Beyond Sustainability, How Can Biotechnology Make Ingredients More Effective: Examples from the Industry

Biotechnology is currently a major driving force of innovation in personal care, influencing how plant-based and bio-based ingredients are developed, produced, and delivered. This includes moving from traditional extraction toward advanced extraction techniques, bio-engineering, fermentation, and lab-cultivation producing actives with higher efficacy and better sustainability.

Among the emerging technologies that I have observed in the market, Zeta Fraction Technology (ZFT) is an example of a distinctive plant-based extraction platforms in personal care (1, 2, 3). It utilizes the potential of living plants having maximum metabolic activity, which represent the best source for capturing the whole spectrum of natural complexes and compounds. ZFT is a solvent-free, electrokinetic extraction technology that processes fresh, living plant material in the field, separates intracellular colloidal dispersions, and fractionates them into high-potency, multi-functional cosmetic ingredients. It is based on scientific principals discovered by Van’t-Hoff and Debye, and on Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek colloidal science theory. ZFT uses no solvents, even water, requires minimal energy, no heat, and produces multi-functional, biologically active complexes rather than isolated actives, enabling multi pathway efficacy. It operates as a cradle-to-cradle process where remaining biomass is returned to the field. Additionally, it has been successfully used to remove specific undesirable compounds from biofunctional ingredients from different plant sources. Examples of removed substances include parthenolide, a skin sensitizer, high molecular weight peptides, patulin, a mycotoxin associated with dermal toxicity, pheophorbides and psoralen, both photosensitizers, and heavy metals (1).

From industry perspective, ZFT greatest commercial impact is not as a standalone extraction method but as a platform that is generating highly reproducible proprietary cosmetic actives with patent protection around both the process and the resulting compositions.

For instance, it was used to develop parthenolide-free ingredient from Feverfew (Chrysanthemum parthenium) utilized in many finished goods products that are currently on the market (4). Recent ZFT applications include a method for obtaining a bioactive serum fraction derived from fresh rose flowers (Rosa spp.), and compositions comprising the same (5); and skin care compositions and cosmetic applications comprising synergistic blend of sacred lotus and tea plant or sacred lotus and German chamomile (6).

Another example of emerging technology is a whole fresh plant or algae biomass biorefinery model integrating extrusion, ultrasonication, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation. The hydrated state of the biomass facilitates mechanical disruption and enzymatic accessibility. The process enhances the functional diversity and biological relevance of cosmetic actives and generates multi-component complexes with defined functional profiles. It provides higher yield of active compounds compared to conventional extraction, enhanced bioavailability due to enzymatic breakdown of structural polysaccharides, synergistic activity from co-presence of plant actives + postbiotics + prebiotics and versatile downstream processing (drying, lyophilization, concentration) enabling multiple cosmetic formats (7).

In sum, the advanced extraction technologies provide foundation for ingredient innovation and allow formulators to move beyond traditional solvent-based extracts and instead access high-purity, multifunctional plant and marine complexes that deliver superior performance, stronger claims, and sustainability advantages.
They are becoming a core driver of innovation and competitive differentiation across modern personal care.