Green Chemistry Challenge: 2021 Designing Greener Chemicals Award
Colonial Chemical
Suga®Boost surface cleaner
Colonial Chemical is being recognized for developing Suga®Boost surfactant blends that use more environmentally friendly chemicals than traditional cleaning surfactants. Specifically, Suga®Boost surfactants consume less energy to create, are biodegradable, and are derived from plant-based materials, with performance that demonstrates potential to replace EO-containing surfactants such as SLES and APEs.
Summary of Technology:
Many surfactants used in traditional cleaners are derived from petroleum-based raw materials and pose several issues including high environmental toxicity or a need for high-energy processes in their manufacture. Many of these surfactants are found in laundry and surface cleaners. One group of chemicals often found in cleaners is alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified this class of chemicals as toxic to aquatic organisms, especially because they bioaccumulate in mollusks, soils, and sediments. Additionally, APEs can mimic natural hormones and induce endocrine disruption in aquatic and land organisms.
Colonial Chemical discovered that blends of functionalized alkyl polyglucoside (APG) surfactants provide cleaning performance that is equal to or better than APEs’ while avoiding environmental issues related to aquatic toxicity, endocrine disruption, and carcinogenic impurities. Suga®Boost surfactants are blends of derivatized APGs prepared by attaching functional groups such as sulfonate, phosphate, quaternary ammonium, glycinate, and citrate. The APG feedstocks are made by reacting natural ingredients glucose (sugar) and palm-derived fatty alcohols. The resulting APGs in turn are reacted with functionalizing agents made at Colonial to complete the syntheses of the derivatized APGs. The functionalizing agents, as well as the functionalized APGs (and all Suga®Boost blends), are all made in water at moderate temperatures and result in no discharge to the atmosphere or wastewater. Suga®Boost blends do not yield toxic substances as they biodegrade. In addition, they contain no known carcinogens and do not cause endocrine disruption. Lastly, Suga®Boost requires less energy to manufacture and requires only water as a solvent during manufacture and cleanup.
These functionalized APG surfactants have the potential to replace EO-containing surfactants used in North America. Furthermore, Suga®Boost and its underlying chemistry has the potential to expand into wipe products, disinfecting cleaners, dish washing, carpet cleaning, and fabric care.
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