DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products has announced the winners of its the third annual Zemea Innovation Award program.

Zemea is a preservative-boosting humectant and solvent used by a wide range of companies in the personal care and consumer sectors. It is the key product manufactured by DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products launched since 2005, when the American chemicals company DuPont partnered with British agribusiness Tate & Lyle.

Zemea is created from corn, which the company states is a completely “renewable” resource, making the ingredient a more environmentally friendly alternative to others which rely on a petro-chemical process.

The annual Zemea Innovation Awards are hosted by DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products to recognise the most creative and successful uses of the ingredient across the personal care and consumer markets.

Irwin Palefsky, President and CEO of Cosmetech Laboratories, who sat on the judging panel, commented, “By understanding the practical and innovative applications of ingredients, the formulation chemist can develop new products with unique performance properties. The Zemea® Innovation Award program provides a venue for sharing formulation success stories, whether for a very practical application or an unanticipated innovative use.”

The Zemea Innovation Award for consumer products went to German company Straub GmbH, for its use of the ingredient in its MARBERT line of body lotions, deodorants, anti-aging eye serums and creams, and cleansing gels. The company uses Zemea to increase product hydration and sensorial properties. 

Two winning entries were selected for the Zemea Innovation award for personal care ingredients.

American company Bio-Botanica was recognized for its ZeaBotanicals collection of over 140 different botanical extracts based on Zemea.

The company utilizes its proprietary Bio-Chelation process to manufacture the botanical extracts and combines them with Zemea for natural personal care and cosmetic applications.

German company CAM-D Technologies launched a line of solid CAMDsorb Odor and Pollutant Absorbers that are used in personal care and home care applications.

This patented technology uses Zemea as an innovative reaction medium in the preparation of the active ingredient zinc ricinoleate. Zemea is also used as an additive to stabilize the final product.