu, colds, asthma, bronchitis and is muchsought after as a tonic for general debility. It is also used inmany food delicacies. Cosmetically, Kawaratake is used inthe Far East for treating areas with weak connective tissue,in massage formulations, the treatment of acne and on irri-tated erythema due to the effects of excess UV rays. Sug-gested cosmetics applications include after-sun, anti-acneproducts, and massage formulations and antl-celluliteproducts.


Grieve, on the other hand, in ‘A Moden Herbal’ (I),gives fungi a good airing, referring to medicinal andeven pharmaceutical status for several speciesincluding the Giant Puff Bali (Lycoperdon gigantea)which apart from forming part of the diet for somenative American tribes has been used in the UK toarrest haemorrhage.

The hallucinogenic properties of mushroomshave been associated with Shamanism in manyparts of the world. Nomadic hunters of NorthernEurope and Asia have been reported as using FlyAgaric (amanita muscaria) to induce shamanistictrances.

The Koryak people of Eastern Sibena believedspirits known to them, as Wapag man inhabitedthe plants. These spirits of the woods were be-lieved to have left the fungi for the benefit of man-kind to enable them to learn something of tempo-ral world.

One well reported story relates to times of shortsupply of the fungus and to a strange kind of peck-ing order in which the most senior shaman takesthe potion into his trance and then urinates into acup which is then drunk by the next senior sha-man. Apparently, the hallucinogen, is quickly ab-sorbed into the urine via the kidneys. It continuesto be passed around in the group in this fashion.

In Central and South America also, this localmagic mushroom is utilised for shamanistic pur-poses. Elderly women of the tribes employPsliocybe mexicana, a relative of the afore men-tioned Hampstead Health variety, to aid in the pre-scription of magic and cures. The Psilocybe spe-cies contain two psilocin. Although chemically re-lated to LSD they possess only approximately 1 %of its psychotropic activity (2).

Nearer to home, it is believed that witches of theMiddle Ages were well aware of the psychotropiceffects of certain mushrooms. It is believed the actof riding on broomsticks is actually a representa-tion of their use of sticks to administer mushroom

Matsutake (Trlcholoma matsutake) is the Korean PineMushroom, known locally in Korea as Song-Yi. It is recom-mended for the corporation in sensitive facial lotions,moisturising products, sensitive skin products, haircare,bath and shower products where the stimulating effects ofthe pine fragrance can be utilised.

Known as the Deer Mushroom in the USA, Cordycepssabolitera, is known in Japan as Semitake. It is tradition-ally used in Japan as a food and medicinal mushroom, usedfor the treatment of general debility, post-partum debilityand as a natural antibiotic.

Reishi mushroom is recommended for use in sensitive fa-cial lotions, moisturisers and sensitive skin products. TheReishi mushroom itself has enjoyed an elevated position inthe Far East, where it is considered a Taoist elixir of life (themushroom of deathlessness) and once reserved for the Em-peror, it has a long association with longevity and increasedspiritual energy.


potions and already, a well documented route fordrugs to enter the bloodstream quickly.

But as with many things botanical, it is the in-habitants of the Pacific Rim that seem to have stud-ied more deeply the beneficial properties of mush-rooms.

Perhaps the best known Japanese mushroomis the Shiitake (Lentinus edodes). It is cultivatedon oak logs with which it enjoys a parasitic rela-tionship. In the Far East it is revered. Foodwise, itis stir fried, cooked in soups, canned or pickled. Itis nutritious and rich in essential amino acids.

In both China and Japan, it is considered arevitalising tonic whilst some consider it to enhancesexual performance. It is prescribed to reduceblood pressure and cholesterol, to treat anaemia,diabetes and cancer possibly via a stimulation ofthe immune system. The chemical lentinan resistscarcinogen, an attribute shared by many fungalcarbohydrates.

ENERGISING PROPERTIES

In the Far East a holistic approach prevails forboth health and beauty and a Shiitake mushroomtea isone means used to strengthen, vitalise,energise and tone the body. (3)

Coriolus versicolor, Kawaratake, is known in theUK as the turkey-tail mushroom. In Japan, it isdrunk in the form of a tea for the treatment of flu,colds, asthma, bronchitis and is much sought af-ter as a tonic for general debility. It is also used inmany food delicacies.

Chemical analysis shows it to be rich incorlolin which has been known to exhibit anti-biotic and tumor inhibitory actions and a pro-tein bound polysaccharide, klein, which hasbeen shown to have a cytotoxic effect on skinand other cancer cells.

Cosmetically, Kawaratake is used in the FarEast for treating areas with weak connectivetissue, in massage formulations, the treat-ment of acne and on irritated erythema dueto the effects of excess UV rays. Suggestedcosmetics applications include after-sun,anti-acne products, and massage formula-

tions and anti-cellulite products.

Matsutake (Tricholoma matsutake) is the Ko-rean Pine Mushroom, known locally in Korea asSong-Yi. This edible fungus is much sought afterin Japan due to its unique fragrance, a sweet pinelike odour with earthy mushroom undertones. Assuch it provides a natural flavouring and fragranceto festive season delicacies where it is used asthe main ingredient. It grows in a symbiotic rela-tionship with pine trees.

Chemically, the pine-like fragrance is providedby concentrations of alpha and beta-pinene,cembrene and S-matsutake alcohol. It has alsobeen shown to contain amino acids and methylcis-a-methyl cinnamate which aid moisture reten-tion and 2-octen-1-ol which stimulates peripheralcirculation.

Cosmetically, it has traditionally been used asa decoction, normally steeped overnight in wa-ter, the solution then being used as a facial wash,generally in Autumn, to remove Summer sundarkened facial spots and for the tightening offacial wrinkles in a new development, whichmirrors this traditional use, an alcoholic extract,rich in spngyic acid, is generating great interestin Korea as a skin whitening agent as an alter-native to kojic acid.

Mannentake (Ganoderma lucidum) is mainly a food sourcemushroom which for medicinal applications are as a tonicfor general debility and as a natural antibiotic. The richmushroom oil, extracted from the waxes affords a fatty oilwhich is used sparingly in seasoning foods. Medicinally, itis used to treat and remove warts, swellings and to smooththe coarse and chapped skin.


Matsutake is recommended for the corporationin sensitive facial lotions, moisturising products,sensitive skin products, haircare, bath and showerproducts where the stimulating effects of the pinefragrance can be utilised.

Ralgankin (Polyporus mylittoe) has been shownto contain an interesting variety of chemicals thatmake it an ideal candidate for haircare products.

A study of its ethnobotany shows that in addi-tion to culinary applications, it has been used forhaircare preparations and the treatment of dan-druff.

This can be rationalised by investigation of itschemical constituents which include bio-sulphurand salicylic acid, the first is an effective anti-my-cotic whilst the salicylic acid exhibits keralytic ef-fects.

Also present are volatile oils which act as astimulant for the scalp and organic acids whichare astringent.

Mirroring the traditional use and making use ofthe identified active ingredients, Raigankin may berecommended for incorporation into all hair careproducts, particularly those designed for the treat-ment of dandruff.

EASTERN TONIC

Known as the Deer Mushroom in the USA,Cordyceps sabolitera, is known in Japan asSemitake. It is traditionally used in Japan as a foodand medicinal mushroom, used for the treatmentof general debility, post-partum debility and as anatural antibiotic. As a food, it is incorporated intoa rich spicy mushroom cream stock for soups andbroths and also as a mushroom spice. It exhibitsa faint spicy cinnamon fragrance.

Chemical analysis reveals amino acids whichregulate moisture on the surface of the skin,ophiocordin, which show bacteriostatic and anti-phlogistic properties, and polysaccharide co-1which stimulates peripheral blood flow.

These properties suggest application in coolingpreparations, refreshing facial lotions, moisturisingpreparations and after-bath skincare products.

Magojakushi (Ganoderma neo-japonicum) is amuch sought after deli-cacy and is known aspanaceapolypore. This mystical panacea is usedin the highest class on tonics in the Far East andbecause of its scarcity is now often substituted bythe more common Reishi mushroom (Ganodermalucidum). It has been shown to contain a variety ofganodermapolyots which exhibit beneficial actionson the skin surface. It is recommended for use insensitive facial lotions, moisturisers and sensitiveskin products.

The Reishi mushroom itself has enjoyed an el-evated position in the Far East, where it is consid-ered a Taoist elixir of life (the mushroom of death-lessness) and once reserved for the Emperor, ithas a long association with longevity and increasedspiritual energy. It is said to boost the immune sys-tem and reduces free radicals associated with theageing process by 50%.

Tsuriganedake (Ferries fometorius) is known asAmadou in the USA. In Japan it has been used asa dressing to staunch the flow of blood from deepwounds and in the form of a tea for the treatmentof the flu, colds, asthma, bronchitis and generaldebility. It is used in many food delicacies, whichare particularly consumed in the Autumn and Win-ter months. Traditional cosmetics use in the FarEast is for treatment and repair of signs of skinageing.

Analysis of the chemical constituents revealsmoisturising polysaccha-rides, flavonoids that actas free radical scavengers and saponins that ex-hibit antiphlogistic action. Cyclic AMP is alsopresent. This has been shown to be effective inthe prevention of skin cell ageing. It has been re-ported as acting as a secondary messenger forthe metabolic processes in inner cells which ef-fectively prevents cellular changes and defers theearly signs of ageing.

Tsuriganedake is recommended for use in af-ter-sun preparations, facial lotions, haircare prod-ucts, creams and lotions for rough and irritatedskin and moisturising preparations.

The above products all utilise aqueous extracts,but many beneficial properties are associated withoil-soluble functional chemicals from the fungi,Fornistopsis officinalis, Eburiko, is a mushroom


used extensively as a foodstuff, a general tonicand a natural anti-oxidant and bactericide. The beltof waxes from around the mushroom margin isextracted to yield a rich mushroom oil which is usedsparingly in the seasoning of foods.

SKINCARE BENEFITS

The oil is used medicinally to treat slow healingwounds, for smoothing dry, coarse and chappedskin, as a novel source of g-linoleic acid, alltransretinoic acid and fungal omega-3-polyunsatu-rated fatty acids and other polyunsaturated fungallipids used for the repair of skin tissues and woundhealing......eczema, psoriasis and phlebitis.

The super critical CO2 extracted oil is recom-mended for use in sensitive skin products, facialtonics and creams, hair shampoos, liquid soappreparations and rinse off skin and hair products.

Mannentake (Ganoderma lucidum) is mainly afood source mushroom which for medicinal appli-cations are as a tonic for general debility and as anatural antibiotic. The rich mushroom oil, extractedfrom the waxes affords a fatty oil which is usedsparingly in seasoning foods. Medicinally, it is usedto treat and remove warts, swellings and to smooththe coarse and chapped skin. Identified constitu-ents are ganodermenonol which exhibits anti-his-tamine action on the skin, vegetable sterols whichexhibit circulation stimulating properties andunsatur-ated C14-C18 fatty acids which impartmoisturising care.

Moisture regulating amino acids andoctadecanoate which exhibits surface immunestimulation are also present. The caprylic / caprictriglyceride extract of Mannentake may be usefulin moisturising products, day and night creams andlotions, cleansing milks and liquid soap prepara-tions.

A similar chemical mix may also be extractedfrom Fornistopsis pinicola, the redbelted polysporeknown in Japan as, Tsugasaromoshitake.

Additionally, it provides a source of an oil solublered dye. Traditional cosmetics applications includethe treatment of dry, coarse and chapped skin andas a natural red dye.

This has been just a brief look at a new, novelsource of functional cosmetics ingredients. For amarketing view with a difference, sample the worldof mushrooms to your new formulations.

REFERENCES:

1. Grieveg M, A Modern Herbal. Penguin Books.ISBN 0-14-046440-9.

2. Willis, SA, The Pharmaceutical Journal,251,227-229, (1995).

3. Michelie D. Leigh, The Japanese Way ofBeauty, Thorsohs, ISBN 0-7225-2976

(Courtesy : Soaps, Detergents &Toilet Review, December 2010).

NATURAL & ORGANIC IS IN!

HPCI (home and personal care ingredients) Con-gress made a successful entry in India this yearbringing all the big brands from around the worldunder one roof. The mega event made its debut atthe Grand Hyatt Mumbai on December 17-19. Withthe first edition making a remarkable success, theorganisers have already planned the second edi-tion to be bigger with added features.

The event aimed to serve players in the per-sonal care and home care industries wasorganised in conjunction with the German chem-ist association SOFW and the Indian Society ofCosmetics Scientists (ISCC).

The conference and seminar ran parallel to theexhibition at the same venue for both days. Vari-ous international speakers gave presentations thatfocused on scientific innovations and develop-ments in the areas of formulation and raw materi-als. Experts from leading universities and compa-nies provided extensive insight into formulationtechniques and new ingredients with special fo-cus on natural and green products.

Around 1,400 visitors attended HPCI over thetwo-days period, visiting the exhibition and attend-ing the conference and presentations.

HPCI CONGRESS MAKESA SUCCESSFUL ENTRY


The vibrant atmosphere at HPCI during long pe-riods of the opening hours indicated the enthusi-asm of the visitors to learning about and discussthe latest ingredients, their applications, formula-tions and services around homecare,cosmeticsand personal care products.

HPCI event director Robert Fischer stated, “ TheHPCI Congress is a platform to bring peers to-gether and to build business communication. Theformat of the congress reflects the need of the in-dustry for a forum that combines education andbusiness on reasonable economic conditions. Thefirst edition has already been a success. Feed-back from the exhibitors confirmed that they were‘very satisfied’ with both the numbers and qualityof visitors to their stands. Most of the 50-odd ex-hibitors have already re-confirmed their attendancefor the next edition in 2012.”

Interesting papers were presented on the natu-ral concept expanding in India and natural and or-ganics becoming a big market.

Dr R. Govindarajan, principal scientist, HimalayaHealthcare, presented the first paper on ‘Naturalsin personal care: Role of naturals in personal careformulations. Challenges to formulating withnaturals.’ He dealt on challenges faced while de-veloping natural formulations and the need to con-sider excipients and preservatives. He stressedon working the ethical way while claiming your selfgoing natural.

Krishan Guptaa, MD and Global CEO, OrganicIndia Ltd, delivered the Keynote address - An over-view of Naturals: The global space versus the In-dian opportunity. An overview of innovations, ap-proaches and regulatory environment. Driversshaping this evolving category.’ His presentationincluded understanding the concept of natural andorganic, Indian market and exports, Indian mar-ket- advantages and bottlenecks. The top 4 metresthat contribute to over 80 per cent of the up-mar-ket products in the country included Chennai withaccessible potential of 84 crore, Hyderabad at 33,Bangalore at 69, and Mumbai that topped the listwith accessible potential of 148 crore.

On the exhibition side, the registered compa-nies showcased their latest innovations in raw ma-terials, machinery and services to formulators and

distributors.

Dow Chemicals, regional marketing manager,home and personal care, Farooq Alam, stated, “Wehave participated in SEPAWA Germany and nowwe are participating in HPCI India. We have met alot of Indian formulators at the event and we findthem very keen on knowing practical technologyand not just theory. They see how the ingredient orthe technology works, driven to making full formu-lation and checking out the demonstrated benefitsin a practical and pragmatic way. We would ap-preciate if new novel technologies that are displayedat the booth are showcased and dis-cussed at thetechnical seminars running parallel to the event.”

Laurent Schubnel, operating marketing man-ager, Gattefosse, France, stated, “we have seena change in the trend on customer demands inIndia over the years. Previously people would de-mand emulsifiers and products with powdery anddry finish, but now they are more keen on textureand feel of the product formulations. Now they lookfor active ingredients that help enhance the activ-ity of their products.”

France-based Gattefosse is involved in the de-velopment, manufacturing, and marketing of spe-ciality ingredients and innovative formulation solu-tions for the health and beauty industries world-wide. The company had installed a Texture bar,where the visitors could test the formula and knowthe features of the product and decide what theywant.

Schubnel also specified that Indian participantsinsisted on knowing the products, practically test-ing it, then knowing about them on paper, one mainreason why they had got the texture bar installed.Many seemed to be crowding at Gattefosse withthe attractive texture bar on display.

Inspired from Lijjat and Cosmetic valley in Ger-many, IWIN, Indian women Industries Network, alsoexhibited at HPCI Congress. IWIN is a private lim-ited company, owned by 20 women entrepreneurswho have achieved success in cosmetic manu-facturing, allied businesses all having experiencein beauty and wellness domain. The company cur-rently manufactures cosmetics for both Indian andinternational private labels, including retail chains,spas, salons. Sheela lyer, associate director, IWIN,


stated, “We are presently setting up a new manu-facturing facility with R&D lab, testing labs, pack-aging and training facilities, a whole 360 degreefacility near Mumbai. Our company manufacturesEU compliant line of products to comply with EUregulatory standards.”

Fischer stated, “The trend these days observedaround the world is that consumers have nowshifted to natural products, so the formulators havealso switched to natural products. Indians are alsofocusing on natural, ecological and biological in-gredients. In India, besides going natural, the de-mand by consumers is on skin whitening prod-ucts.” Demand by producers is on good price, goodquality, ingredients easy to formulate and demandfor pre-formulated products that can mend accord-ing to the demand.”

According to Rahul M Gavankar, sales manager,SOFW India, “ Specific ingredients may be avail-able only at specific places, the benefit of partici-pating at HPQ is that, the participants get to learnabout novel ingredients in the market and the onescoming newly in the market meets formulators andmanufacturers from around the world, shares in-formation about ingredients and markets, learningabout the trends in the market and most vitally suchinternational events act as a launch pad for newproducts.”

The cosmetic and homecare market is rapidlygrowing in the India and wider SAARC region withdouble digit growth rates. This development is fore-casted to last as these sophisticated markets usetheir unique location, culture and expertise to de-velop products for both domestic and internationalmarkets.

The next edition of HPQ Congress in India wouldbe held on February 2-3, 2012, tentatively at thesame venue and is expected to be bigger in size.According to Fischer, “Around 70 per cent of thefloor space has already been booked by the majorcompanies. The companies include Brenntag,Croda, Mascot, DSM, Dow Chemicals, Arihant. Ifthe number increases way beyond, a bigger spacewould be arranged.

(Courtesy : Ingredients south Asia,1-15 January, 2011.)

DAYAMANI, K.J. UAS, GKVK

TODAY most floriculture crops are produced in soil-less media that often contains an organic compo-nent. Certainly peat is one of the most widely em-ployed organic materials contained in commercialsoilless media. However, as peat supplies dimin-ish because of over- harvesting, prices will inevi-tably rise. Therefore, identification of comparablypriced substitutes for peat is imperative. One ap-proach is to amend peat-based soilless media withother organic materials such as carbonized barkand compost. While these substances are not in-tended to substitute for peat, they do reduce theamount of peat used by 10 to 20%, while at thesame time alter the physical and chemical prop-erties of the media to provide optimal growing con-ditions.

At the same time there is growing environmen-tal concern about the disposal of organic wastessuch as sewage sludge, yard and garden waste,and animal manure. Therefore, bio-solid wastesmust either be contained or converted to a non-hazardous form that will not pollute the environ-ment. This, of course, has led to the skyrocketingof the cost of disposal. Composting such wastesis one environmentally sound way to convert bio-logical waste into a form that can be easily dis-posed and provide a mechanism to recoup someof the costs incurred.

The primary reason for this is because thecomposting process is dependent on the aerobicaction of soil microorganisms that break down thecomplex organic molecules to simple substancesthat can be taken up and utilized by plants. Thisbio-oxidative process is highly dependent on vari-able environmental conditions such as tempera-ture and the availability of oxygen that are hard tocontrol.

Another “composting” process that has not re-ceived as much attention is vermicomposting thatrelies on the action of earthworms to break downcomplex organic compounds. The worm castings

Vermipost : As soil amendment

“DON’T SPOIL SOIL”


or fecal material produced by the worms is a richsource of a variety of essential plant nutrients. Incontrast to conventional composts,vermicomposts are less variable and much morestable. In addition, the time to complete thecomposting process is much shorter forvermicomposts: one pound of worms can convertone pound of pig manure to compost in 48 hours.

Although much of the effect of vermicomposton plant growth can be attributed to the addition ofimportant nutrients, there are other unknown fac-tors involved. Plants grown in vermicompost-amended media still grow better than those grownin unamended media with similar nutritional lev-els. Furthermore, the promotive effect ofvermicompost on growth is lost if it is sterilizedand can not be restored by adding additional nutri-ents.

Regardless, the use of vermicompost in com-mercial soilless media holds great promise if theeconomics hold out. The widespread use ofvermicompost as an amendment will ultimatelydepend on its cost of production. However, withthe increased pressure to find alternate ways tosafely dispose of animal manure, the techniquesfor vermicomposting on a large scale are now be-ing developed that can economically process enor-mous amounts of animal waste.

(Courtesy : Plant Horti Tech, Vol.10-No.4,Nov.-December, 2010).

“FEED THE BOVINE”

Dayamani K.J*., Gangarathnamma, B.S**.,Mukunda Lakshmi L*** and Jyothi****,

NOWADAYS a number of synthetic antibiotics, ste-roids and vitamins are used to increase the pro-duction of milk, meat, egg etc. These chemicalsmay accumulate in the human body, through theconsumption of animal products and could causevarious degenerative diseases. If we can substi-tute the catde feeds with natural feeds that are richin useful nutrients, it will be of great importance forhuman and animal health. Azolla can be used as a

good substitute for the cattle feed. Azolla is a fresh-water fern, which can be grown in artificial fresh-water tanks. It is associated with blue green algathat can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. Becauseof this, it is also used a fertilizer in rice cultivation.This fern is a good source of minerals and nutri-ents; 60% of the dry matter is protein. It also con-tains vitamin A, antioxidants and other nutrients.

Azolla can be cheaply produced in good quanti-ties and be used as a cheap and nutritious cattlefeed. Azolla has been used as feed for pig, duck,and fish. It has high content of protein (20-30% ondry weight basis). Because its protein lacks in me-thionine and cystein, combination with cereals isneeded. Nutritional values of azolla to animals varygreatly on azolla species. A. microphylla is the best,and palatability by fish is better than other species.On dry weight basis, azolla can be mixed up to10% of the purchased animal feed.

Technology Resource Centre of the Natural Re-sources Development Project (NARDEP) has de-veloped a simple technology to grow azolla, whichis useful for dairy farmers. It has been well estab-lished that azolla. is an ideal feed substitute. Azollahas 50-60% protein on dry weight basis, rich inalmost all essential amino acids, vitamin A, vita-min B-complex, beta-carotene and minerals viz.Calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, copper andmagnesium.

Rich in proteins, essential amino acids, vi-tamins (vitamin A, vitamin B12 and Beta-Carotene),growth promoter intermediaries and minerals likecalcium, phosphorous, potassium, ferrous, cop-per, magnesium

Dry weight basis, it contains 25 -35 percentprotein, 10 - 15 percent minerals and 7-10 percentof amino acids, bio-active substances and bio-polymers

Livestock easily digest it, owing to its high pro-

Azolla - Good Feed For Livestock

*Department of Agricultural Microbiology**Department of Sericulture,***Department of Horticulture,****Department of AgriculturalExtension


tein and low lignin content Azolla can be mixed with concentrates or can

be given directly to livestock

Can also be fed to poultry, sheep, goats, pigsand rabbits.

Milk production in animals can be increasedby 10 to 20%

It is a low cost feed for cattle, which helps toreduce the total feed cost.

Growing technology

Material required

Silpauline sheets, sieved fertile soil,cowdung, powdered rock phosphate, culture ofazolla and micronutrients.

Methodology

In this method, an artificial pond made ofsilpauline sheets of 2.6m by 1.6m is used to growazolla. About 10-15kg of sieved fertile soil is uni-formly spread over the sheet. One kg of cowdungmixed in 10 litres of water is poured over it. Pow-dered rock phosphate should be added along withthe cowdung slurry at a rate of 10-20g per pit. Watershould be poured into the pond to a depth of 10cm.Then 0.5-1 kg of pure culture of azolla is inocu-lated in the pond. In about 10-15 days, azolla willfill up the pond, and daily 0.5-1 kg fresh azolla can

be harvested there after. About 1 Og of super phos-phate or rock phosphate and 500g of cow dungshould be added once every five days to keepazolla in rapid multiplication phase and to main-tain a production of one kg per pond every day.Micronutrient mixture should be added to the azollapond at weekly intervals to enhance the mineralcontent of azolla.

Points to be remembered

Care should be taken to retain the tempera-ture below 250' c.

Shade nets can be used to cut the light inten-sity.

The azolla biomass should be removed dailyto avoid over crowding. The pH of the pond should be maintained be-

tween 5.5 and 7.0.

After harvesting, the fresh azolla should bewashed thoroughly to remove cow dung smell.Washing in a net will be useful as it will allow smallplantlets to get out, and they can be poured backin to the pond. The cleaned azolla can be mixed with equal

quantity of commercial feed and the mixture canbe directly fed to dairy cattle and pig. Method andthe materials required.

(Courtesy : Plant Horti Tech, Vol.10-No.4,Nov.-December, 2010).


THE issue of peak oil has implications, of course,for transportation and other essential areas suchas heating. Not as widely discussed, at least inthe mainstream media, are its implications for thechemical industry and surfactants in particular.Crude oil-based products end up as alcohol sul-fates, ether sulfates, linear alkylbenzene sul-fonates (LAB), alcohol ethoxylates, nonylphenolethoxylates, softener, conditioner, antimicrobialquats, and amphoterics—that is, in essentiallyevery major surfactant class used in every classof detergent, personal care, and industrial clean-ing product. Try maintaining basic personal, house-hold, and institutional hygiene for a day without oil.

If the prospect of an ultimately disappearing sup-ply of oil does not keep you awake at night, thenthe recent trends in pricing and its volatility surelydo, as illustrated in Figure 2. Since the early 1990s,oil prices have steadily marched up and the vola-tility has increased.

Since the oil embargoes of the early 1970s, thesurfactant industry has looked to the oleochemicalvalue chain as the counterbalance to a crude oil-based system. Since the early 1990s, the adop-tion of palm- and coconut-derived oleochemicalsas “the answer” to a depleting and nonrenewableresource has accelerated. Although perfectly finefeedstocks, palm and coconut oils are not the an-swer. In recent years, as many supply chain pro-fessionals will attest, the vegetable oil market hasstarted to behave increasingly like the crude mar-ket. Figure 3 bears an eerie resemblance to the

Biomass—The next revolution in surfactants?Neil A. Burns

There is constant debate about when and how quickly the world will run outof oil, but there is no doubt that, at some point, it will. The term “peak oil” haspassed into the popular lexicon to describe the point at which oil productionreaches its highest historical level, a point beyond which, literally and figu-ratively, it is downhill for oil producers. Figure 1 uses Energy InformationAdministration (EIA; an agency of the US Department of Energy) data toillustrate various predictions of when, and at what point, global oil and natu-ral gas liquid production reaches its peak. You will quickly see from thisfigure that most predictions are grouped around about now as the time thatthe peak is reached.


last 15 years of is clearly relevant. Products suchas palm and soybean that can be used as food(as they have been for thousands of years) andfuel (as they have recently in biodiesel) are inevi-tably going to take some pricing cues from themajor fuel, which is crude oil.

So where does this leave surfactant producers?Today, the pricing of key feedstocks such as laurylalcohol is following, as one would expect, the veg-etable oil markets, which in turn seem correlatedwith the crude oil markets. Figure 4 illustrates re-cent lauryl alcohol pricing trends. Petrochemical-derived alcohol is apparently offering little real al-ternative in current conditions,and the ability to substitute LABfor fatty alcohols has beentapped as far as it can go-So, thisleaves surfactant producerslooking for a viable alternativefeedstock source that is renew-able and less tightly correlatedwith the petrol and oleo oils nowsupporting the industry. This iswhere biomass and the recenttechnology developed aroundenergy and, more recently,chemicals, comes in.

Biomass, by many definitions,is biological material derivedfrom living or recently living or-ganisms. Clearly this leaves out

coal and oil but includes palm oil and the othervegetable oils. For the purposes of this article weshall focus on emerging technology that is beingused to convert traditional (e.g., palm, sug-arcane)and new (e.g., algae) sources of biomass intochemicals, including surfactants.

In the last few years much time, energy, andmoney have been invested in trying to find a routefrom biomass to a gasoline substitute, given theoverarching challenge posed by peak oil to the glo-bal economy. A number of companies have beenformed for the original purpose of pursuing biofuelalternatives including Amyris, Gevo, Petroalgae,Codexis, Solazyme, Coskata, and Virent. Other


major companies, such as Exx-onMobil, have es-tablished business initiatives around biofuel (in thecase of ExxonMobil, most notably from algae).More recently, however, a number of biomass com-panies have realized that a quicker and more prof-itable route to market may initially be via chemi-cals and not biofuel.

The reasons for a “chemicals first” strategy in-clude, firstly, that the cost barriers are not neces-sarily so onerous for the production of certainchemicals for application in, say, cosmetics as theyare for mass-marketed gasoline. Chemicals mar-kets are also more fragmented and niched thanthe transportation fuels markets. This makes iteasier for a company to start small, commercial-ize, and earn money at a scale that is often stillthat of a demonstration plant for fuels production.For example, a 10 million Ib (4.5 million kg)/yrchemical plant can produce a number of productsand be commercially self sustainable. Even a 1million Ib/yr chemical plant is viable for the rightproduct mix—this is the equivalent of about140,000 gallons (530,000 liters) of fuel—hardly ameaningful amount of gasoline or any other trans-portation fuel.

Given the keen interest of surfactant producersin a good alternative to the oleo/petro duopoly—and the realization by the biofuel companies that

chemicals represent a shorter, quicker route to rev-enues and profits—we see the emergence of avery attractive area for both parties: biomass forthe surfactant value chain.

This new potential third leg to the surfactantvalue-chain stool is much more than just concep-tual at this stage. A number of companies havecommercial or near-commercial activities focusedin this area. A key question relating to any suchserious initiative relates to the supply of sufficientquantities of biomass at the right price and in atimely manner. A biomass source that ends upbeing as tightly correlated in pricing to crude oil asvegetable oil has been is interesting, but not thesourcing revolution that the industry is looking for.

Algae represent just one such interesting sourceof biomass. It is an efficient crop, in terms of yieldper acre, vs. others such as corn or sugar, and itdoes not have a competing food application (likeboth of the aforementioned alternatives). In an im-portant paper published in Biotechnology Advances(25:294—306, 2007), Yusuf Chisti, a researcherat Massey University in New Zealand, outlines thecase for microalgae as the only currently identi-fied renewable source of biomass that potentiallycan be made available in sufficient quantity to rep-resent a viable source of biomass for transporta-tion fuel. This analysis provides, I believe, a logicalunderpinning for the use of algae-derived biom-ass as an alternative for the production of surfac-tant feedstocks.

Table 1, developed by Chisti, illustrates the effi-ciency of algae as a source of biomass forbiodiesel production. It tabulates the acreage ofcommonly used crops that would be needed justto replace the current US consumption of gaso-line with a biodiesel-based alternative.

Table 2 shows that the assumptions of either30 or 70% oil content in microalgae species arenot unreasonable.

The statistics in Tables 1 and 2, while meant tosupport the use of algae as a biodiesel source andthus a gasoline alternative, are also supportive ofthe broader concept of a crude oil and vegetableoil alternative in the surfactant value chain.

Commercial activity in the field of converting bio-


mass to surfactants is well underway,and the biomass source is not confinedto algae, as the following profiles show.

SOLAZYME

Headquartered in South San Fran-cisco, California, USA, Solazyme(www.solazyme.com) was founded in2003. A venture capital-funded company,it is well beyond the start-up stage.Solazyme’s technology allows algae toproduce oil and biomaterials. The com-pany has partnered with Unilever in March2010 to commercialize its technology ina range of consumer products.

ELEVANCE

Headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois,USA, Elevance (www.ele-vance.com)uses metathesis technology to convertnatural oils from a variety of sources (po-tentially including algal oil) to chemicalfeedstocks. Elevance recently formed apartnership with the sugar and palm plan-tation company, Wilmar, to build abiorefmery in Indonesia. The companyalso has a partnership with Stepan


(North-field, Illinois) to commercialize its technol-ogy in Stepan’s range of surfactants and polyols.Figure 7 illustrates the basic Elevance biorefinerytechnology.

Figure 8 illustrates the potential of just one ofthe building block chemicals produced by theElevance technology and a subject of some of thejoint development work with Stepan in surfactants.

CONCLUSIONS

The field of biorenewables is fast moving, andchemical feedstock development is clearly a keyobjective of many of the formerly bio-fuels-onlycompanies. As the need for additional options insurfactant feedstocks becomes more apparent,expect more companies to adapt their biomasstechnology to this area. Expect also further part-nerships to be formed to accelerate commercial-ization. Such partnerships will go both downstreamto consumer products (such as the Unilever/Solazyme arrangement) or upstream to the biom-ass sources themselves (as in Elevance /Wilmar).

Neil Burns is the managing partner ofNeilA Burns LLC, an investment and advi-sory firm. The firm invests equity capitalin specialty chemicals companies withenterprise value between $50 million and$1.5 billion. The firm also provides advi-sory services in the field of surfactants,oleo-chemicals, and feedstocks. Rumsserves on the board of directors ofSiVance, a specialty silicones manufac-turer and on the operat ing advisoryboards ofCenNx360 Capital Partners andLinley Capital Partners. Burns has over20 years experience in specialty chemi-cals, including terms as CEO at OxitenoUSA, VP US Operations at VVF Ltd anda board director at Pilot Chemical Com-pany. His education includes a BS inChemistry from the University of Yorkand an MBA from the Whorton School.

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