In this Interview with Supertrends, Dr. Sotiria Mostrou, founder and CEO of Biosimo Chemicals and expert in heterogeneous catalysis, discusses how sustainable chemicals can become the key to removing toxic substances from manufacturing processes. 

Supertrends: What does your company do?

Sotiria Mostrou: Biosimo focuses on improving chemical processes. Our mission is to remove, completely, the fossil dependence of the chemical industry. We target exclusively biochemicals, with a production process completely fossil-free. The materials we use are fossil-free, so the process doesn’t include any non-renewable input. We adhere to green chemistry principles, so we make sure that no additives are used. Summing up, we do biochemicals, but make sure that we produce them in a way that they are reliable and cost-effective, so they don’t become more expensive than the fossil alternative.

We understand that the transition cannot come at a higher cost. Most people come in with biochemicals or biomaterials that are always much more expensive than what is available from fossils, and this is delaying the transition. So, for us, we must look, from the beginning, into processes that we can deliver with an even lower cost than the fossils.

Supertrends: What type of processes or materials do you use to make these biochemicals cheaper?

S.M.: In general, when you produce materials in the chemical industry, you have to take into account three main cost areas: the raw material; the energy that is needed during the process; and the cost of capital, which many people forget about.

First of all, we start with an abandoned biosource, like bioethanol, which comes from biowaste. This is globally produced from a variety of sources, and every source has a lower footprint than the fossil-based alternative. 

Regarding energy, we only look into technologies that create energy instead of consuming it, what in the field we call an exothermic reaction. So, we have a heavily exothermic reaction that makes a lot of heat. There's a high-temperature gradient reaction, and we can use that heat to purify the chemical. This way, the process by itself is more or less self-sufficient, so it doesn't need additional energy that would increase footprint and cost.

And lastly, the capital investment needs to go into a plant. We just need very simple reactors that don't require special quality steel, unlike most projects in the industry, which results in higher costs. The second point is that it has a very high special efficiency, meaning we can do a very high throughput in a very small space, so the capital expense is even lower.

It’s an end-to-end production process. This is a holistic approach, and instead of going into production and changing one single component, we offer a whole solution, from the moment that the raw material comes in until there is the product that the chemical industry needs.

Supertrends: Could you exemplify this with a practical example?

S.M.: Imagine we have bioethanol which comes from food waste, like potato peels or moldy bread. Usually, there's not much that can be done with that. It can't even be given to animals, so it usually ends up being incinerated. 

Instead, in collaboration with a partner, we take that and produce ethanol, which later is used to make acetic acid. Then, this acetic acid needs to be purified. Once it’s fully pure, it goes into another process that makes acetate, and that’s what is known as dry vinegar. This dry vinegar then is given as an ingredient to food manufacturing that makes vinegar chips, for example. 

We are relatively early, technically speaking, in the production or the whole value chain. We are not making specialized ingredients, but we are looking more into what we call bulk chemicals.

Supertrends: What are the industries that are showing the greatest interest in these technologies?

S.M.: The biggest interest for users would be polymers, because they're just very, very, very large. But as a startup, we focus more on niche markets, like personal care, home care, and food. 

The companies that are using our products are all within the chemical industry. We give them a direct replacement for the fossil material, meaning that functionality doesn't change, so they don't really need to invest hours in testing and qualifying new materials, or even having to go into regulations. The material is already a known ingredient in that sense. So, for the customer, it doesn't cost anything to change it or test it. They also don't need to invest in actively changing their production, which is usually where the biggest cost is. 

Supertrends: What trends are you observing in the development of this technology?

S.M.: The biochemical industry has gotten into the climate sector very deeply. It's a word that everybody says, and it has become a whole sector by itself. Unfortunately, I don't see the development that I would like to see in the industry, mainly because we are talking about real deep tech, so it takes years to develop one tiny bit. When we talk about biomaterials, we are talking about dozens of bulk chemicals, hundreds of specialty chemicals, and thousands of products. It moves very, very slowly. 

We are not actually in biotechnology. We're not working with live organisms. We are a little bit of a rebel on that because we come in and we say there is a lot of know-how on the chemical side, there is a lot of know-how from the petrochemicals side; we don't need to reinvent every wheel in the process, and we're coming in. We say it is possible to have biochemicals that are much more efficient and cheaper to make by utilizing some of the components that existed in this broader chemical industry. 

Supertrends: Is it hard to find investors? Is this industry too dependent on public funds?

S.M.: Yes, it’s hard to find funding, especially in 2024, because it has been difficult for everyone. The deep tech companies were hit more because we have much more expensive development. We're not as expensive as medicine tech, but it’s not cheap at all. 

And, yes, we do need public funding. When we create something new, we are not only looking into shareholders' value, we're looking in a broader way. Boosting biomaterials means reducing dependence on fossil resources. Thus, the development, which of course is expensive, should also be covered by public funding, as I see it. 

Supertrends: Why should someone invest in this technology?

S.M.: I think it's the next point in the decarbonization path. It’s the innovation we haven't managed to tackle yet. When we started thinking about reducing the use of fossil fuels, energy took the first place, naturally. It has been tackled first and there are already a lot of technologies in this area. But the materials sector is a bit more complicated. 

So why should somebody invest in this technology? A, because they want to see the world change, and B, because even from a strictly economic point of view, this has a big growth runaway. There’s little compared to any other space in the decarbonization area. The big chemical companies have been around for decades and have more or less lost their taste for innovation. There is no horizontal innovation in chemistry; they’re going vertically – someone comes up with a technology, they start copying it everywhere, and then they move slowly to Asia, where it is cheaper to produce it, et cetera. Now, new startups are pushing toward chemistry innovation. 

Chemistry has literally changed the world multiple times in the past, from fossil fuels to sustainable alternatives, medicines applications, et cetera. All of these breakthroughs are chemistry, and this is a field that has not gotten a lot of attention or money. I believe that someone who invests has a very high chance of hitting a good startup. They're not many, but the ones there are take our job very, very seriously, and it's a longer commitment. 

Supertrends: And where do you see the industry in 20 years’ time? What can be expected from it?

S.M.: Unfortunately, I don't see the industry having changed a lot in 20 years, because the transformation of the materials is so slow. To see a completely transformed industry in 20 years, we should have started yesterday. If you want to see something in 20 years, you need to build it today. In this sector, you usually need more than 10 years to develop something. 

I don't see it changing much because I don't see the transformation starting already. It’s starting but very slowly. The question is not about where it will be in 20 years, but where do we want to see it in 20 years. What we want is to be completely disconnected from fossil fuels — otherwise, we will have to keep drilling for fossil fuels in order to produce the materials we need.

Supertrends: When will it be possible for these products to become mainstream?

S.M.: Our product can become mainstream before 2030 or 2031. We expect to have fully scaled it and be able to deliver it at a lower price than the fossil alternative — if not lower, at least be able to compete in price terms. 

Then, biomaterials need two or three good examples of processes like ours that show that it is possible to have biomaterials that don’t change the quality of the final result, without adding any extra cost. Once we have two or three of those, then we can start creating this paradigm and attracting more research and companies. 

This text is a transcript of an interview conducted in March 2024. The interview was conducted as part of Supertrends “Interviews with Experts” series. Please note that the transcript may have been lightly edited for editorial reasons.

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