Advancing Circular Beauty: Evonik and Celtic Renewables Transform Waste into High-Performance Ingredients

Sustainability has become an essential expectation in the beauty and personal care sectors, with consumers increasingly seeking products that not only perform well but also provide credible environmental benefits. This shift is driving the adoption of circular feedstocks and innovative ingredient technologies. In this context, Evonik and Celtic Renewables are jointly transforming waste and by-products into sustainable, high-performance cosmetic ingredients.

Evonik has nearly a century of experience in manufacturing and supplying cosmetic ingredients, continuously evolving its portfolio. Over the last decade, the personal care business has been strategically reoriented toward sustainable specialties through targeted acquisitions and divestments. This transformation is largely influenced by customer demands for measurable sustainability, particularly regarding traceability and transparency concerning ingredient origins.

This is where Evonik's partnership with Celtic Renewables becomes crucial. Celtic Renewables has pioneered a fermentation-based process that converts agricultural and industrial waste and by-products—such as rejected potatoes and whisky production residues—into valuable feedstocks like bio butanol, bio acetone, and bio ethanol.

Celtic Renewables focuses solely on industrial waste and by-products, as Bettina Brierley, Chief Commercial Officer at Celtic Renewables, states: “We use only industrial waste and by-products - nothing that is purposefully grown. These materials have already served a purpose, and we give them a second life.”

The collaboration leverages each partner's strengths. Brierley notes, “What stands out about working with Evonik is their scientific approach. Everything is grounded in evidence.” Celtic Renewables supplies sustainable raw materials derived from waste, while Evonik applies its expertise in product development and market access to create commercially viable cosmetic ingredients.

This ecosystem approach is vital for scaling circular solutions, allowing both partners to concentrate on their core competencies. As an early adopter of Celtic Renewables’ technology, Evonik plays a significant role in accelerating the industrial scale-up and market acceptance of these novel feedstocks.

The result for customers is sustainable cosmetic ingredients like Evonik’s newly launched ECOHANCE® Soft BOL, a novel emollient oil derived from bio-based butanol sourced from waste. This specific molecule had not been utilized in cosmetic applications before, but Evonik’s formulation expertise has transformed it into a high-performance ingredient with excellent sensory properties, offering a pleasant skin feel and strong performance in formulations.

By utilizing bio butanol from Celtic Renewables and applying a green chemistry process, ECOHANCE® Soft BOL boasts a significantly reduced CO₂ footprint compared to traditional alternatives, proving that sustainability and performance can coexist.

Using next-generation feedstocks provides dual environmental advantages: they reduce carbon emissions by replacing fossil-based materials with industrial waste and create new revenue opportunities upstream, particularly in agriculture. Wolfgang Goertz, Vice President Cosmetic Solutions at Evonik, explains, “Circular solutions like these allow us to address multiple needs at once - CO₂ reduction, waste valorization, and traceability.”

Different customers prioritize various sustainability benefits; some focus on CO₂ reduction while others value ingredient traceability and the narratives behind them. In the beauty and personal care market, storytelling connects ingredients to emotional value, helping consumers grasp their origins, production processes, and impacts. Goertz states, “There is a story behind every feedstock, whether it’s from potatoes, whisky production, or olive oil waste streams.”

Despite the compelling value proposition, scaling circular solutions presents challenges, including investment barriers, as new production capacities require significant capital and long-term supply agreements. Ensuring consistent quality and supply can also be complex due to the variability of feedstocks derived from waste. However, Celtic Renewables’ robust fermentation technology is designed to manage this variability, enabling reliable, industrial-scale production.

Looking ahead, the partnership's potential extends beyond a single ingredient. Evonik and Celtic Renewables are investigating further applications of next-generation feedstocks across various markets, while exploring additional feedstocks and products to broaden their circular solution portfolio. Long-term success hinges on balancing four critical elements: sustainability, performance, availability, and price.

While sustainability is a key driver, it cannot stand alone. Partnerships like that of Evonik and Celtic Renewables integrate scientific rigor, innovative technology, and market expertise to develop solutions that meet both environmental and performance expectations. Goertz emphasizes, “Sustainability alone is not enough. If a product doesn’t perform, if it doesn’t feel right or function properly, consumers will not adopt it.”

By converting waste and by-products into valuable resources, Evonik and Celtic Renewables are contributing to a broader shift toward a circular economy in beauty, demonstrating how collaboration can accelerate the transition to more sustainable, high-performance beauty ingredients.