Clariant’s Glucamides win ACC Sustainability Leadership Award

• Significantly lower emission profiles than other widely-used mild surfactants for personal care & cleaning products
• Increased transparency supports informed customer decision-making on reducing carbon footprint
• GlucoTain^® and GlucoPure^® ingredients offer sustainability benefits plus powerful foaming and cleaning properties

Muttenz, June 10, 2021 – Clariant is proud to announce that its low-carbon footprint Glucamide surfactants – its GlucoTain® and GlucoPure® product ranges - today received an American Chemistry Council (ACC) Sustainability Leadership Award, in the category Product Safety, Innovation and Transparency.

The ACC honor recognizes Clariant’s sugar-based surfactants for personal care and home care cleaning products, which are demonstrated to perform as effectively as widely-used existing surfactant solutions however with significantly lower emission profiles. The smaller carbon footprint is attributable to the feedstocks used to develop the product and the fewer processing steps needed in the ingredients’ manufacture.

Chris Jahn, ACC President and CEO, comments: “The chemical industry is one of the most innovative in the world, continuously helping provide solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges. At a time when climate-conscious companies are seeking to reduce the carbon footprint of the material they use and the processes in the value chain, we applaud Clariant’s efforts towards increased transparency about life cycle impacts and lower emissions in connection with their glucamide offerings, to help support customers’ informed sustainability decision-making. Their contribution to delivering safe chemistry, innovation and transparency can help progress sustainability commitments across the personal care and home care value chains.”

Christian Vang, Global Head of Business Unit Industrial and Consumer Specialties at Clariant, adds: “Many consumers are looking for personal care and home cleaning products with milder product formulations that also offer powerful foaming and cleansing properties. By using these glucamides, formulators get precisely this performance assurance plus multifunctionality which means, compared to other surfactants, fewer components such as thickeners and conditioning agents are needed. The glucamides improve material efficiency and contribute a more efficient use of resources, aligning to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of responsible consumption and production.”

In a cradle-to-gate carbon footprint analysis[1] considering 100% active content, excluding the solvent from the glucamides formulation, the glucamides show a lower carbon footprint of at least 1.6 kgCO2 per kg of active content. While in a comparison including the bio-based solvent in the glucamides formulation, the glucamides save at least 1.2 kgCO2 per kg of active content.

Clariant’s low-carbon glucamides are readily biodegradable products with up to 96 percent Renewable Carbon Index, high biomass and good ecotox profile. They are COSMOS-, Nordic Swan- and Halal-certified. The products also do not require a chronic aquatic toxicity label or irritant label according to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). They create new possibilities to go the next step in developing innovative products and platforms based on sulfate-free, CAPB[2]-free and betaine-free formulations for a wide range of applications.

For more information on the Glucamides and the Life Cycle Assessment visit www.clariant.com.

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[1] Carbon footprint study developed based on ISO 14067:2018 and the WBCSD Chemical Sector Life Cycle Metrics guidance and commissioned by Clariant. A cradle-to-gate approach includes all steps from the resource extraction until the Clariant production gate.
[2] Cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB)