Belgian startup AmphiStar uses patented technology to convert diverse biomass -such as unsold fruits and vegetables or agri-food industry side streams – into high-performance, sustainable biosurfactants suitable for a wide range of applications, including home care, personal care, industrial cleaners, textiles, and agrochemicals.
“Our mission is to make biosurfactants mainstream,” says Pierre-Franck Valentin, CEO of AmphiStar.
The company is targeting fast moving consumer goods companies, cosmetic companies as well as private label companies and SMEs that produce products for supermarket brands.
Surfactants are used in almost every industry, from household cleaning products to high-value pharmaceuticals. In recent years, microbial biosurfactants have garnered significant attention due to the growing consumer demand for greener, more sustainable products. Industries such as cosmetics and personal care are increasingly committed to making the switch to bio-based ingredients.
Globally, over 20 million ton of surfactants are produced every year, but only 2% are fully biobased and produced using biological methods like microbial fermentation.
AmphiStar’s says its biotechnology platform – the result of over fifteen years of integrated strain- and process development, leverages synthetic biology to create designer molecules that meet specific performance needs. These tailor-made biosurfactants, produced from organic waste- and side streams, not only offer a sustainable alternative to mainstream chemically produced surfactants (fossil- and biobased) and other commercial microbial biosurfactants but also unlock new possibilities for innovation in the cleaning, cosmetics, and personal care industries.
The company is ramping up commercially by first launching biosurfactants for home care and personal care products.
The startup’s AmphiCare line is designed for the personal care market, featuring the high purity and functionality required for cosmetic products such as shampoos, makeup removers and other skincare products. AmphiClean is optimized for high-performance cleaning products, including multi-surface cleaners, dishwashing products and detergents, delivering what the company says is effective degreasing and dirt removal while reducing environmental impact. Ecover, a Belgian company that manufactures ecological cleaning products that is owned by S. C. Johnson & Son, launched a consumer product integrating AmphiStar’s waste-based biosurfactants last year.
By avoiding reliance on fossil feedstocks and crops like palm or rapeseed oil or sugar, AmphiCare and AmphiClean demonstrate superior sustainability and a more favorable lifecycle analysis compared to not just mainstream chemically produced surfactants that are fossil-based but also those that are bio-based as well as other commercial microbial biosurfactants, says Valentin.
AmphiStar’s biosurfactants generate four times less Co2 than first generation biosurfactants products, he says, and they don’t contribute to direct land use or deforestation.
The launch of AmphiCare and AmphiClean is just the beginning, paving the way for the commercialization of a variety of completely novel biosurfactants, he says.
AmphiStar, which launched in 2021, is a spinoff of the University of Ghent and Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, an independent, facility in Belgium that acts as a service provider for process development, scale-up and custom manufacturing of bio-based products and processes.
The startup’s five founders met at the University of Ghent and worked together at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant. Yeast used at that plant to produce AmphiStar biosurfactants is currently a wild yeast strain, says Valentin. “What Amphistar is doing is developing processes with this yeast that allow you to obtain the same product from waste that you get using sugar and vegetable oils,” he says.
AmphiStar plans to have its own demo plant by 2028 that will handle everything from the pre-treatment of the waste through to the production of the biosurfactant and purification. Eventually it will need to set up commercial plants in each country it will operate in so that it can be close to the waste, Valentin says.
In 2024 AmphiStar was awarded a €2 million non-dilutive grant from Germany’s SPRIND (Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation). Following a rigorous selection process, AmphiStar emerged as one of only six teams to pass to the program’s second round, which supports disruptive innovation in the biotechnology sector. The company previously secured €1.5 million in 2023 during the program’s initial phase. It plans to compete for additional funding in 2025.
To raise the latest funding from SPRIND AmphiStar had to achieve sixty days of continuous fermentation. “We were able to prove we could do 75 days,” says Valentin. “When you are able to do 75 days you can reduce the cost in a substantial way.” Once it achieves scale, he says AmphiStar expects to achieve a price point close that of standard surfactants.
There are three ways to reduce costs and reach lower price points for biosurfactants: modify the yeasts to improve productivity or yield of the production of biosurfactants; develop continuous processes so that there is less needed cleaning and downtime of the production unit; or scaling up of the volumes in a plant as bigger volumes induce lower costs, Valentin says.
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