Abel Fragrance: How a Biotech Perfume Brand is Replacing Fossil Fuels with Plant-Based Ingredients

In a groundbreaking move for the fragrance industry, the top note of a new perfume called Miami Split comes from an unexpected source: a banana processing plant in Ecuador. The fragrance is extracted from banana-scented water, a byproduct of washing fruit that was previously discarded.

This unusual ingredient is one of many sourced by Abel Fragrance, a company committed to eliminating fossil fuels from its products. Instead, Abel relies on biotechnology to produce natural fragrances, challenging the industry’s reliance on petrochemicals.

Why Fossil Fuels Dominate Perfume Ingredients

Frances Shoemack, founder of Abel Fragrance, explains that nearly all fragrance molecules are synthesized from fossil fuels. “Almost all fragrance molecules are synthesized from fossil fuels,” she says. “A typical fragrance is made from between a dozen and a few hundred fragrance molecules, and more than 95% of those come from crude oil. They’re cheap and readily scalable, and it’s really what’s kind of created the modern fragrance world.”

The Birth of a Sustainable Perfume Brand

Shoemack, a former winemaker from New Zealand, founded Abel Fragrance in 2013 after relocating to Amsterdam. At the time, she noticed a lack of sustainable options in skincare and makeup but found no comparable alternatives for perfume. “It just started out as a bit of a real search for this product,” she recalls. “And then a little bit of like, if no one’s doing it, is it something I could do if I find the right people to surround myself with?”

She partnered with master perfumer Isaac Sinclair and initially worked exclusively with essential oils. However, they quickly encountered limitations. Many essential oils are short-lived, dissipating within hours, and require synthetic preservatives like sunscreen to remain shelf-stable. Additionally, they are expensive and complex to work with, making precise formulation difficult. The team sought to rethink how natural fragrances are made, aiming to compete with fossil-based fragrances in performance.

Biotech: The Future of Natural Fragrances

As Shoemack and Sinclair explored innovations in other sectors, such as food production, they discovered biotech alternatives for fragrance ingredients. For example, Ambroxin—a molecule traditionally derived from fossil fuels to replicate ambergris—can now be produced in a lab by fermenting plant sugars. The resulting molecule is chemically identical to its fossil fuel counterpart but is entirely plant-based.

Currently, Shoemack estimates that only about 100 biotech fragrance molecules are available on the market, compared to thousands of fossil-based options. “It’s still expensive, and it’s still early days,” she admits. However, rising crude oil prices due to geopolitical tensions, such as the war in Iran, may accelerate innovation in this space.

Abel Fragrance also utilizes isolates—compounds extracted and purified from complex mixtures like lavender oil or peppermint oil. The brand continues to seek unique natural fragrances, including the banana note used in Miami Split, which is produced by the company Symrise using a low-energy extraction process.

By pioneering these methods, Abel Fragrance is not only reducing its environmental footprint but also proving that sustainable alternatives can rival traditional fragrance ingredients in quality and performance.