A process for making pigments from cellulose for use in cosmetics, food and coatings applications has scaled up from a 1-ton/yr pilot unit to a process capable of generating multiple-hundreds of tons per year in a toll-manufacturing setting. The cellulose-derived pigment offers a bio-based alternative to incumbent pigment materials, such as titanium dioxide, across a range of products.
The Swiss startup company Seprify (Marly, Switzerland; www.seprify.com) developed a process for separating cellulose from the other plant-biomass components (hemicellulose, lignin) to generate a powdered cellulose product. “Cellulose has a hierarchical structure, consisting of crystalline and amorphous regions,” explains Lukas Schertel, co-founder and CEO of Seprify. “Using both chemical and physical means, our process is able to manipulate the properties of the cellulose structure to have the desired optical properties, such as light-scattering and refractive index, for use as a pigment in industrial applications.”
Although several starting materials are possible to use with the process, Seprify is focusing on wood pulp as the feedstock initially. By engineering the optical properties of the cellulose, the process allows the cellulose-derived powder to be used as a white pigment in consumer products, both as an additive for bulk coloring, and as part of surface coatings.
Source: Seprify
The company recently announced €13.4 million in Series A funding from a mix of strategic and financial investors, including Inter IKEA Group.
“Our immediate priority is delivering consistent quality and reliable supply, meeting the operational standards large industrial customers require,” Schertel says, adding that in the near term, that means supporting cosmetics and personal care, including suncare, as well as food and pet food. With scale, the company anticipates also serving higher-volume applications, such as coatings, inks and printed electronics, Schertel says.