1. Shark-derived squalane has disappeared in Western countries
So why extract squalene from the liver oil of small deep-sea sharks caught at depths greater than 300 meters?
This was initially an industrial convenience in the early years of its use in the 1950s, as 40 to 80% of squalene is found in the liver oil of these small sharks, depending on the species.
Squalene was also discovered by Japanese researcher Mitsumaru Tsujimoto in 1906 in shark liver oil.
Japan is a fishing nation. Squalane has properties that are ideally suited for Japanese cosmetic creams. The conditions were in place for Japan to become the main user of squalane, accounting for 40% of the global market in the 2000s.
However, due to targeted deep-sea fishing (Centrophorus granulosus), the protection of deep-water species, and the European ban on this type of fishing in 2006, squalane faced a major supply crisis. The mad cow disease crisis also accelerated the disappearance of shark-derived squalane in Western cosmetics. It remains a significant market in Japan, including for nutraceutical-grade squalene.
Synthetic squalane and olive-derived squalane have since taken over.
2. Will synthetic squalane be competitive?
In 1978, the Japanese company Kuraray launched a synthetic squalane process (US patent no. 3,794,692, February 26, 1974), producing squalane via dimerization of petroleum-derived farnesene followed by hydrogenation.
Their selling prices have always been higher than market alternatives.
Thirty years later, the American biotech company AMYRIS revisited Kuraray’s concept. It succeeded in producing farnesene through sugarcane fermentation. After attempting to market farnesene as aviation fuel, it revived Kuraray’s idea of dimerizing farnesene to produce squalane, which even became its flagship product.
Its main ingredient experienced strong growth thanks to very low selling prices and aggressive marketing. AMYRIS captured approximately 30% of the squalene/squalane market in a growing sector.
However, the profitability of biosynthetic squalane remains uncertain. Farnesene obtained via fermentation is an expensive raw material, also used as a precursor in vitamin E production as a substitute for citral.
Moreover, the processes of farnesene dimerization, hydrogenation, and purification remain costly.
So, will “natural” prove more credible than synthetic?
3. Why olive-derived squalane is taking the lead
Each vegetable oil contains approximately 1% unsaponifiable matter (vitamin E, squalene, and sterols). Each oil has a specific composition of unsaponifiables.
During physical refining of edible oils, free fatty acid distillation concentrates these unsaponifiables into a by-product known as fatty acid distillate. This highly heterogeneous residue—containing free fatty acids, unsaponifiables, ethyl esters, and triglycerides—is difficult to valorize in other industries. It is neither food nor an edible commodity.
Soybean oil, the richest in vitamin E, has traditionally been used as the raw material for natural vitamin E extraction.
Olive oil is the richest in squalene. In 1988, Hispano Química began extracting squalene from the fatty acid distillate of olive oil. This came ten years after synthetic squalane. It marked the beginning of the era of plant-based squalene.
If the circular economy model is virtuous, it requires large production capacities because the raw material contains less than 10% squalene. It is therefore necessary to valorize co-products, which represent more than 90% of the raw material.
Hispano Química valorized its co-products into lubricants. The young company SOPHIM used them as feedstock for biodiesel production before becoming a second-generation biodiesel producer in 2014, with its second plant opened in Almería, Andalusia.
With a fully integrated process, the circular model proved resilient to fluctuations linked to the war in Ukraine. Despite a doubling in raw material prices, the price of the co-product (biodiesel) followed the same trend, helping maintain the price of PHYTOSQUALAN, despite sharp increases in energy costs and processing intermediaries in 2022.
However, the major innovation in the market was the patent granted to SOPHIM on 27/08/2010 (INPI no. 2933403) covering the global extraction of squalene, vitamin E, and sterols from fatty acid distillates of vegetable oils. This project received the Pierre Potier Prize in 2011, which rewards chemical innovation for sustainable development.
Implemented in the new Almería plant in Spain since 2014, this process has enabled the use of new olive-derived raw materials with very low squalene content, such as those from olive pomace oil (olive skin). Other unused oleic raw materials still exist, but they require greater industrial extraction capacity.
With growing demand for natural ingredients in cosmetics, the squalane market is expanding rapidly. If available olive raw materials become insufficient, sunflower and palm fatty acid distillates could provide additional sources of plant-based squalene. However, an additional separation step is required to isolate squalene from vitamin E—though this vitamin E is also valorized in the process.
In summary
SOPHIM has developed a unique model for its PHYTOSQUALAN. Through innovation, an integrated production model, new production capacities, and the diversification of olive and plant-based raw materials, the company offers enhanced supply security for the future.
Its circular economy model consistently demonstrates the financial competitiveness of PHYTOSQUALAN.
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To predict the future of squalane, one must understand its past.
— Jacques Margnat, Chairman and CEO
Category: Squalane