Procter & Gamble Partners With Bio-based Chemicals Startup ZeaChem

Forbes.com
By KERRY A. DOLAN
Jun. 1 2011 - 9:53 am

Someday, laundry detergents and shampoos from Procter & Gamble might just be made entirely with bio-based chemicals instead of petroleum-based ingredients. The consumer products giant inked a development deal with Silicon Valley startup ZeaChem that it is announcing on Wednesday. The deal is intended to help take Procter & Gamble toward its goal of making its products from more sustainable ingredients.

ZeaChem CEO Jim Imbler said the agreement with Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) prevents him from sharing details on the kinds of products that might be first in line to get bio-based chemicals. “The kinds of molecules we make can go into lots of different things,” said Imbler, who emphasized that his company is not creating new molecules, but producing bio-based versions of existing molecules. “We make brown things green,” he added. Financial terms of the multi-year agreement were not disclosed.

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