Genomatica's Brontide Wins 2020 Green Chemistry Challenge Award

Genomatica’s Brontide natural butylene glycol has the potential to reduce greenhouse gases by around 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Genomatica’s Brontide natural butylene glycol has the potential to reduce greenhouse gases by around 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Genomatica has won the prestigious 2020 Green Chemistry Challenge Award given by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its Brontide natural butylene glycol. The win marks Genomatica’s third EPA award, making it one of four companies to win the award three times in the program’s 25-year history.

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Recognized for the greener synthetic pathways category, Genomatica’s Brontide natural butylene glycol replaces petroleum-derived butylene glycol (BG) in personal care products, slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 51% compared to traditional production.

Previous EPA awards held by Genomatica include Genomatica’s butanediol (BDO) in 2011 and LS9’s renewable diesel technology in 2010 (long-chain chemical technology acquired by Genomatica in 2019).

Brontide natural butylene glycol has the potential to reduce global greenhouse gases by nearly 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year and eliminate the use of 50,000 tons of acetaldehyde, a carcinogenic and mutagenic ingredient used in conventional production methods.

Brands and suppliers like Farmacy, Peter Thomas Roth, Lady of Beasts and Custom Essence are among the many companies that have adopted Brontide natural butylene glycol to create more natural personal care products.

This award caps a streak of recent victories for Genomatica, including being named to Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas list and recognition for its bio-nylon as a Time Best Invention in late 2019.

“Innovation is at the heart of solving the challenges faced by our planet and our society,” Genomatica CEO Christophe Schilling said. “This award is another testament to the power of biotechnology as a force to re-imagine and redesign carbon-based supply chains. It’s an incredible accomplishment for Genomatica scientists to bring home a ‘three-peat’ of the prestigious EPA award. For myself and all our engineers and scientists, it’s personally meaningful to be nationally recognized for making a positive environmental impact. It reaffirms our passion and commitment to developing cleaner manufacturing processes that result in more sustainable ingredients for everyday products.”

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