Innovative products from Renewables – Opportunities in the field of Lipid Biotechnology

Nowadays a strong trend towards “green” is seen in the chemical industry as well as in the energy sector. In this respect the oleochemical industry has been ahead of the latest trend for more than 100 years. Cognis utilizes fats and oils from renewable resources since decades with an overall amount of renewables of > 50 %.

The oleochemical industry is traditionally a chemically based industry. Most of the established chemical processes produce little waste and are environmentally friendly, thus they can be called sustainable over the whole value chain.

Biotechnology based processes have been established in oleochemistry since a few years. These processes fit well into the green strategy of Cognis. The presentation will give an overview about biotechnologically produced lipid based products [1] and will discuss chances and limitations for the application of White Biotechnology. The following examples will be discussed in more depth:

• Production of dicarboxylic acids with microbial biooxidation
• Enzymatic synthesis of CLA triglycerides
• Carotenoid production with algae
• Current fields of research: BMELV funded projects with Cognis participation

[1] Ulrich Schörken, Peter Kempers; Lipid biotechnology: Industrially relevant production processes; Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 2009, vol. 111, no. 7, pp. 627–645.