Peptide Raw Materials for High Performance and Biodegradable Personal Care Products

在英国面临的诸多环境挑战中，水污染是近年来最突出的问题。DEFRA 2021/22年的成果交付计划将通过更清洁的空气和水、最大限度地减少浪费、繁荣的植物以及陆地和海洋野生动物来改善环境列为其优先成果。解决方案的一部分将是发展一种“循环生物经济”，在这种经济中，我们对化石燃料的依赖将被消除，资源将从废物中提取和回收，并用作新产品的成分或能源来源。然而，化妆品和洗发水等个人护理产品不可避免地会打破这种循环经济，因为它们在使用结束时最终会被填埋或排放废水。除了没有办法回收和再利用它们的化学成分外，许多这些产品含有不可生物降解的化学物质，并且会持续存在于环境中。由于受到污染的废水对环境的影响，欧洲法规禁止在个人护理产品中使用某些有毒化学物质。但是，有许多因素的影响是未知的或没有研究过的，导致缺乏应对这一挑战的技术创新。化妆品在人类社会中已经使用了7000多年，它们继续为许多人提供急需的自我护理机会。不幸的是，化妆品中的许多化学物质不能简单地去除，因为它们具有易于使用或穿着舒适等性能，这对用户来说很重要。消费者将面临一个艰难的选择，是选择性能较差的环保型产品，还是选择对环境影响未知的高性能产品。我们的创新解决方案是用可生物降解的替代品（如多肽）取代不可生物降解的化学成分。我们开发了新颖的专有肽，其性能优于工业化学标准，为用户提供了易于应用，长磨损时间和舒适的最佳平衡，同时又不影响可持续性。多肽的生产具有挑战性，但我们已经开发出了通过发酵和高效分离产品的方法。我们现在需要资金来扩大我们的过程，以制造足够的肽与商业合作伙伴推出产品。这不仅展示了用可生物降解的替代品取代环境持久性化学品的潜力，而且有望鼓励这一领域的更大创新。

Of the many environmental challenges we face in the UK, water pollution has been at the forefront in recent times. The DEFRA outcome delivery plan for 2021/22 lists the improvement of the environment through cleaner air and water, minimised waste, and thriving plants and terrestrial and marine wildlife first in its priority outcomes.Part of the solution will be to develop a 'circular bioeconomy' in which our dependence on fossil fuels for environmental growth is removed, and resources are extracted and recovered from waste products and used as ingredients in new products or as a source of energy.However, personal care products like make-up and shampoo will inevitably introduce a break in this circular economy as they end up in landfill or wastewater at the end of their use. In addition to there being no way of recovering and re-using their chemical ingredients, many of these products contain chemicals that are non-biodegradable and persist in the environment.European regulations prevent the use of certain toxic chemicals in personal care products, due to their impact on the environment from contaminated wastewater. But there are many ingredients for which the effect is unknown or not studied, resulting in a lack of technical innovations that address this challenge.Cosmetics have been used in human societies for over 7000 years and they continue to provide many people with a much-needed opportunity for self-care. Unfortunately, many of the chemicals in cosmetics cannot simply be removed as they give performance properties like ease of application or comfort to wear which are important to users. Consumers are then faced with a difficult choice between environmentally friendly products with poor performance or high-performance products with unknown environmental impact.Our innovative solution is to replace non-biodegradable chemical ingredients with biodegradable alternatives like peptides. We have developed novel, proprietary peptides that perform better than industrial chemical standards, providing the user with the optimal balance of ease of application, long wear time and comfort without compromising sustainability. Peptides can be challenging to produce, but we have developed methods that allow for bioproduction by fermentation and efficient isolation of the product in a pure form. We now need funding to scale our processes to make enough peptide for a launch product with a commercial partner. This will not only demonstrate the potential for replacing environmentally persistent chemicals with biodegradable alternatives, but hopefully encourage greater innovation in this sector.