The FeruliShield™ Family: Soy, Coconut, Hemp, and the Science of Better Ferulic Acid
At Midwest Bioprocessing Center, we like practical ingredients. Not ingredients that simply sound interesting on paper or happen to fit a trend, but ingredients that help formulators solve real problems in real products. That is what FeruliShield was built to do.
Ferulic acid has been used in personal care for years because of its antioxidant and photoprotective properties. It is often paired with ingredients like vitamins C and E because it can help protect against oxidative stress and UV-related degradation. The problem is simple: ferulic acid is not always easy to use.
It is acidic, not naturally oil-compatible, and can be difficult to formulate into both water- and oil-based systems. A molecule can offer excellent benefits, but if it is unstable, difficult to incorporate, or challenging to fit into a finished product, its usefulness becomes limited.
That is where FeruliShield comes in.
What Are Feruloyl Glycerides?
FeruliShield products are feruloyl glycerides. In simple terms, they combine the benefits of ferulic acid with the formulation advantages of natural oils. Using an enzymatic process, we link ferulic acid to natural triglyceride oils. The result is a stable, lipophilic ingredient that is easier to incorporate into personal care products.
Think of it as helping ferulic acid behave better. Instead of forcing formulators to work around the limitations of plain ferulic acid, FeruliShield provides an oil-compatible form that can fit more naturally into modern skin care, sun care, cosmetic, and hair care formulations.
FeruliShield is not just one ingredient. It is a platform.
Why Build a Family of Products?
Formulators do not all need the same thing. A mineral sunscreen has different formulation needs than a facial oil. A foundation has different requirements than a shampoo. A daily moisturizer is not built the same way as an after-sun product. That is why the FeruliShield family includes different oil bases: Soy, Coconut, and Hemp.
Each version is built around the same core idea: link ferulic acid to a natural oil to make it easier to formulate. But the choice of oil matters. Soybean oil, coconut oil, and hemp seed oil each bring different characteristics, sensory profiles, and formulation advantages.
The goal is not to create three versions of the same ingredient simply for the sake of having more products. It is to give formulators options.
FeruliShield Soy
FeruliShield Soy is one of the foundational products in the FeruliShield family. Made from soybean oil and listed as Feruloyl Soy Glycerides, it helped establish the basic concept behind the platform: transforming ferulic acid into a more stable, lipophilic, easier-to-formulate ingredient.
Soybean oil is familiar, versatile, and useful across a wide range of personal care systems. FeruliShield Soy can be a strong option for formulators looking for broad application flexibility and antioxidant support. It can be used in skin care, sun care, cosmetics, and hair care products where oil compatibility, antioxidant activity, and photostability are important.
In many ways, FeruliShield Soy is the workhorse of the family.
FeruliShield Coconut
FeruliShield Coconut extends the platform into another natural oil base that is already widely familiar in personal care. Made from coconut oil, it’s INCI name is Coconut Oil Ethyl Ferulate Esters but it’s the same feruloyl glyceride as the soy . Coconut-derived ingredients are common in skin care, body care, hair care, and cleansing systems and are recognizable to both formulators and consumers.
That makes FeruliShield Coconut particularly relevant for products where natural-origin positioning and sensory profile are part of the formulation strategy.
It retains the core benefits of the FeruliShield platform, including antioxidant activity, photostabilization support, SPF boosting potential, and oil compatibility, while giving formulators a different oil profile to work with. That distinction matters. Personal care formulation is not only about whether an ingredient performs. It is also about how it feels, how it interacts with the rest of the formula, and whether it fits the intended product. Plus it smells great!
FeruliShield Hemp
FeruliShield Hemp is the newest addition to the family. It is the hemp seed oil version of our feruloyl glycerides and recently won the 2026 C&T Allē Award in the Cosmetic Active: Skin Care and Sun Protection category. Hemp seed oil was a natural next step for the platform.
In personal care, hemp seed oil is valued for its lightweight, nourishing profile and is widely recognized as non-comedogenic. That makes it especially interesting for facial skin care, daily-use products, and formulations intended for acne-prone or sensitive skin.
FeruliShield Hemp combines that skin-compatible oil profile with the antioxidant and photoprotective benefits of ferulic acid. FeruliShield Hemp was not developed simply because hemp is popular. Hemp seed oil offers real formulation value, including a lighter oil profile that can complement the core benefits of the FeruliShield platform.
What the FeruliShield Family Has in Common
Soy, Coconut, and Hemp each bring something different, but the products share the same foundation.
They are lipophilic, stable ingredients produced through enzymatic bioprocessing. They are designed to bring antioxidant, photoprotective, and SPF boosting functionality into systems where plain ferulic acid can be difficult to incorporate.
Across the family, FeruliShield can support formulation needs including antioxidant activity, protection from free radical damage, photoprotection of sensitive ingredients, SPF boosting, compatibility with oil-based systems, and improved formulation flexibility. Those needs are increasingly important because modern personal care products are expected to do more.
A sunscreen may need to provide strong SPF while minimizing white cast. A serum may need to help protect sensitive ingredients such as vitamins C and E from degradation. A moisturizer may need to offer antioxidant support while still feeling elegant on the skin. Brands may also be looking for more sustainable ingredients without sacrificing performance.
Formulators are solving complicated puzzles. FeruliShield was developed as one tool to help solve them.
A New Sunscreen Ingredient Enters the U.S. Market
The sunscreen conversation is changing in the United States. In 2026, the FDA added bemotrizinol (BEMT) to the list of permitted sunscreen active ingredients, making it the first new active ingredient added to U.S. sunscreen options in more than two decades.
Bemotrizinol is already used in many parts of the world and provides protection against both UVA and UVB rays. It is also known for strong photostability, meaning it does not break down as quickly in sunlight as some older sunscreen ingredients.
One point is worth stating carefully: bemotrizinol is described as having low skin absorption. That does not mean no absorption at all. It means available data supports low levels of absorption through the skin and a favorable safety profile. For U.S. formulators, its addition means more options.
New UV filters can create opportunities to improve broad-spectrum performance, aesthetics, and overall consumer experience. And those qualities matter. A sunscreen may perform well on paper, but people still need to want to wear it.
Even as new filters enter the market, supporting technologies remain important. A sunscreen is not simply a collection of UV filters. It is a finished formulation that needs to be stable, compatible, effective, and pleasant enough for regular use.
That is where ingredients like FeruliShield can play a role. Rather than replacing approved sunscreen filters, FeruliShield is designed to support sunscreen and skin care systems through SPF boosting, antioxidant activity, and photoprotection of sensitive ingredients.
As the U.S. sun care market evolves, formulation flexibility will continue to matter.
SPF Boosting and Photoprotection
One of the key applications for FeruliShield is supporting SPF performance in sunscreen systems. In optimized formulations, FeruliShield has shown measurable SPF gains, including in mineral sunscreen systems.
This can be especially useful with mineral filters such as zinc oxide. While effective, higher mineral loads can create formulation challenges including white cast, heavier skin feel, and less elegantly finished products. Ingredients that help improve UV performance while giving formulators more flexibility can therefore be valuable tools in product development.
FeruliShield can also help protect sensitive active ingredients from UV degradation. Ingredients such as vitamins C and E can lose functionality when exposed to UV light. Feruloyl glycerides can help preserve antioxidant activity, supporting both formulation stability and performance over time.
In other words, FeruliShield can help protect more than the skin. It can also help protect the formula.
Antioxidant Activity
Oxidation is a major challenge in personal care. Free radicals can affect the skin, but they can also affect finished products by degrading sensitive ingredients, reducing efficacy, and affecting shelf life.
FeruliShield demonstrates rapid antioxidant activity, helping neutralize free radicals and support formulation integrity. This antioxidant activity is part of what has long made ferulic acid interesting to cosmetic chemists. FeruliShield takes that functionality and makes it easier to use in oil-compatible systems.
A strong antioxidant is useful. A strong antioxidant that formulates well is even more useful.
Biodegradability and Sustainability
Sustainability is now part of the formulation conversation. Performance still matters, but formulators and brands are also considering what happens after a product is used, rinsed off, or released into the environment.
FeruliShield is derived from naturally occurring components and is designed to break down through biological processes. Its triglyceride-based structure supports better environmental compatibility compared with persistent petroleum-derived alternatives.
This combination of performance, formulation practicality, and biobased chemistry is another reason the FeruliShield platform fits the direction of modern personal care.
Choosing Between Soy, Coconut, and Hemp
So how should formulators think about the different FeruliShield products? There is no universal answer. The right choice depends on the formulation system, desired claims, oil phase, target skin feel, and finished product goals.
FeruliShield Soy may be a strong fit for broad personal care applications where performance, antioxidant support, and formulation flexibility are priorities.
FeruliShield Coconut may be useful in products where coconut-derived ingredients, natural positioning, and sensory profile are particularly relevant.
FeruliShield Hemp may be especially well suited to facial skin care, daily-use sun care, lightweight products, and formulations designed around non-comedogenic goals.
None of these versions is meant to replace the others. They simply give formulators more room to work. That is the advantage of building a platform instead of a single product.
Beyond One Ingredient
At Midwest Bioprocessing Center, FeruliShield is one example of how biotechnology can be used to improve personal care ingredients.
Our work uses enzyme biocatalysis, fermentation, and molecular biology to create high-value biobased molecules. Many lipid and carbohydrate molecules can be difficult to produce through traditional chemistry, and bioprocessing gives us new ways to approach those challenges.
The FeruliShield family shows what that can look like in practice.
Start with a useful molecule: ferulic acid. Improve its formulation behavior. Pair it with natural oils. Then create multiple versions so formulators can choose the one that best fits their product. That is practical innovation.
What Comes Next
Personal care ingredients should not need a decoder ring. They should have a clear purpose, solve a real problem, and help formulators make better products. That is the idea behind FeruliShield.
Soy, Coconut, and Hemp each offer different formulation advantages, but they share the same goal: making ferulic acid easier to formulate and more practical for modern skin care, sun care, cosmetic, and hair care products. Biobased ingredients should be functional, and innovation should make a formulator’s job easier, not harder.
That is what the FeruliShield family was built to do. FeruliShield Hemp samples are now available.
Learn more about the FeruliShield™ family
