Dow Corning wins SEPAWA Innovation Award for PEG-free emulsifier

By Andrew MCDOUGALL

- Last updated on GMT

Dow Corning's Cindy Delvallé (left) and Kathelyne Everaere (right) collect the award from Prof. Klaus Peter Wittern (centre)
Dow Corning's Cindy Delvallé (left) and Kathelyne Everaere (right) collect the award from Prof. Klaus Peter Wittern (centre)

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At a time when cosmetics ingredient innovation is challenging, silicon supplier Dow Corning is pleased to announce it has won the SEPAWA Innovation Award 2014 for its ES-5600 Silicone Glycerol Emulsifier.

The ingredient, which is Cetyl Diglyceryl Tris(Trimethylsiloxy) silylethyl Dimethicone1, is a water-in-oil (W/O) silicone emulsifier which Dow Corning’s Dirk Soontjens says is suitable for PEG-free formulation systems.

"The emulsifier addresses consumers' demand for advanced, new, multifunctional products that have the ability to produce lightweight formulations – as that is what consumers want,”​ he tells CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com.

“In a challenging market for ingredients in general, we are very pleased to win an award from SEPAWA for innovation.”

Decision

A panel of seven members of the SEPAWA Scientific Advisory Board selected the emulsifier as this year’s winner.

Professor Klaus Peter Wittern, first president of SEPAWA, presented the award to Cindy Delvallé and Kathelyne Everaere, from Dow Corning's Beauty and Personal Care application engineering and technical service group, at the awards ceremony, held at the Esperanto Hotel in Germany.

"Innovations are the key drivers of growth and competitiveness in our industry,"​ commented Professor Wittern.

"Only by innovating companies can sustain in the global competition. We are thankful that we have companies here at the SEPAWA Congress that face these challenges successfully and enable our members and visitors to meet their formulation requirements for innovative products."

Consumer influence

The emulsifier was developed with its consumer research in mind, according to Soontjens, to meet the needs of consumers seeking multifunctional products such as BB and CC creams and high-SPF foundations.

As well as for skin care and sunscreen, the ingredient is also designed for make-up due to its colour pigment benefits, and is suitable for use in PEG-free formulations.

The growing interest in limiting the use of polyethylene glycol (PEG) due to concern over the potential skin irritation is affecting many ingredient suppliers at present and can be a consideration when developing an ingredient.

“There is a market for many different kinds of emulsifier and we cater to most of them, but this was developed for low or no PEG demand, which we are seeing a lot of in Germany,”​ says Soontjens.

In this emulsifier, the PEG functionality was replaced by a diglycerol hydrophilic functionality combined with a dual hydrophobic portion: Alkyl and silicone Dendron.

The multifunctional structure improves the compatibility with both organic and silicone oils. Especially, the diglycerol functionality contributes to the high pigment and powder dispersing performance.

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