Interview with Isabel Álvarez-Martos, CEO & Co-Founder, Cellugy

Isabel Álvarez-Martos
CEO & Co-Founder, Cellugy

Your ingredient EcoFLEXY is an alternative to petrochemicals used in the personal care industry. What makes EcoFLEXY so unique?

EcoFLEXY stands out over other sustainable alternatives in two ways – its production and the product itself.

The production process is fermentation versus extraction from natural sources such as plants. There is no need to cut down trees or harvest any other form of cellulose from plants that have a high energy demand and need harsh chemicals to get extracted. The process has been designed sustainably, without any harsh chemicals or fossil-derived ingredients, and in standard fermentation equipment, allowing for local production.

With EcoFLEXY personal care brands have the ability to differentiate their products with a high- performing, biobased and biodegradable multifunctional rheology modifier. EcoFLEXY perfectly integrates into the most challenging formulations, where many other rheology modifiers fail to perform, for example in the presence of salts or extreme pHs. At the same time, it provides a smooth and silky feel on the skin, making it superior to other rheology modifiers of natural origin which leave a sticky and unpleasant feel. It fulfills the dermatologists' recommendations for natural ingredientswith better compatibility with skin and customers’ expectations of organic, vegan, and biodegradable ingredients. Last but not least, it is functional at low dosage levels and for the first time in the market can be provided as a redispersable powder allowing for massive integration.

What are some typical applications for EcoFLEXY?

Its multifunctionality allows EcoFLEXY to be used in many different formulations. From serums, creams, hair applications, and sunscreen applications – it allows for a small dosage with high-quality results. Our current trail customers are testing the ingredient and have reported highly positive feedback on it. So far, the trial customers have been able to validate ingredient claims such as viscosity profile, shear-thinning behavior, particle stabilization properties, tolerance to salts and foaming agents, and different pHs. In parallel to this, they have undergone formulation development with the first results showing the successful integration of EcoFLEXY into daily facial cream or cleanser formulas and the special remark to the good skin feeling, softness, and no peel-off effect.

What are your plans for the upscaling of production and commercialization of EcoFLEXY?

The company has come a long way since being founded in 2018. The main target of this year is to further scale up the process to produce the first kilos of EcoFLEXY, reaching manufacturing readiness level (MRL) 6 at the start of 2024. Cellugy is currently running pilots with several trial customers, including ingredient manufacturers, distributors, and brands who are testing EcoFLEXY in different personal care and cosmetic products. The goal is to reach commercial agreements with our trial partners starting this year.

How does Cellugy contribute to creating a more sustainable future in the personal care industry?

Cellugy harnesses biology to develop more sustainable, higher-performing ingredients for everyday products by using renewable resources rather than fossil fuels. We have developed a platform technology that mimics the way cellulose is produced and assembled in nature. We do so through energy-efficient and green processes that bridge humanity’s advancement with sustainability.

The technology we have developed can deliver the exact same product, as found in nature, but with better quality, competitive economics, and substantial savings in carbon footprint/greenhouse emissions. The power of this technology is its simplicity, in other words, there is just one reaction – the conversion of sugar into cellulose - but it happens within a microscopic factory, inside a microorganism. It is basically a fermentation process that uses probiotic wildtype organisms, so a similar process and facility requirements to those used to make beer, wine, or yogurt.

With EcoFLEXY our mission is to exchange all these harmful ingredients, so industrial stakeholders can also meet their sustainable goals. Our platform technology also allows us to create products with other properties based on biofabricated cellulose, so we aim to be a platform for companies and brand owners to reach their sustainability goals while delivering superb performance. We are looking for co-development projects for specific product development where EcoFLEXY can be used. For example, we are currently looking into SPF Boosters and UV Filters in connection with a Eurostars project. This project enables us to further explore the capabilities of a ground-breaking hydrogel to be the very first low-cost, fully biobased, and biodegradable ingredient with UV-blocking properties. Last, we are looking for co-development projects to create film-forming applications.

What role do you see EcoFLEXY playing in the development of the personal care industry?

The future of the personal care industry goes towards biobased, biodegradable, and biofabricated ingredients. We believe that there is a growing demand from society to change more industries and aspects of one’s life to be more environmentally friendly – we can see this trend also growing in the personal care industry.

We are working on a pipeline of ingredients for the personal care industry, with the objective of eliminating those ingredients of fossil-based origin that have hazardous effects on humans and the environment. With EcoFLEXY, our ingredient, we would like to make a change in the personal care industry and eliminate microplastics that might be in cosmetic and personal care. Carbomers are one of the top ingredients found in cosmetics and help with thickening, gelling and as an emulsifier, it prevents an oil and water separation. However, according to ECHE, Carbomers are not only suspected to be irritative to our skin but also harm the environment. At Cellugy we saw the opportunity to provide something better for people, formulators, and the planet.