Werner & Mertz is conducting the research project "Surfactants made from European plants" in order to find alternatives to palm kernel oil. 

If you want to forego use of petrochemical surfactants, as Werner & Mertz does with its Frosch and green-care products, you can hardly avoid using palm kernel or coconut oil. As a member of RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil), the company is aware of the controversy surrounding the environmental and social threats caused by the enormous use of tropical vegetable oils. The product development team is therefore conducting a research project on the feasibility of using surfactants made from European plants in the products.

The composition of native (European) vegetable oils differs from that of palm kernel or coconut oil. As a foodstuff, European oil is a good substitute for tropical oils. However, if you produced surfactants for detergents from native vegetable oils in the same way currently used for palm kernel oil or coconut oil, you would significantly alter the properties of the final products. Such detergents and cleaning products would be more expensive and their usage and cleaning power would differ significantly from consumers’ current habits and expectations. Nevertheless, in cooperation with competent partners, Werner & Mertz is pursuing the ambitious goal of developing a suitable new type of surfactant based on native oils for use in detergents and cleaners, which could then maintain their familiar and highly appreciated properties. The first Frosch products with plant-based surfactants made from European rapeseed, olive and linseed oils are coming to the market.

The advantages of surfactants made from plants cultivated in Europe can be, among other:

• Precluding the use of cultivated areas in the tropics for this purpose and reducing the associated risks, such as destruction of the rainforest and competition with food production
• No monocultures
• Short transportation routes
• Use of rapidly renewable raw materials based on European vegetable oils
• Promotion of traditional crop cultivation
• No dependence on surfactants from tropical cultivation
• Preservation and promotion of biodiversity

Further information in the 2013/2014 sustainability report <link http: integrally-sustainable.com files epaper nhb-en _blank external-link-new-window external link in new>integrally-sustainable.com/files/epaper/nhb-en/;