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Development and demand for sugar-based surfactants are on the
rise
08 May 2011 11:18 [Source: ICB]
Sugar-based surfactant development gains ground, riding on the
success of growing demand for APG
Growing demand for alkyl polyglucoside (APG) - a non-ionic
surfactant made from vegetable oils and starch - is driving new
developments and increasing
marketing for other sugar-based surfactants. These products
could replace traditional petroleum and even other natural oil
s-based surfactants.
Natural surfactants continue to gain traction, especially in the
mass-market product categories such
as personal care, laundry detergent and home care cleaning
products. Growth in naturally derivedspecialty surfactants, which
account for only 10% of the overall $600m (413m) global
specialty
surfactants market, is expected to grow by 4% yearly through
2013, led by APG, according to AnnaIbbotson, industry manager for
chemicals and materials at US consultancy Kline & Co.
Germany-based Cognis, now owned by compatriot firm BASF, is the
world's largest APG surfactantproducer. Other suppliers include
European chemical firms Clariant, Croda and SEPPIC, and
South Korea-based LG Household & Health Care.
Cognis expanded its APG capacity last year with a new 25,000
tonne/year plant in Jinshan, China,citing increased demand as the
major driver for the investment. The chemical business division
of
LG Household & Health Care also expanded its APG plant in
Onsan, South Korea, in Januarybecause of high demand. It did not
disclose t he plant's capacity.
"The recent expansion is our second, following the first
expansion project completed in 2009," thecompany said in a
statement. "We started APG production in 2000 and have been
continuously
expanding our capacity because of high demand for
environmentally friendly surfactants."
APG surfactants initially were developed for home care and body
wash applications, but have beenexpanded to facial cleansing
lotions, shampoos, oral care products, wipes, laundry detergents,
hard surface cleaners and industrial and institutional cleaning
applications, according to Cognis.
GROWING SUGAR SURFACTANTSUS-based Colonial Chemical has been
producing sugar surfactants made from corn syrup and coconut oil
since 2002. The company sells the products
worldwide under the brands Suga and PolySuga in drum and bulk
quantities for various personal care, household and industrial
cleaners and even oil fieldapplications, says Colonial Chemical
president David Anderson.
"The exact pounds sold are proprietary. However, the volume is
significant now, and growing each year in sales and acceptance by
the market," saysAnderson. "Our goal is to assist the formulating
chemists who have been using traditional sodium lauryl sulfate
(SLS) or sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES)
products to consider using our Suga and PolySuga products."
The sugar surfactants outperform traditional surfactants such as
SLES and SLS in terms of mildness, solubility of essential oils and
the ability to clean atlower concentrations, says Anderson. The
surfactants also outperform APGs in terms of higher foam, lower
irritation, better solubility and provide thickening
viscosity when combined with betaines.
"In certain instances, our products are maybe up to 25% more
expensive than regular APGs. However, they outperform APGs by a
great deal more," says
Anderson. "Compared to petroleum-derived surfactants, we are
also narrowing the cost gap more every day as the price of oil
moves up."
Italian chemical company Lamberti says APG esters offer
significant advantages as well, such as low surface tension and
lower foaming compared withAPGs.
The company patented the synthesis of esters of APG in 1987, and
since then has been heavily involved in developing sugar-based
surfactant derivatives,says Don Leming, business development
manager of agrochemicals at Pennsylvania-based Lamberti USA.
The company notes several APG esters are already commercially
available and others are still in development.
"Our EucarolAGE (alkyl glucose ester) shows outstanding mildness
and is able to reduce the irri tation level of liquid soaps,
shampoos and detergents," saysLeming. "The economics of APGs and
APG esters is very similar when considering both cost and usage
rates. The major challenge is to persuade surfactant
formulators to move from using standard and quite cheap
commodities into the more environment-friendly and very much milder
compounds."
Colonial Chemical's Anderson agrees that it is not easy for
formulators to break old habits in using traditional surfactants.
"The industry has been stuck on
sulfates and ether sulfate technology for over 60 years largely
because they are still inexpensive and easy to use," says Anderson.
"However, sulfates areirritating to eyes and skin and may utilize
some very questionable manufacturing processes in regards to
safety. Getting our customers familiar with sugar
surfactants and having time to work with them is the
challenge."
NEW ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENTSDespite the challenges, the immense
potential profits to gain within the 28.6bn lb/year (12.9m
tonnes/year) global surfactants market is attracting several
newcomers offering alternative green materials.
France-based WheatOleo, a joint venture formed last year between
Belgian oleochemical company Oleon and France-based agrobusinesses
consortiumARD, is selling alkyl polypentosides (APPs) surfactants
made from combined natural fatty alcohols and pentose sugars coming
from agricultural by-products
wheat bran and straw.
"Competition is fierce with several newcomers knocking at the
door. On the other hand, demand from market is growing and there is
room for alternative
solutions," says Wheat-Oleo business manager Philippe
Lapeyre.
WheatOleo did not disclose how much it i s currently producing,
but says that it aims to produce several thousand tonnes in the
near future. Sales of APPsbegan in 2008 and are now being sold
through Oleon and France-based cosmetic ingredients company
Soliance, owned by ARD. No other company is
producing or marketing APPs, in which ARD holds a strong patent
position, says Lapeyre.
"The sugar part of our surfactant comes from lignocellulosic
biomass and therefore does not enter into competition with food
compared with glucose-based
raw materials," says Lapeyre. "Pentoses derived f rom wheat bran
and straw also have the main advantage of being very reactive,
leading to a lowtemperature process, low polymerization degree and
reduced post-treatments."
Price and performance for APPs are competitive with APGs, says
Lapeyre. "Our raw materials are widely available and our production
processes are fully
under control now, so our next challenges are to expand our
surfactant line to offer to the market a more complete product
range, as well as to convince themarket the added value of our
surfactants in terms of performance, cost effectiveness and
environmental profile."
Read Doris de Guzman's green chemicals blog for the latest news
on green surfactants
Green surfactant feedstock
NEW SURFACTANT PLAYERS IN TOWN
James Rickwood
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says Andy Shafer, vice president of sales and market development
at Elevance.
"Our oleochemicals provide detergent grade esters from sources
other than palm kernel or coconut oils that can be used to make
fatty acids, alcohols andderivatives providing surfactant
manufacturers a unique and advantaged feedstock option."
Elevance is collaborating with Indonesian oleochemical company
Wilmar to construct a biorefinery, which the company claims will be
the world's largest,with initial capacity of 180,000 tonnes/year
expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2011. Elevance plans to
expand the biorefinery to 360,000 tonnes/yearas customers
incorporate products into their business.
"This scale and capacity is critical for the large-volume
requirements of the surfactants industry. Commodity surfactants are
a large, highly-competitive
market. Ingredients targeting these surfactants must be
available at large scale and provide drop-in performance and
economics," says Shafer.Commercialization is well underway for the
company's surfactants, he adds.
"We are now completing a major scale-up run to provide customers
with sufficient quantities for scale-up and qualification. We will
begin shipping customers
product from a 500 tonne/year toll production run this
quarter."
Elevance also is entering the specialty surfactants market
through its coll aboration with US surfactant producer Stepan.
US biotechnology firm Codexis says it plans to enter the
detergent alcohols market using its cellulosic sugar platform. "The
technology we are developing
with Shell on cellulosic-based biofuels can also be applied to
develop renewable detergent alcohols," Robert Lawson, Codexis
senior vice president and chieffinancial officer, said during a
presentation at the Jefferies Global Clean Technology conference
held in New York City in February. "We have already
produced laboratory-scale detergent alcohols today. We first
plan on using sugar as feedstock and proceed to biomass in the near
future."
Approximately 75% of the global detergent alcohol is derived
from conversion of natural fats and oils, and the remaining 25% is
produced syntheticallyfrom petroleum, noted Lawson. "There is a
correlation between fluctuating crude oil prices and vegetable oil
process, which results in unpredictable costs
and volatile margins for consumer product companies that
formulate these alcohols into final p roducts. We believe that our
renewable detergent alcohols canaddress concerns of both
sustainability and price volatility," he added.
US algae technology developer Solazyme also hopes to address the
price volatility of natural fats and oils used in surfactants with
its tailored oils. Accordingto Solazyme's initial public offering
(IPO) filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
on March 11, the company identifies soap and
detergents as near-term product application for its oils.
"With our tailored oils, we can increase percentage of desired
fatty alcohols or fatty acids per liter of oil compared with
oleochemical feedstock - palm kerneland coconut oils. We can reduce
cost and increase return on invested capital for oleochemical
partners," Solazyme reported.
Palm kernel oil is primarily used as a raw material for
oleochemical facilities to derive key fatty acid components such as
capric, lauric and myristic acids,which are further processed and
used in detergents, liquid soaps and other consumer and industrial
products.
Solazyme pointed out that an oleochemical facility utilizing its
tailored oil versus standard palm kernel oil could increase its
output of the desired fatty acid
components such as capric, lauric and myris tic by more than
30%.
By: Doris de Guzman+1 713 525 2653
It is not easy for new technologies to enter the low-priced,
high-volume household cleaning detergents sector, which accounts
for the largest end-usemarket for surfactants.
But newcomers such as US-based Elevance Renewable Sciences,
Solazyme and Codexis are eager to participate. Elevance plans to
enter thecommodity surfactants market using its drop-in
oleochemicals and renewable olefins produced via metathesis olefins
technology.
"Our renewable olefins can replace petroleum-derived
n-paraffins, a key feedstock in making linear alkylbenzene [LAB]
and linear alkylbenzene sul fonates,"
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