By José María Cuadro, ESG and Sustainability Director of Cepsa Química
As societies grow and advance, interest in hygiene and cleanliness rises, which also increases the use of detergents. Worldwide consumption of these products has grown exponentially in recent decades in both personal and industrial sectors. The surge of Covid-19 gave a new impulse as well to asepsis and disinfection and offered the detergent industry a leading role in the fight against the pandemic. Undoubtedly, this increased consumption of detergents has an impact on the environment.
The chemical industry has been concerned for more than half a century with producing sustainable and environmentally friendly detergents. This trend has turned into a need in the last decade, with the development of stricter environmental regulations driven by a more sensitive society towards the protection of the natural environment and the aim to fight climate change.
With this goal in mind, researchers in the detergency sector are working to achieve a 100% sustainable detergent which has a neutral impact on the environment and whose production does not lead to CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
The growing demand for environmentally friendly cleaning products means that environmental certifications are increasingly sought after by manufacturers of household products. In this context, the world’s largest detergent producers have gone a step further in their environmental protection policies and demand increasingly sustainable raw materials.
Zero emissions
In order to provide an adequate response to the growing market demand for “zero emission” products, manufacturers of the raw materials used in detergent production have multiplied their R&D efforts in order to obtain increasingly sustainable products. The main product used in the manufacture of detergents is linear alkylbenzene (LAB), which, once sulphonated, is converted into LAS, the surfactant currently used as the main ingredient in most biodegradable detergents.
So far, only one company – Cepsa Química – has succeeded in producing a more environmentally friendly biodegradable LAB. This environmentally improved version of LAB includes vegetable oils in its formula and reduces CO2 emissions by 60% in the product’s life cycle, compared to its counterpart of fossil origin.
And the research continues. In recent years we have managed to significantly reduce the CO2 emissions produced in the manufacture of the new sustainable LAB – called NextLab – while keeping the same attributes as the one currently produced but making it much more environmentally friendly. We are a world leader in the use of Detal technology, which means greater water savings, greater energy efficiency, more safety in the manufacturing process and lower CO2 emissions.
We are developing new formulas to produce a more sustainable LAB in the coming years and to make our commitment, and that of our customers, to achieve a detergent with recycled materials and zero emissions a reality. This commitment to research is in line with the decarbonisation and the circular economy objectives set by the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the Green Deal set by the EU.
Biodegradable detergents
Achieving a zero-emission detergent is a further step in the quest for sustainability in the detergency sector. This search began in the 1960s with the development of a biodegradable formula that would eliminate the severe environmental problems caused by the uncontrolled dumping of non-degradable detergents.
LAS, the most widely used biodegradable surfactant in detergents worldwide, was developed in this context. More than 60% of these products use LAS as a surfactant in their formulations. Its excellent properties, its washing efficiency, as well as its processability and compatibility with other ingredients, make it a very useful element in the washing process both in traditional formats (powder or detergent bars) and in more sophisticated products (single-dose capsules or highly concentrated liquid detergents).
LAS is produced in roughly four stages. The first focuses on obtaining raw material, the linear paraffins (n-paraffins), from kerosene. The second phase is the transformation of the n-paraffins into olefins; the third is the alkylation of benzene through monolefins to produce LAB and, finally, LAB is subjected to a sulphonation process to obtain LAS.
Once a biodegradable detergent has been achieved, the next natural step is the manufacture of a product that is neutral in terms of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
With the achievement of a sustainable origin product that, in turn, means lower emissions into the atmosphere, but that retains the same characteristics as the current LAB (in fact, it is the same molecule) a fundamental step has been taken in the sustainability of the detergent sector.
Now the next goal is to achieve a CO2-neutral LAB. A big challenge for the detergency chemical industry. I am optimistic that this will be achieved in a few years´ time.
