No fake tears as Cemvita finds new use for glycerine

opinion

by Fayaz Hussain

November 17, 2025

‘Why, why, why?’ Robert DeNiro’s iconic outburst in Raging Bull while punching the dimly-lit prison cell is a masterclass in acting. It won him the Oscar for best actor in a leading role.

While he needed full make-up to show puffiness that comes from taking punches to the face, he definitely didn’t need fake tears to deliver the emotion. But some actors do. Directors often require tears to deliver the emotional depth a scene requires. But when actors’ emotions won’t co-operate with the camera, make-up teams use glycerine.

We may never know which actors did or did not use the accidently discovered compound to cry on screen, but there is one industry that has found a new use for it. Houston-based biotechnology firm Cemvita wants to use crude glycerine to make sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

“Cemvita is a company that produces base chemicals and feedstock from waste,” Fernando Borba, the company’s vice president of strategy tells SAF Investor. “We developed microbes that can digest certain types of waste and transform them into base chemicals – drop-in solutions for advanced fuels.”

At the heart of the process is crude glycerine, a low-value residual product that is left behind after biodiesel producers process oil seeds like soybeans and rapeseed. Once beans are crushed and oil is extracted, they are processed by treating the oil with ethanol. This process results in biodiesel and unwanted crude glycerine.

“The part that’s not desirable and has a low price is the crude glycerine,” Fernando adds. “We can take this crude glycerine, feed our bioreactors with it, and produce an ultra-low carbon oil.”

For Cemvita, this is a excellent feedstock for its engineered microbes which are genetically selected to perform specific tasks, in this case is to accumulate lipids from glycerine. Fernando says that while the wild version of these microbes accumulates 15% to 20% lipid, they are achieving up to 90% lipids. This four-fold improvement in lipid accumulation is what Cemvita is betting on for reaching the commercial scale.

Microbes are fed crude glycerine with a special mix of nutrients. These microbes then grow and accumulate lipids. As they become oil-rich, Cemvita’s technology breaks down the cell walls and separates contents. “In this process, we can up to 98% of the oil separated,” Fernando says. The dead microbes can then be used as fertiliser, animal feed and even to produce biomethane through anaerobic digestion. This delivers circularity and zero waste for the entire process.

Cemvita is developing in Brazil their first side for commercial production. They have partnered with Brazilian biofuel company Be8: Energia Renovável – largest producer of biodiesel in Brazil and the biggest trader of crude glycerine. The partnership – announced on the sidelines of the 2025 World Economic Forum – enables them to develop an innovative and robust value chain for waste-to-SAF.

The company has also secured extensive government support in Brazil both at federal as well as state level. It has signed “engagement terms” with InvestRS, Rio Grande do Sul’s investment attraction agency to develop its first commercial plant in Passo Fundo.

It has also received backing from major aviation players. United Airlines Sustainable Ventures Fund has not only invested in the company but has also committed to buying 1bn gallons of SAF from Cemvita for 20 years once production begins. Cemvita’s cap table includes major global giants like Sumitomo, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, 8090 Industries and investment firm Oxy Low Carbon Ventures.

It is announcing a fund raise this week. It is confident of achieving a final investment decision within 2026 with construction expected to begin from the fourth quarter of the same year. If this goes as planned, Cemvita said it should be able to produce first batch of molecules from late 2027 or early 2028.

While Cemvita is unlikely to win an Oscar because of this technology, it can ensure that the next time an actor sheds glycerine tears at 30,000ft while filming an in-flight scene, the plane is fuelled by the same compound.