12^th
World Surfactant
Congress

Rome, 5^th-7^th June 2023

Surfactants – High Performance Solutions for a Better World

Global warming, Environmental Legislation, COVID-19 the last years have clearly shown that “business as usual” will not be a viable option for the upcoming decades. To an extent global societies will need to adapt to minimise irreversible collateral damage. This will involve governments, regulators, citizens and industry and its supply chains. Some commentators think that new economies with new business models may be required for a better world – a threat to some, an opportunity for others.

With this background, what is the specific mission of surfactants and their producers? Surfactants play a significant role as part of high-performance solutions that are required to meet the global challenges. For example, surfactants add value by helping to keep the components within a complex product formulation compatible. They also provide performance features in their own right (e. g. cleaning, wetting, foaming, emulsification, etc).

Surfactants are thus one crucial component for consumer products that enable them to do what they are supposed to do, e. g. related to cosmetics, household applications,  professional and industrial uses  (e.g. I&I or agrochemicals and many others. With current trends surfactant producers are required to reduce the global warming potential of chemical processes and products. As a result, research and investment in several fields will be required for surfactants, including lower CO₂, bio-based raw materials and circularity. The challenge will be to identify surfactants with lower Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) that can be produced at current mainstream surfactant scales,  perform well (e. g. clean as well as current products), and be cost effective. On the retail consumer side, digitalization should help to speed up  activities as in the COVID-19 era consumers bu more and more products online than off-the-shelf. COVID-19 has  also resulted in a huge demand for products and surfactants for hygiene and sanitation.

An important role of our industry organization, CESIO, is to provide surfactant related knowledge and ensure that any industry regulations developed are based on facts, good science and recognised testing protocols. As regulations and raw material chains develop, there will be both restrictions and new opportunities opening up. This will affect surfactants as well as biocides, solvents, polymers and other ingredients. The surfactants industry has a tremendous breadth and depth of expertise in bringing ingredients together in advanced formulations and is therefore well positioned to help downstream adapt to supplier changes  and identify new business opportunities.