Continuous cell-free biotechnology will advance the transition from petroleum-based and animal-derived color ingredients for consumer products
SAN DIEGO (PRWEB) JULY 28, 2021 – Today, Debut Biotech, a next generation biomanufacturing platform harnessing cell-free enzymes announced entry into a joint development with DIC, a fine chemicals company. The multi-million dollar deal, spanning several years, will enable Debut Biotech and DIC to leverage advanced biomanufacturing approaches to produce natural color ingredients to be used across DIC’s and Debut’s portfolio of products. The new approach for the production of a range of color ingredients will have applications across many industries, from food and cosmetics to health products.
Traditionally, colors used in consumer products have been derived from plants, animals or synthetically produced from petrochemicals. However, growing concern around the health and environmental impacts of petrochemical-based food colorings have created a consumer-driven push for manufacturers to offer more natural and sustainable ingredients. The shift is already happening in the consumer marketplace, although industries can access only a limited array of natural alternatives, especially when focusing on sustainable ingredients.
“The market for naturally derived and sustainably produced ingredients is growing exponentially, but industries’ ability to meet those needs is limited by traditional biomanufacturing methods,” said Joshua Britton, CEO of Debut Biotech. “With our advanced, cell-free, biomanufacturing platform, we’re able to produce important ingredients that are simply not possible with traditional fermentation-based biomanufacturing. For example, color ingredients are naturally-derived with a fraction of the inputs—less waste and energy—and without the use of petrochemicals. With this approach, we’re able to take on a level of complexity that creates entirely new possibilities for the color ingredient landscape across industries. We’re thrilled to work with DIC, as they’re established leaders in the color ingredients industry.”
Debut Biotech’s proprietary biomanufacturing platform utilizes cell-free and other advanced approaches such as continuous biomanufacturing to overcome the limitations of traditional methods, dramatically reducing the need for space, water, and expensive and unsustainable inputs. This approach leverages natural enzymes to produce valuable materials — including color ingredients — across all major industries, including food, agricultural chemicals, cosmetics, beverages, fashion, health and wellness, additives, and dyes.
“As a leader in the color ingredient market, we’re looking forward to working with Debut Biotech to deliver innovative processes for developing color ingredients that create more options for consumers and improve sustainability metrics at the same time,” said Kiyofumi Takano, Managing Executive Officer and General Manager of New Business Development Headquarters of DIC. “Our organization has identified sustainability as an overriding company priority, but we’ve been limited by the constraints of traditional cell fermentation. Debut Biotech’s platform removes these constraints, enabling us to increase and diversify our color products for a wide range of applications.”
Beyond work with Debut Biotech, DIC will continue to advance wide-ranging sustainability efforts across its organization, including increasing its use of renewable energy, deploying its proprietary sustainability index, introducing in-house, carbon pricing and collaborating to establish closed-loop recycling systems.
To learn more about Debut Biotech, and their cell-free approach to biomanufacturing, visit http://www.debutbiotech.com.
About Debut Biotech
Debut Biotech is dedicated to unlocking natural products through sustainable biomanufacturing. Their unique biomanufacturing platform harnesses natural, cell-free enzymes to overcome the limitations of cell-based manufacturing and access previously unobtainable products. Debut Biotech truly believes that cell-free biomanufacturing will be how materials and ingredients are created in the future and are committed to leading the cell-free revolution.
About DIC Corporation
DIC Corporation is one of the world’s leading fine chemicals companies, with top shares of the global printing inks, organic pigments and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) compounds markets. Established in 1908 as a manufacturer of printing inks, DIC has capitalized on its capabilities in organic pigments and synthetic resins to build a broad portfolio of products for diverse industries, including automobiles, electronics, food and housing. DIC is also the core of the DIC Group, a multinational organization with operations in more than 60 countries and territories worldwide. Website: http://www.dic-global.com/en/
