GlycoSurf,

GlycoSurf, a specialty chemical company established in 2013, operates from Salt Lake City, Utah, and focuses on manufacturing environmentally friendly, bio-inspired surfactants. The company emerged from research conducted at the University of Arizona, founded by a team of researchers: Dr. Raina Maier, Dr. Cliff Coss, and Dr. Jeanne Pemberton. Their foundation was supported by technology development funding from Tech Launch Arizona, which helped transition their novel chemical synthesis technology from the laboratory to the commercial market. In October 2023, the company achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification, a key milestone underscoring its commitment to quality management.

GlycoSurf's business revolves around a proprietary synthetic manufacturing process for producing high-purity glycolipids, primarily rhamnolipids. Unlike traditional fermentation-based methods that often yield low-purity and costly outputs, GlycoSurf's chemical synthesis produces surfactants with greater than 95% purity. This process not only provides a significant cost advantage but also allows for precise chemical tailoring of the molecules to meet specific client application needs. The company's business model involves direct sales of its catalog products and custom synthesis services to various industries. GlycoSurf has received multiple grants, including from the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, to advance its technology and scale production.

The company's product portfolio consists of a range of sugar-based surfactants, including those derived from rhamnose, glucose, xylose, and galactose. These biosurfactants are biodegradable, non-toxic, and designed to replace petroleum-based alternatives. A key feature is the ability to customize the lipid component (the tail-group) of the surfactant, offering single or double chains with varying lengths (C8 to C18), which alters the product's properties for different uses. These applications are diverse, spanning personal care and cosmeceuticals (such as anti-aging creams and sunscreens), industrial and institutional cleaning, and high-tech environmental services. A notable application is in the mining sector, where GlycoSurf's surfactants are used for the recovery of rare earth elements and other critical metals from mining waste streams, a technology that earned the company the 2022 Utah Innovation Award for Sustainability.

Keywords: biosurfactants, glycolipids, rhamnolipids, green chemistry, specialty chemicals, sustainable surfactants, chemical synthesis, personal care ingredients, cosmeceuticals, environmental remediation, rare earth element recovery, mining solutions, non-toxic surfactants, biodegradable surfactants, custom synthesis, sugar-based surfactants, Tech Launch Arizona, University of Arizona spin-off, high-purity chemicals, sustainable materials