BASF and Acies Bio, one of Europe’s leading biotechnology companies, have entered into a transformative partnership to further develop a platform for fermentation technology from methanol for the production of fatty alcohols.

Fatty alcohols are essential building blocks for several ingredients in the home and personal care markets, in particular surfactants. Acies Bio’s biotechnological expertise complements BASF’s drive for innovative solutions and contributes to shaping a more sustainable future.

Acies Bio has developed the “OneCarbonBio”, a fully flexible synthetic biology platform designed to efficiently convert renewable methanol, derived from captured CO2 emissions, into a variety of chemical raw materials.

Under the terms of the partnership, BASF’s Care Chemicals division and Acies Bio will use the specialized microbes and scale up the fermentation process to produce fatty acids and derivatives serving to manufacture various chemical compounds. BASF will contribute its expertise in developing processes, providing integrated value chain solutions and accessing global markets.

“Biotechnology complements our chemistry to create a more sustainable future,” said Dr. Matthias Maase, Global Director Sustainability, Care Chemicals BASF. “We are very pleased to have found the right partner in Acies Bio to further develop this innovation at an early stage. With a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, our research scope of the partnership covers the entire chain from production strain development to large scale manufacturing. This will be of benefit to our customers in Personal Care, Home Care and I&I and Industrial Formulators worldwide.”

Dr. Gregor Kosec, Director of R&D at Acies Bio, said, “Partnering with BASF marks an important milestone, reflecting a significant recognition of Acies Bio’s R&D efforts. By combining our advanced microbial production strains and the OneCarbonBio platform with BASF’s proven process development and supply chain expertise, we are poised to bring our technologies to a global scale. This collaboration demonstrates the transformative potential of Acies Bio’s microbial innovations to drive net-zero production of specialty and industrial chemicals.”