KitoZyme & Clariant enter into partnership in the personal care sector

To meet the needs of Personal Care customers worldwide for natural and sustainable ingredients, the Business Unit Industrial & Consumer Specialties (ICS) of Clariant and KitoZyme have entered a technological and commercial longterm partnership for the exclusive worldwide distribution of biotechnology products designed by KitoZyme for personal care applications.

This partnership is based on KitoZyme’s innovation, namely the creation of a unique platform around high-purity biopolymers of chitosan, chitin-glucan and their derivatives extracted exclusively from safe, renewable, non-GMO and non-animal sources without any synthetic manipulation. By exploiting these raw materials, KitoZyme offers an alternative to the current animal source and guarantees nowadays and in the future the continuous supply and the high quality of its chitosan and chitin-glucan regarding traceability, safety, purity and specifications. Additionally, the process based on by-product valorization has obvious advantages, such as eco-friendliness and cost-effectiveness.

The complete range of biopolymers for personal care applications of KitoZyme will be available from October 2011 under Clariant trade names Vitipure, Zenvivo and Velsan. These leading-edge ingredients cover a wide range of applications and deliver proven high performance including sensory enhancing, skin repair, anti-ageing, moisturizing and antimicrobial properties. Overall, they undeniably meet the current need for innovative, natural, potent and safe ingredients.

Hugues Bultot, CEO at KitoZyme, commented: “Developing new industrial processes based on the ‘bio-refinery’ concept is a clear trend in the White Biotech sector. A bio-refinery increases the profitability along the value chain and helps white biotech companies to be more environmentally friendly and more sustainable. With countless numbers of microorganisms currently produced by the different actors of the White Biotech, bio-refinery offers many excellent opportunities for product innovation. Moreover, thanks to our proprietary processes, they offer the double advantage of by-product valorization and generation of efficient ingredients in a cost-effective, highly reproducible and safe way.”

Michael Willome, Head of Business Unit ICS, added: “Clariant’s decision to partner with KitoZyme is fully in line with our strategy to be the preferred partner to the Personal Care industry by providing sustainable innovations and superior sensory differentiation based on formulation expertise and market insight. This partnership helps us to become a supplier of technology ingredients with the character of differentiation, with the help of new technologies and a deeper product portfolio.”

Through this partnership, the Business Unit ICS of Clariant will utilize its application development, branding, marketing and sales expertise to expand the use of these potent ingredients in the personal care industry. These ingredients will result in a new range of sustainable and cost effective biopolymers for Clariant, which aligns with its corporate commitment to social responsibility and sustainable business practices. The Business Unit ICS and KitoZyme will collaborate also for future product development with other ingredients.

About KitoZyme

Created in late 2000, KitoZyme, located in Liege, Belgium, develops and manufactures specialty ingredients dedicated to the nutraceutical, cosmetic, medical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage industry. KitoZyme combines its unique know-how, expertise and competences in Life Sciences to create right solutions that are sustainable, highly effective and extremely safe.

About Clariant – BU ICS

Clariant's Business Unit Industrial & Consumer Specialties (ICS) is a globally active provider of specialty chemicals and application solutions for consumer care and industrial markets. The BU combines high quality products with formulation expertise across diverse industries to deliver solutions with compelling cost-performance ratios and environmental benefits to customers. The Consumer Care segment includes the Personal Care business which, among others, develops and produces specialty ingredients for skin and hair care, wet wipes and selected pharmaceutical applications.