Case Study: Developing Safer and more
Sustainable Surfactants
WP3 – leader SYENSQO, main SSbD partner – CEA
What are surfactants?
Surface-active agents, or surfactants, are natural or synthetic molecules that facilitate the dispersion of substances that do not naturally combine. For instance, surfactants in dishwashing liquids help remove oils from utensils by enabling them to mix with water. Similarly, natural surfactants like phospholipids and proteins stabilize fat emulsions in water, as seen in milk. Structurally, many surfactants consist of hydrophobic chains (sometimes called “tails”) and hydrophilic end groups (sometimes called “heads”), with some synthetic surfactants also including a central unit or backbone that connects these components. The hydrophobic chains make water-insoluble chemicals comfortable in aqueous environments, while the hydrophilic end groups enable water solubility.
Environmental and safety concerns of surfactants in the chemical industry
Surfactants form the backbone of a multibillion-dollar industry spanning diverse markets, including cosmetics, food, agriculture, paints, and coatings. PLANETS partner WACKER utilizes surfactants to produce water-based polymer dispersions (synthetic latex) through emulsion polymerization, which are used in the manufacturing of architectural paints, for example. Commonly used surfactants in this process are based on polyethylene oxide (PEO). PEO is recognized as safe for humans and the environment and is widely used in pharmaceutical formulations and food products. However, PEO-based compounds can contain trace amounts of a harmful chemical, dioxane, formed during both synthesis and storage. Though the level of dioxane is strictly regulated and kept below toxicity limits its presence raises environmental and safety concerns.
PLANETS’ Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design Solution
PLANETS focuses on designing a safer alternative to PEO-based surfactants by replacing polyethylene oxide with polyglycerol based from a natural, widely used chemical found in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Thanks to its chemical structure, glycerol simply cannot form a harmful dioxane byproduct under any conditions. SYENSQO’s expertise in surfactant design, combined with the Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) knowledge of other PLANETS partners, will guide the development of this new surfactant, ensuring it is both safe for humans and the environment, while still being effective for its intended applications.