Dow Corning goes into the naturals business with its soy wax

According to Stewart Long, skin care market strategy leader at Dow Corning, “HY-3200 Soy Wax opens new possibilities in the growing trend for natural products used in face and neck lotions, creams and serums​”.

The wax, produced using a ‘green chemistry’ process and soybean oil, “is self-metathesis – a simple synthetic route for expanding the use of renewable resources that offers options to modify natural lipids to create new benefits for personal care products​”, he explains.

“The process has higher reaction efficiency, reduced solvent waste and lower energy consumption as compared to petrochemical technologies”, ​he adds.

In 2008, the company teamed up with Elevance Renewable Sciences to develop naturally derived materials and produced variations of the Emulsifying Soy Wax as a result.

“The wax emulsifies and thickens at low use levels, supports consumer beauty trends for anti-aging and sustainable products, and reduces the number of ingredients required, which presents a potential cost advantage​”, the strategy leader told CosmeticsDesign.com USA.

Sustainability​

Whilst producing the sustainable wax, Long reveals that the partners were faced with the challenge to find a renewable material that would allow emulsification and thickening at the same time.

“It’s difficult to achieve each one of those pieces individually​. To get both of those in the same material is something that the industry doesn’t have today. It’s simple, stable and sustainable​”, he says.

Function ​

According to the company, the wax at lower use levels in formulations can form a stable emulsion across a broad range of oils. The soybean oil, which contains a large amount of polyunsaturated fatty acid, is metathesized, hydrogenated and then modified by the addition of polar groups.

“While standard triglycerides have limited functionality, metathesized triglycerides provide an innovative architecture with the potential to enable reduced crystallinity, increased malleability and reduced brittleness​”, Long explains.

Although Dow Corning seem to be doing well with their move into the naturals market, the company say they are happy to remain in the silicone business “Silicone chemistry remains our main focus​”, he concludes.