Palm oil replacement through CO2 recycling

Palm oil is an indispensable raw material for industry due to the high yield of the oil palm, its long shelf life and its heat resistance. Whether in food, cosmetic products, cleaning agents or biofuels - palm oil is contained in many products that we use every day.

The urgent need for palm oil alternatives

However, ever larger areas of our rainforests are being cut down to grow palm oil. This threatens many animal and plant species and releases large amounts of stored CO₂. The cosmetics industry is aware of this situation and sources palm oil primarily from certified cultivation. This approach ensures that the raw material comes from sustainably managed sources. However, sustainable palm oil cultivation cannot meet the industry's growing demand in the long term. New solutions are needed for the future.

The Mibelle Group, which operates in the Personal Care & Beauty, Home Care and Nutrition segments, is confronted with this problem. The company is a leader in the private label business. For many years, Mibelle was known as a subsidiary of Migros until it was taken over by the Spanish family business Persán in March 2025. The Group also produces and distributes its own renowned brands as well as the most modern and effective active ingredients for the cosmetics industry through Mibelle Biochemistry. The Mibelle Group employs around 1,400 people and has production sites in Switzerland (at its headquarters in Buchs AG and in Frenkendorf BL), France, the United Kingdom and the USA. The company also has sales offices in the Netherlands and Australia.

The new technology

The Mibelle Group is now pursuing a completely new approach in collaboration with LanzaTech, a company that develops carbon management solutions, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB. By combining two successive fermentation processes, the greenhouse gas CO₂ is converted into a palm oil-free fat mixture. The composition of this mixture is so similar to palm oil that it could replace tropical oils in numerous applications in the future.

In the first step, the gas that would have been emitted as CO₂ is biotechnologically converted into alcohol using the gas fermentation process developed by LanzaTech. A process that is comparable to beer brewing. The only difference is that CO₂ is used as the starting material instead of grain.

In the second fermentation process, which was largely developed by the Fraunhofer IGB, the alcohol produced from CO₂ is converted into the desired fats by specialized oil yeasts. Only naturally occurring and non-genetically modified microorganisms are used in both fermentations.

Palm oil free fat

The end product from this process is a versatile, high quality, 100 % palm oil free and natural fat. It also has outstanding skin care properties, an important feature for cosmetic products. "This innovation is the result of our long-standing partnership with LanzaTech and is a milestone for the cosmetics industry. Coupled with the innovative strength of Fraunhofer IGB, we are setting new standards for the entire industry and underlining our commitment to taking responsibility for the future of our planet while making supply chains more robust," says Peter Müller, CEO of the Mibelle Group. This pioneering technology has the potential to sustainably replace palm oil in cosmetics and many other everyday products and fundamentally change the industry, the companies involved continue.

From prototype to market maturity

Following successful trials in the laboratory at the Fraunhofer IGB and promising application tests in the laboratories of the Mibelle Group, the partners are now starting to produce the palm oil-like fat mixture on a kilogram scale. To this end, the fermentation processes at the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna, a branch of the Fraunhofer IGB, will be gradually transferred to a larger scale.

"Following successful research in the laboratory, we have now been able to start developing the pilot process," says Susanne Heldmaier, Head of Research & Technical Innovation at the Mibelle Group. "This is the important next step, at the end of which we will have the first quantities of a high-quality fat. This will enable us to develop cosmetic products that not only protect our skin, but also help to protect the environment. In the future, with the support of our raw material suppliers, we hope to be able to convert more and more palm oil-based raw materials to this sustainable solution."

With this new technology, the three companies are making a significant contribution to reducing deforestation in the long term and establishing a sustainable value chain.

Convinced by CO2 recycling

Five years ago, the Mibelle Group launched a product recycled from CO2. Thanks to the fermentation process developed with LanzaTech, the climate-damaging CO2 can be converted into ethanol (alcohol). A raw material that is used in large quantities for the production of personal care and home care products.

The Mibelle Group sees great potential for the innovative technology of CO2 recycling. In the medium term, the alcohol obtained from the recycled CO2 is to replace the entire quantity of conventionally produced alcohol in the detergent, cleaning agent and cosmetics sectors. However, the technology will not only be used for products, but also for their packaging, which is largely made of PET and PE. Crude oil can be used to produce these plastics - or alcohol from CO2 recycling.

The WWF also supports this new technology. "The use of fossil fuels must be avoided. Where this is not possible, it makes sense to include greenhouse gases in products so that the gases do not additionally heat up the climate. If the manufacture of such products can also save land area for the cultivation of raw materials, this leaves more space for natural biodiversity. Both contribute to the long-term preservation of our livelihoods," says Christoph Meili, life cycle assessment expert at WWF Switzerland, in a press release from the Mibelle Group.