Problem: Surfactants, molecules that love both water and oil, are ubiquitous in modern society. They are an essential part of not only laundry-, home- and personal care products, but also agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and paints & dyes. Shockingly, of the approx. 20 Mt of surfactants produced annually, less than 5% are considered fully bio-based, while roughly 50% are solely produced from fossil fuel. On top of that, the bio-content of these surfactants is typically derived from palm kernel- or coconut oil, resources that cannot be produced domestically in the European Union. This does not only result in a high import dependency but also a worse ecological footprint, due to emissions caused by long-distance transport as well as contribution to deforestation in South-East Asia.
Solution: Our technology is based on the 12 principles of green chemistry, with simplicity, sustainability and efficiency as main focus. With it, we are able to process waste derived streams, including waste cooking oil, pulp and paper as well as agricultural side- and waste streams. So far, we produced over 40 different surfactants, scaled them up to 500 g, with all of them sharing a renewable linker moiety between the head and tail group. This linker enables us to produce multifunctional surfactants that can be water softeners and disinfectants all in a single molecule. With selected examples, we can produce active formulation using only 1% of the surfactant loading traditionally used, while maintaining up to ten times stronger foaming potential.
USP: A ‘benign by design’ manufacturing concept, to produce novel, high-performing bio-based surfactants by utilizing of locally available renewable resource-, waste-, and side streams.