Drop-in Replacement Nalo™ Honored as Scientific Breakthrough for Environmental Benefit
Future Origins has been named a winner of the of the 2025 Green Chemistry Challenge Award by the American Chemical Society (ACS) for Nalo, its non-palm, zero-deforestation, drop-in replacement for C12/C14 fatty alcohols. The ACS awards focus on innovators in sustainable chemistry and “scientific breakthroughs that make chemistry safer, more efficient and more sustainable.” The recognition for Future Origins is in the category of Specific Environmental Benefit as it is commercializing sustainable alternatives to critical ingredients in the formulations of cosmetics, personal care and cleaning products.
“We are incredibly proud to receive this national recognition from the American Chemical Society,” said John Gugel, CEO of Future Origins. “This award is a result of the dedication, ingenuity and creativity of our entire team to develop an innovative solution that can be deployed at scale to enable meaningful positive impact. Turning our vision into a reality has been an exciting journey and we are grateful to our partners for believing in a more sustainable future.”
The Green Chemistry Challenge Awards “recognize novel green chemistry technologies that reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous substances, use less energy and water, and improve the sustainability of products while demonstrating economic benefits,” according to ACS. The announcement came today from ACS, and the award will be presented to Future Origins on September 3, 2025, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC.
This is the second award announced this month for Future Origins, which will receive the ICIS Innovation Award in London on November 13, 2025. Future Origins was founded by industrial biotechnology leader Geno, in partnership with Unilever, Kao, and L’Oréal. Geno has been awarded the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award four times previously for its production of basic chemicals from renewable feedstocks at a lower cost, among other things.
Nalo will be manufactured by Future Origins at industrial scale at a production facility set to come online in the United States in the coming years. Kao recently secured an offtake agreement covering a majority of the planned capacity of Future Origins’ first manufacturing plant. For more information and to follow the latest advancements around Nalo, visit the Future Origins website at www.futureorigins.com.
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