Taste, Nutrition & Health | Scent & Care | Corporate

Symrise cooperates with French company Antofénol
— Brittany-based company among the leaders in innovative eco-extraction technologies
— Collaboration to drive the development of sustainable products

In November 2021, Symrise began a three-year research and development collaboration with French company Antofénol based in Plestan, Brittany. The company’s focus are natural solutions for replacing conventional agroextracts obtained by innovative, sustainable eco-extraction using microwave, ultrasound and vacuum technologies. The partners want to work together to develop environmentally friendly products. They will focus primarily on cosmetic ingredients and scents as well as the extraction of valuable compounds from side streams of the Flavor & Nutrition division.

The partners will contribute their specific skill sets and experiences to the collaboration in order to develop jointly unique products. Antofénol’s particular strengths lie in the microwave, ultrasound and vacuum extraction techniques, feasible even in combined mode, of natural raw materials. The technologies provide a number of advantages: They can adapt well to various raw materials, they use fast and effective energy transfer, and they save time compared with conventional processes. Antofénol’s high competency in the selection, sourcing and valuation of natural raw materials is also adding to this. In return, Symrise contributes its expertise in research and product development to the partnership, as well as its knowledge of the market, customers, and consumer demands. Of the Holzminden group, the cosmetic ingredients and scent divisions – both anchored in the Scent & Care segment – and France based Diana Nova from the Flavor & Nutrition segment participate in the collaboration.

“We feel delighted that we could form a partnership with Antofénol – a technology leader in innovative eco-extractions,” says Dr. Marielle Le Maire, Senior Vice President, Global Head of BU Actives & Botanicals from Cosmetic Ingredients Division at Symrise. “We expect this to provide us with new sustainable and innovative cosmetic ingredients and plant-based unique developments for our Scent & Care segment. We also expect that our food component production will benefit from greener and faster extraction technologies.”

Strong demand for sustainable products

The collaboration started to target the continuous increase in customer and consumer demands for naturalness, environmentally friendly and resources preserving manufacturing conditions. Sustainable and natural products from up-cycling of renewable side streams with good traceability play a decisive role in Symrise’s commercial success. The partnership strengthens the Holzminden Group’s position with regard to natural products in the Scent & Care segment and opens up new application areas in the Flavor & Nutrition segment.

“Environmentally friendly manufactured products form an important pillar of our sustainability strategy,” says Dr. Martina Herrmann, Director Phytochemistry Global Innovation Cosmetic Ingredients. “Our collaboration allows us to apply Antofénol’s highly specialized eco-extraction technologies in the lab as well as on an industrial scale, so we can expand our internal capacities and take advantage of new opportunities for product development.”

“In the frame of our custom manufacturing activity, we have started to work with Symrise 2 years ago on several projects. As the result of the trust-based relationship created between our teams, this 3 years R&D collaboration with a famous global leader is the recognition of the added value of our extraction technology for natural ingredients,” says Fanny Rolet, Founder and CEO of Antofénol. “Together with Fabrice de Panthou, Business Director, we are particularly proud to collaborate with a company driven, like us, by science and innovation.”

Symrise cooperates with French company Antofénol
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