One of the strongest consumer trends to come out of the pandemic was a renewed emphasis on cleaning. Need proof? Just look at the millions and millions of views that cleaning videos regularly receive on TikTok. After being one of the best performing industries in 2020, the global household cleaning products market is expected to accelerate at a CAGR of over 6% through 2024, according to Technavio. There is also a rising demand for more natural, plant-based cleaning options, according to Innova Market Insights. Newness is taking shape in plant-powered formulations that are antibacterial yet skin-friendly and biodegradable. It is as if the consumer is saying, “I want my dishes clean but in the gentlest way possible.” Consumers have an increasing awareness of synthetic ingredients and their effects, especially on the environment. There is also a strong move toward sulfate-free formulations for both mildness and eco-friendly reasons.

As the active agents, surfactants are one of the most important ingredients used to create effective dishwashing liquids. Soluble in both oil and water, these smart chemicals reduce surface tension to help the two liquids mix. They are essentially the cleaning agents that wash away oily and water-based stains on dishes.

Anionics are the most commonly-used surfactants. Because they are good at dislodging dirt, they can be found in almost every cleaning product and include soaps and sulfates. Anionic surfactants tend to create a lot of foam. It’s those sudsy bubbles that break down the interface between water, oil and dirt. However, they can also cause skin irritation, and some are made from petroleum. Nonionic surfactants are low- or non-foaming. They are good at emulsifying oils and helping to remove grease. Their downside is a cloud point – that temperature when phase separation occurs: The surfactant separates from the rest of the solution and causes it to become cloudy. To achieve optimum cleaning performance and remove both oil and dirt, a combination of anionic and nonionic surfactants is normally used.

More sustainable alternatives to traditional anionic surfactants are emerging that are vegetable-based and provide a gentler cleanse with less skin irritation. For example, there are innovative surfactants from nature-based, biodegradable coconut as well as ethylene oxide produced from sugar cane. Surfactants based on this ethylene oxide have a higher renewable carbon index than their petrochemical counterparts, allowing for more sustainable consumer products without compromising performance.

Getting Viscosity Right

One of the biggest challenges with developing more environmentally friendly formulations is viscosity and achieving that desirable, honey-like consistency. A thickening agent is customary for stabilization as well as improving handling and dispersion. Salt is the first choice in thickeners and is used mostly with traditional surfactants like sodium laureth sulfate (SLES). However, newer, more sustainable, sugar-derived and sulfate-free surfactants can be tricky as a simple salt addition has little effect. Formulators need a nature-based thickener to complement their other ingredients and truly develop a biodegradable product. Biodegradability is central to the industry’s sustainability goals. Ingredients must break down rapidly in a way that is not harmful to the environment or waterways.

Patented Cellulon Cellulose Liquid is a good fit as a biodegradable and sustainable alternative to synthetic thickeners such as carbomers. Made by microbial fermentation, it is designed to overcome the technical hurdles around suspension, which can impact pour viscosity. Through its unique functionality, cellulose liquid is compatible with even the most concentrated formulas and is effective at very low use levels. Most polysaccharide thickeners have limited compatibility with surfactants. However, Cellulon Cellulose Liquid is tolerant to a range of temperatures, pH, enzymes and salt levels. It is also biodegradable to enhance eco-friendly formulations and protect waterways, aligning with consumer needs for more sustainable choices.

Perfume can also have a big effect on viscosity. It can shift the salt content—especially if vanillin or essential oil are used. Encaps can help protect the formulation and provide a slow release of fragrance. The top fragrance houses have biodegradable and nature-based fragrance microcapsules very high on their agenda. Historically, encaps were made with synthetic raw materials such as melamine and were not biodegradable. The industry is moving toward biodegradable, isocyanate encaps, which start with nature-based raw materials. As progress continues on environmentally friendly encaps, there will be a need to help evenly distribute, suspend and stabilize the technology in liquid formulations.

Using nature-based solutions to achieve suspension has previously been problematic. It is especially difficult in highly concentrated surfactant systems due to compatibility limitations and the need to avoid adversely affecting the viscosity and pour properties of the product. Cellulon Cellulose Liquid can help meet and overcome these challenges. Cellulose is common in nature. Chemically identical to plant-derived cellulose, Cellulon Cellulose Liquid is produced by fermentation resulting in a unique and readily biodegradable form of cellulose, which offers properties not possible with other sources of cellulose. As a consequence of being produced in a bacterial fermentation process, the cellulose fibers possess a very fine diameter and exist as a three-dimensional, highly reticulated net-like structure that gives a very high surface area-to-weight ratio. This three-dimensional, net-like structure allows the fermentation-derived cellulose to create a true yield value at low concentrations in a formulation, even those with little or no water, and so provide a mechanism for reliable structuring of liquids and stabilization of components with minimal or no impact on the finished product’s viscosity and dispersibility. It comes activated, fully ready-to-use and is not sensitive to temperature or pH.


Dishwashing Liquid

Here is a dishwashing liquid prototype made with Cellulon Cellulose Liquid by CP Kelco

Ingredients	%Wt:
Phase A
Deionized water	qs to 100
Calfoam SLS 95 (Pilot)	17
Phase B
Ammonyx LO Special (Stepan)	13
Glucopon 625 Up (BASF)	2.2
Glycerin 99%	5.8
Phase C
Citric acid	0.12
Troyguard B20F  (Troy Technology)	0.10
Fragrance	0.30
Microsphere beads	0.10-0.30
Dye (optional)	qs
Phase D
Cellulon Cellulose Liquid (CP Kelco)	4.0

Specifications: pH: 8.0 – 9.0, Viscosity 25C (LV-2 @60 rpm): 800 – 1000 mPas; Yield Stress Value: 1.7 Pa

Procedure: Heat deionized water to 65-70°C. Add Calfoam SLS 95 and mix for at least 10 minutes until completely dissolved. Cool to 35-40°C and add phase B ingredients. Mix for five minutes using propeller mixer. Cool to 25°C and add ingredients in phase C. Mix for five minutes. Add Cellulon Cellulose Liquid from phased D. Mix for 20-30 minutes at 500-700 rpm with propeller mixer. Try not to aerate the product. 

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About the Authors
John Swazey, Courtney Jenkins and Alain Phyfferoen
CP Kelco is a nature-based ingredient company with almost 90 years of global expertise working with food, beverage and consumer products manufacturers. Its unique portfolio includes a range of responsibly sourced and produced, plant-based and fermentation-derived ingredients. The Cellulon team includes John Swazey, global sales technical service manager for consumer & industrial applications based in the US, Courtney Jenkins, senior scientist based in the US and Alain Phyfferoen, senior technical support & development manager for consumer & industrial applications based in EMEA.
www.cpkelco.com