Unilever Embraces Algae with Solazyme Investment

Posted On: September 8, 2010

As food and consumer-goods companies face problems obtaining the key ingredient palm oil without damaging the environment, Unilever is betting on a promising low-life alternative: algae.

London-based Unilever, which relies on palm oil to make Dove soap, Vaseline lotion and Magnum ice cream, is set to announce Wednesday that it has made a multimillion-dollar investment in Solazyme Inc., a South San Francisco, Calif., company that harvests algal oil, a liquid that can replace palm oil in foods, soaps and lotions and serve as biodiesel fuel to power airplanes.

Unilever’s investment comes as big food companies are under pressure from environmentalists to curb the use of palm oil, the harvesting of which has contributed to deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, damaging orangutan habitats.

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