Surfactants are often classified by:
- feedstock for synthesis,
- biodegradability, safety and environmental effects,
- application
- chemical structure (drop-in or dedicated chemical structures).
Safety and sustainability performance improvements in bio-based surfactants are expected to have cascading impact in existing but also novel markets/applications.
Bio-based surfactants often face limitations for larger uptake such as high costs and niche applications. Moreover, their EU production is at present mainly based on primary biomass (vegetable oils, sugar and starch), bringing land use impacts but also often influencing the degree of feedstock imports. In view of the foreseen upscale of the bio-based production capacity, feedstock diversification should be sought. Other challenges are related to wider bio-based surfactants’ production/supply issues and upstream as well as downstream production process challenges, affecting the OPEX (and often CAPEX as well). For applications where surfactants are found in end products, substitution of conventional ones can result into complex re-formulation effects, affecting market uptake by brand-owners, together with an existing uncertainty of steady supply.
