Out with petrochemical products, in with inputs made from vegetable oils: change is urgent and necessary

8min

BBF BioTech Grupo BBF All the news

Substitutes are a renewable and more sustainable source than those derived from exhaustible fossil fuels; change also brings economic gains

March 08, 2023

Original link: https://jovempan.com.br/noticias/agronegocio/saem-os-produtos-petroquimicos-entram-os-insumos-feitos-de-oleos-vegetais-mudanca-e-urgente-e-necessaria.html

The entire planet is increasingly suffering from climate change. There are countless consequences of global warming and some of them can already be felt. Scientists have already observed that the increase in the planet's average temperature has raised the sea level due to the melting of the polar ice caps, which can cause the disappearance of islands and coastal cities and, consequently, their populations. In addition, we are likely to suffer more and more from external climatic events such as storms, floods, heat waves, droughts, hurricanes, and tornadoes, which have serious consequences for humans and natural ecosystems, directly threatening plants and animals. The April 2022 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report indicates that harmful carbon emissions from 2010-2019 were the highest in human history, with emissions increases recorded "across all major sectors of the world."

In addition, there is the problem of the volume of plastic waste: as well as plastic being present in cartridges and packaging, which are often disposed of incorrectly and end up becoming accumulated garbage in cities or pollution in the seas, it also appears in the form of microbeads inside the products themselves, such as soaps and creams. Brazil is the fourth largest consumer of beauty and hygiene products in the world, behind only the USA, China and Japan. In other words: this is our problem. But the case of the beauty industry is just one example of a much deeper hole: the use of petrochemical products in general, which is also a problem in segments such as cleaning, the pharmaceutical industry and the food sector. According to a study by the British oil company BP in 2016, oil as a raw material has global reserves for 50.6 years.

The good news is that most of these products can be replaced by inputs produced from vegetable oils - which can bring environmental and economic benefits as well. Vegetable oils are a renewable and more sustainable source than petrochemicals, which are derived from exhaustible fossil fuels. And the economic benefits accrue especially to countries that produce these oils on a large scale. This can create new job opportunities and also increase the income of communities that depend on the production of vegetable oils.

"Replacing petrochemical ingredients with plant-based inputs is an important point on the road to sustainability, but it is not a solution on its own. Petrochemical ingredients are not renewable, since petroleum is the result of a long process of decomposition of organic matter. So, depending only on this source to produce inputs for industry is not sustainable and moves towards the depletion of a natural resource," explains Daniela Tristão, Bachelor in Chemistry from USP and master's student in Chemistry of Natural Products at UFABC.

"Besides this, there are also issues related to the emission of pollutants in the production processes and the biodegradability of some inputs generated from petroleum. The inputs of plant origin, on the other hand, can be considered renewable, since they are obtained from plants, which can be grown for this purpose, and can thus be part of a more sustainable cycle for the generation of inputs for the industry. However, although this substitution can help minimize the damage to the planet, it is not a solution on its own, if as a society we do not rethink our level of consumption. The production of vegetable inputs, to be more sustainable, cannot be extractive. It needs to be controlled and monitored," he adds.

"The cosmetics segment certainly can and has already invested in this substitution. Many consumers have been looking for brands with organic, vegan lines or without petrochemical ingredients. It is a growing reality. The segment of cleaning products also has many opportunities in this sense, as well as the segment of adjuvants for agricultural products," says the specialist.

New on the market

In this regard, the work of Brasil BioFuels - BBF is already taking off. The Brazilian company, which operates in agribusiness from the sustainable cultivation of oil palm to the production of biofuels and the generation of renewable electricity, is expanding its portfolio and introducing yet another business vertical: a unit specializing in the production of renewable inputs to serve various segments - such as agriculture, cosmetics, food, cleaning and pharmaceuticals. The first BBF BioTech plant is located in the state of Rondônia.

"It is something totally new for us. We are talking about raw materials that will be used in the formulation of cosmetic products, such as creams and lotions, so we have to be careful, because it requires a very different treatment. We send final products to be tested for factors such as color, smell, and allergies. These are steps that we know demand time, but that are fundamental for us to move forward. We will make the novelties available to clients who wish to be part of this green product chain," said the company's CEO, Milton Steagall.

The essence of the unprecedented work within the company is precisely to replace the use of petrochemical products with renewable raw materials. The raw materials of the product line baptized AmazonBio Care are produced in a sustainable way - sustainability is one of the great pillars of the company - starting from vegetable oils, such as palm oil and palm kernel oil (which is the nut from the palm fruit), already cultivated by BBF in the North of the country for many years. The production is environmentally friendly: besides recovering already degraded areas of the Amazon Rainforest, the sustainable cultivation of oil palm carried out by BBF captures more than 463,000 tons of carbon annually and generates thousands of jobs in the field, since neither the planting nor the harvesting can be mechanized. The company is a pioneer in the verticalized business model, that is, it goes from sustainable cultivation to the development of inputs to supply several industries in the market, including the production of biofuels and the generation of renewable energy for isolated locations in the North region.

"Palm kernel oil is present in 65 to 70% of the products we are making in this new phase. We wanted to understand this back then, if there was the possibility of working with it in a 100% renewable way and what the size of the challenge would be. And this is how this whole process started and was built, which was a lot of study and development", he said.

In the new plant, located in Ji-Paraná (RO), ten different types of renewable inputs can be produced - these, in addition to being used in personal hygiene, cleaning, and cosmetic products, can also be employed in herbicide and insecticide formulations in agriculture or as industrial solvents. Besides the production principles not harming the environment, the products are biodegradable - that is, made with materials quickly decomposed in the environment - and were tested to not irritate the eyes or the skin, respecting the main technical references of quality control available in the market. The investment in the new plant in Rondônia is approximately R$ 33 million and its installed production capacity is 3,000 tons per month.

In order to promote innovation in the sector, Grupo BBF has established partnerships with the main university research centers in Brazil, such as UNICAMP, IPT and USP. In 2022 alone, the company registered 11 patents applied in the areas of cosmetics, cleaning, pharmaceuticals, food and biofuels. With the new line, BBF is reinforcing its commitment to socio-economic development and environmental preservation in the Amazon, as well as investment in research, development and innovation.

Next steps

Aligned with the Company's long-term vision, a second industrial plant of BBF BioTech is under construction, with inauguration scheduled for the second half of 2023, in Manaus (AM). The investment in this second unit will be about R$ 90 million. Its installed capacity, in the first phase of the project, will also be of 3,000 tons per month - thus doubling BBF BioTech's total production capacity and allowing the growth in the portfolio of products available in the market.