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Scientists create new alternative to palm oil

By Emily Price
Ben Williams, Sun Bear Biofuture, Dr David Warren-Walker, IBERS

Scientists at a Welsh university have devised a new way of creating alternatives to palm oil in our food and cosmetics.

Demand for palm oil is set to increase by 40% in the next decade. It is well known to have a very harmful impact on the environment - destroying tropical forests and natural habitats.

Academics at Aberystwyth University have worked with Sun Bear Biofuture to find a way of fermenting yeast to produce an alternative oil with similar properties to palm oil but without the damaging effects.

By using cutting-edge fermentation and molecular biology techniques, the research team aims to reduce reliance on palm oil in food, biofuels and cosmetics.

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Crucial 

The new product could replace palm oil in goods ranging from cookies to lip balms and moisturisers.

Speaking about the project, Dr David Warren-Walker from the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University said: "We’re so pleased to be able to contribute to this important project. Developing a product that can replace palm oil is crucial for habitats and the environment around the world.

"It’s a privilege to work alongside Sun Bear towards this goal. The opportunity to collaborate with a start-up company to rapidly develop precision fermentation alternatives is vital to ensure social, environmental, and economic sustainability. I really hope that our work will make a real contribution to speeding up the transition away from palm oil."

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Pilot

The team has proven the new oil at pilot scale using the expertise and equipment at Aberystwyth University’s AberInnovation Campus.

They are now working to scale-up the product for cosmetics and food applications, targeting early industrial production in 2026.

Ben Williams, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of UK-based start-up Sun Bear Biofuture added: "Though palm oil is low in cost to produce, the drawback of growing it is that, globally, the crop is responsible for 500 million tonnes of CO2released annually due to the destruction of rainforests to grow palm trees.

"This deforestation has a huge impact on the displacement of rare rainforest habitats and species, such as our company’s namesake, the sun bear."

As a vegetable oil, palm oil is unique because of its practical advantages and productivity.

Mr Williams added: "We are using cutting edge technology to explore how to produce everyday essentials in a way which has the potential to divert manufacturing processes away from the existing reliance on palm oil and protect endangered species.

"Our alternative to palm oil has a lower carbon footprint and a reduced reliance on land; we are currently trialling different fermentation processes to perfect product development."

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Scheme

The research forms part of AberInnovation's Solutions Catalyst programme, which is backed by funding from UK Government and the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council’s (BBSRC) Campus Innovation Award scheme.

The programme aims to boost innovation by helping companies tap into the world-leading research capabilities of Aberystwyth University and the cutting-edge facilities and technical expertise at AberInnovation.

Based at Aberystwyth University's Gogerddan campus, AberInnovation is one of five research and innovation campuses funded by BBSRC.

Nick Bassett, Associate Director for Innovation at BBSRC, said: "BBSRC is proud to support the pioneering work being led by the talented team at Aberystwyth University's Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences in partnership with Sun Bear Biofuture.

"This project not only stands as a testament to the power of meaningful collaboration between BBSRC's strategically supported institutes, the UK research community and our industry partners, but it also exemplifies the innovative spirit of BBSRC's Campus Innovation Award scheme.

"BBSRC is dedicated to growing dynamic innovation bioclusters across the UK that leverage research excellence to address some of the most pressing global challenges. By harnessing cutting-edge biotechnologies to develop palm oil alternatives, we are advancing scientific frontiers and delivering on our commitment to environmental stewardship and economic sustainability."

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17 comments

Mab Meirion

The Story of Palm Oil !...that would be a two hundred year old game changer Aber...! You might run into Kemi at some point... It will be interesting to see which way she jumps...

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Peter Cuthbert

She will be against any new product based on 'bugs'. Being from Cymru it will count as 'foreign' so certainly not suitable for the White Supremacist England and its colonies that she is keen to promote.

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Mab Meirion

Epo, in the local parlance, has special significance for the Yoruba people...

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Mab Meirion

The income from West African Slavery was largely replaced by the export of Palm products, precious minerals, metals and hard woods...

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Brychan

Well over half the palm oil in the world is produced in Indonesia, and only became significant in the late 20th century with the introduction of industrial cold pressing and the need to pad out ultra-processed foods with a lubricant that did not become rancid over time. Fresh wholesome food needs no palm oil nor synthetic alternatives.

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Ernie The Smallholder

We should reduce reliance on ultra-processed foods as they can be negative effect on your health long term. Too many additives that are not really required.

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Ap Kenneth

Farmers in the UK should be paying attention as these forms of precision fermentation will be affecting dairy and then meat production shortly.

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anwar

an interesting development but this article was frustratingly light on detail or context I had to find a better article at Sun Bear Biofuture makes palm oil alternative https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2024/05/24/Sun-Bear-Biofuture-makes-palm-oil-alternative/ a Finnish startup - Solar Foods - is using a similar concept and technique to produce protein, called "solein". Agriculture is a cause of climate change. In 2024, after a period of globalisation and hence interdependency between nations, the nations of the world is realising they have become vulnerable; for example Europe is/was dependent on Russian oil and gas. The world is largely dependent on China for solar panels and lithium batteries for EVs. International relationships can go bad. International relationships are going bad, with risks to their food and energy security. Nations are now seeking food and energy security. Precision fermentation from Sun Bear Biofuture for oilSolar Foods for protein"Better Dairy" for cheese...represents a solution to both climaate change and food security. Precision fermentation uses vastly less land, water and energy than conventional farming, without the byproducts and waste. Imagine each city having a Sun Bear Biofuture factory producing oil for food at low cost; high security, low cost, eliminating all of the transportation and processing that currently occurs. That's a positive development. For food sovereignty and security, and for climate change, precision fermentation offer an elegant solution. But equally they pose very complex questions; some obvious ones include private enterprise has created and funded these innovations; but they could represent a benefit to all humanity and to nature; one alternative is a few megacorporations own this technology, which might become monopolies, and charge high prices for their products to make enormous profits on a fundamental human necessity such as food. Another alternative is the technology is made available for free for anyone to use. Any country can setup precision fermentation to feed it's population aat low cost, sustainably and securely. My preference is the second.imaagine this was to succeed; imagine we don't need farmed palm oil any more. no more deforestation. But it may also eliminate incomes for farmers and farm workers living in precarious conditions. Think the miners in the 1980s. We need to support and encourage such elegant solutions, and consider the dilemmas they create.

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Ishola

Can their be two different compounds with the sane chemical characteristics. I doubt if it can have feature like palm oil. It might be close to it but there must be trade off somewhere. The media hype on graphite some years back have not seen the projections yet. As long as trees are replacing trees, the issues of deforestation have been tackled.

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Against genetically engineered oil

Why you westerners are always envious of our oil palm and palm oil? Just because its very versatile and latest finding showed that it is more nutritious than seed oil, you want to jeopardise our precious oil? Everytime you want to critisize our palm oil, you keep on mentioning deforestation. How else on earth you think you want to grow oil palm then? In the sky? Of course we need land to cultivate the huge palm. Of course we have to perform deforestation! Your soybean, maize, sunflower, all use more hectarage to produce the same amount of oil like oil palm. The palm is a plant, when cultivated for 25 years, it can replace the amount of carbon dioxide during deforestation. What did you mention, of co2 emission annually? What a foolish statement that you think we deforest every year??? Are you crazy? If that is true that we dont have any land left then. You do know oil palm is a plant, and plant produce oxygen!! Have u ever sat beneath the palm? You havent. Its cool down there. You only know how to critisize.. that huge palm you think can grow in greenhouse? Only in the tropics that they are able to grow. You are just jealous because u cant grow that million dollar crop and so you create an alternative using the ticket of it being environmentally friendly. Well, that crop feed millions of our livelihood and supports our economy. We’ll see how far you can come up with that alternative. Whatever your method is- it is definitwly genetically engineered, its not natural and for all you know more health risks athat the natural palm oil.

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Anwar

In our lifetime, South America has experienced deforestation to create farmland; for agriculture and cattle. It feeds a growing population. It improves food security and lowers food prices. For humanity, this is good. But for nature, this is bad. We need a smarter approach. We want to avoid further deforestation. If you imagine Europe, you might imagine rivers flowing between lush green hills. You might imagine vineyards and olive groves. Wheat, oats, barley and beans. You might imagine fruit and vegetables ripening in the sun. You might imagine cows eating grass, then milked to make the hundreds of cheeses across Europe. A bucolic idyll. The reality is that this is all occurred after ancient forests were felled to make this farmland. This reality is that Europe underwent deforestation many generations ago. Most people don't realise that; they only see farms and vineyards heavy with food, providing food security and relatively affordable food. In simple terms, deforestation is bad. Europeans see deforestation as a bad thing. This despite Europe has already been highly deforested, and benefitting from food security and relatively affordable food because of this European deforestation. A hypocrisy, perhaps. But we all need to reverse deforestation AND have affordable food, and have food security, and have jobs that provide an income, and have a healthy environment. Indonesia needs to reverse deforestation AND have affordable food, AND have food security, AND have jobs that provide an income, AND have a healthy environment. Removing natural forests for palm oil farming does not do this. Precision fermentation solves nearly all these problems, except providing jobs and incomes for all of the current farmers and workers. Humanity needs to resolve this dilemma.

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Ame Udobong

Criminalising the palm tree because you want to create synthetic oil that will eventually lead to diseases that you will need to cure. I do hope your people are wise enough to stop you. When flying from Europe to Africa there are large expans of land that are not cultivated, these could be reclaimed to save the planet. But you don't want to do that rather you are using flimsy excuses as a reason for creating synthetic oil without considering their side effects.

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Anwar

"create synthetic oil that will eventually lead to diseases that you will need to cure" "creating synthetic oil without considering their side effects" In the EU, "novel foods" are *EXTREMELY* tightly regulated; see Regulation - 2015/2283 - EN - EUR-Lex https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32015R2283 In 2024 The UK is not in the EU. But I expect Sun Bear Biofuture intend to sell their product in the EU, so will comply with this regulation. Novel foods must be subject to a uniform safety assessment before they can be placed on the market in the EU. Novel foods must not pose a risk to the consumer and must not be misleading.

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Joe

Professor Dennis Murphy showed that oil palm has an unbeatable carbon sequestration power, contradicting claims by Westerners who advocate for alternatives. This professional academician speaks the truth without any ulterior motives, unlike the biased narratives often spread. Furthermore, previous accusations about the negative health consequences of consuming palm oil have been refuted by evidence showing that the actual source of harmful trans fats is the heavily processed foods commonly found in the Western diet, which rely on hydrogenated oils rather than natural options like palm oil.

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LogiR

Acrerage may be bigger for maize, soy etc but the environmental impact is much less. Not sure about Europe, but there are a lot of empty spaces in USA where trees do not grow (no clearing of forest needed) that are only suitable for such crops. So planting maize, sunflower and soy does not destroy the environment the same way as clearing virgin forest 100+times the size of Singapore and killing lots of animals to plant oil palm. In the USA virgin forest are highly protected from agriculture unlike your oil palm. Trees replacing trees is nonsense when endangered animals are killed off to critical levels. Yes, have experienced being in a 10,000+ acres oil palm estate with the mosquitoes, but you don't need to experience that to voice out issues. It's a logical fallacy Do only murderers get to have a say in murders?

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Abdul Nasir Adnan

You hit right on the nail. This westerner have and always been jealous of other countries that can produce economies that support the domestic as well as have extras for export. China example is the best example. Anything China does is wrong, but look at the reality, China has succcesfully from being a poor nation to a super advance country in all aspects, economy, agriculture, manufacturing technology, medical science, aero industry, weaponary, space. Name it and China is there within a short space of time. And off course the Western pariahs are not happy as their growth model still depends on invasion, lies, genocides, and terrorism though they claim to be the global police for peace. Peace my foot. Get out of your shell guys or you ll all self implode.

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Jijoe

Lie dishonest unreliable

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You hit right on the nail. This westerner have and always been jealous of other countries that can produce economies that support the domestic as well as have extras for export. China example is the best example. Anything China does is wron...

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