Hamburg, May 12, 2020 – Beiersdorf and Evonik have reached an
agreement on a research partnership. Its aim is to develop sustainable raw
materials for care products, using carbon dioxide (CO2) as the starting
material. Beiersdorf is on the lookout for new sources of raw materials that
will also reduce the company’s carbon footprint. One option here is artificial
photosynthesis technology. The idea: with the aid of electricity from solar
energy and bacteria, valuable raw materials are produced with water and CO2,
drawing on natural photosynthesis as a model. The joint research project of
Evonik and Beiersdorf is being funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of
Education and Research (BMBF) in the amount of around €1 million.
Dr. May Shana’a, Corporate
Senior Vice President, Research and Development, Beiersdorf, says: “The
research cooperation fits perfectly with our sustainability agenda, an
ambitious program that we are implementing systematically and across all
functions. We are pursuing a vision of becoming climate positive, and we want
to play a part in closing the carbon cycle.” If Beiersdorf succeeds in using CO2
as a source for the raw materials used in its care products, this will reduce
the company’s carbon footprint as well as the land used for renewable
resources. “Together with Evonik, we are determining which raw materials can be
produced with the aid of artificial photosynthesis and could potentially be
suitable for our care products. While this has already been observed in the
early stages of a number of other industries, this application is in its
infancy in the cosmetics industry. We are therefore especially proud to be
entering into this research partnership,” Shana’a continues.
Thomas Haas, who is responsible for artificial
photosynthesis at Evonik, says: “By using carbon dioxide as the starting
material for the production of valuable raw materials, we can close the carbon
cycle – exactly as demonstrated by nature with photosynthesis.” Evonik is
developing the technology platform needed for artificial photosynthesis
together with Siemens in the Rheticus project funded by the BMBF. Evonik
believes that the research cooperation just launched with the skin care
specialist Beiersdorf, which is independent of the cooperation with
Siemens, is an opportunity for the specialty chemicals maker to expand
the future product portfolio for artificial photosynthesis. Haas says: “With
Beiersdorf, we have a partner who is joining us in extending the value chain to
include sustainable CO2-based products – in the interests of the
consumer.”
With this research project,
Beiersdorf and Evonik are partners in the BMBF’s P2X II project launched in
September 2019 as one of the projects of Kopernikus, one of the biggest German
research initiatives in the area of the energy transition. A total of 42
partners are involved in the P2X II project alone. The aim is to develop
processes that use renewable energy to produce high-quality products.