From food, cosmetics, cleaning products to biofuels, palm oil is found in many of the products we use every day. An urgent need for palm oil alternatives Ever larger areas of our rainforests are being cleared for palm oil cultivation, threatening many animal and plant species. The cosmetics industry is aware of this situation and has responded by sourcing palm oil primarily from certified cultivation, ensuring that the raw material comes from sustainably managed sources. The composition of this mixture closely resembles palm oil in a manner that enables us to replace tropical oils in a wide range of future applications. To this end, the fermentation processes developed at Fraunhofer IGB are being scaled up step-by-step at the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna, a branch of Fraunhofer IGB.