Eternis Case Study: Production of Sustainable Chemicals

The challenger

Eternis is a major player in the aroma chemicals industry, both in India and worldwide. With a turnover of US$ 225 million, it is the largest exporter of aroma chemicals in India and among the top 10 producers globally. Eternis has been in operation for almost three decades and has shifted its focus toward aroma chemicals, which now account for 80% of its sales.

Eternis is a privately held company and is professionally managed. It is part of the Mariwala Group, which includes Marico Limited, a leading consumer products company with a turnover of around US$650 million.

Challenge

Eternis was looking for an SME or start-up to create value from the ‘aroma’ by-product that is generated during their manufacturing process and normally incinerated as waste.

They seek a biotransformation approach to reduce the amount of material that is normally sent to be burnt and by doing so reduce their carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions.

Solution Provider

EnginZyme is a company that produces chemicals, foods, materials, and other products that modern society relies on, in a truly sustainable way.

EnginZyme´s technology platform uses their proprietary enzyme engineering and immobilization to develop stable heterogeneous catalysts which are then operated in continuous flow fixed bed reactors. The purpose is to produce sustainable chemicals.

Solution Proposed

EnginZyme used a stepwise approach with GO/NOGO check-points to evaluate the potential of their EziG-based process in producing octanal from 1-octanol.

The aim was to optimize both parties’ efforts in developing a viable solution with key deliverables. EnginZyme’s core innovation is its enzyme immobilization technology, which they call EziG. This technology can immobilize and utilize all enzyme classes successfully.

Conclusions

The collaboration took place between October 2022 and January 2023.

Both parties have recognized the potential of the evaluated EziG-based process for oxidizing alcohol to aldehydes. However, the process for producing octanal is not the ideal application to start with. Investing time and money into the development of a novel process of this kind would be more suited to a chemical target at a higher price point (with higher margins).

By demonstrating the potential of the technology, it becomes easier to identify a more suitable chemical target for new enzymatic catalyst and process development, thus paving the way for further collaboration.