Starting with microalgae, the world’s original oil producer, Solazyme creates new, sustainable, high-performance products. These include renewable oils and powerhouse ingredients that serve as the foundation for healthier foods; better home, personal care and industrial products; and more sustainable fuels. Our best-in-class oils and ingredients don’t just deliver long-term, sustainable alternatives to traditional sources — they can also improve the quality and performance of virtually any product formulated with them.
How We Do It
With a breakthrough production process, Solazyme is revolutionizing the way the world makes oil. We’re tackling some of today’s biggest issues — like sustainability, resource scarcity and traceability — with microalgae, the world’s original oil producer. After identifying oil profiles that can improve both the health profiles and performance of products, we develop those oils with microalgae, providing alternatives to limited resources like petroleum, vegetable oils and animal fats. The result? First-of-a-kind, high-performance oils that are better for people and better for the planet.
A Message from the CEO
For more than a decade, we have been working to solve some of the world’s biggest problems with one of its smallest and most ancient life forms: microalgae. We strive to set the gold standard for rapid, responsible and sustainable development of our technology and products. We have big goals focused on improving the planet and the lives of its inhabitants. We can’t do this effectively unless we are strong advocates for, and practitioners of, corporate accountability and transparency. We will work hard to live up to this ideal.
Solazyme has been propelled over the years by an extraordinary group of people. Our employees, customers, partners and investors have been and will continue to be our greatest resources. As we continue to focus on growing our business, generating returns for our stockholders, delighting our customers with innovative products, engaging public stakeholders and making the planet a better place to live, I would like to say “thank you” to the many who fuel our progress.
Our Mission
Solazyme’s mission is to use one of the world’s smallest organisms to help solve some of our biggest challenges. We began in 2003 with the audacious goal of creating a viable, sustainable alternative for fossil fuels using microalgae, one of the earth’s oldest and most diverse inhabitants. Since then our vision – and our mission – has only grown.
With our microalgae derived products and ingredients, we strive to address problems like climate change, deforestation and resource depletion. With our process, we are committed to the responsible development of our technology and manufacturing. With our stakeholders and the public, we aspire to provide transparency and accountability in our efforts to ensure a brighter future.
Our Products
Oil is society’s lifeblood. It nourishes our bodies, powers global transportation and is a building block for countless products people touch every day, from plastics to pillows. Though ubiquitous in their uses, traditional oils derived from the world’s three existing sources (petroleum, plants and animal fats) can be inefficient to produce and refine — depleting land, water and other natural resources.
In contrast to these traditional oils, Solazyme harnesses the power of microalgae to efficiently produce renewable triglyceride oils and ingredients that serve as the foundation for a range of improved products: home and personal care products, healthier foods, safer and better-performing industrial products and cleaner fuels. Our renewable oils and products can directly replace oil sources such as petroleum and palm, which are widely used in our homes and across multiple industries today.
Our Process
Solazyme’s technology is radically simple: we transform renewable, sustainable plant sugars into renewable oils and other sustainable ingredients. We take what the world has in abundance to produce what society needs every day.
The sugar that feeds our process can come from many sources — from sugarcane to corn, and even waste biomass, also known as cellulosic sugars. The microalgae transforms sugar into nearly any oil type for almost any purpose anywhere, all while drastically compressing production time, from months and years to a matter of days. This means we can de-couple oil and food ingredient production from both geography and seasonality, tremendously improving supply chain integrity and resilience in the face of changing climate conditions.
Case Study
Solazyme’s joint venture facility in Orindiúva, Brazil embodies the principles of sustainable production, creating high-quality oil and ingredients with very low carbon, water and land use impacts. This is in part due to an efficient energy system in which waste sugarcane is used to generate the electricity and steam that powers both the sugar mill and oil facility. The oils produced at this facility have a lower carbon footprint than all fossil-based oils and most plant oils. Our production process also uses a low amount of water thanks to rain-fed sugarcane fields and our fermentation process.
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