Nouryon launches Berol Nexus surfactant as sustainable alternative to sodium xylene sulfonate

05 Feb 2024 --- Nouryon says its latest multifunctional innovation, Berol Nexus surfactant, will provide customers with an advantage in household and industrial cleaning applications by improving performance and activity.

Unveiled at the 2024 American Cleaning Institute Annual Meeting and Industry Convention in Orlando, Florida, US, the specialty chemicals provider says the multifunctional hydrotrope was developed for the North American cleaning market and is designed for low-temperature laundry settings. It is also a 70% concentrated aqueous liquid with a low-color and low-viscosity profile.

Stuart Holt, strategic marketing manager of cleaning goods at Nouryon, tells Personal Care Insights: “Hands down. Customers are seeking improved sustainability without sacrificing performance.”

Nouryon says Berol Nexus tackles challenging greasy soils in laundry and auto-dish applications, catering to evolving consumer preferences for lower wash temperatures.

“Our Center of Excellence facilities aid customers in formulating efficient and sustainable solutions using our unique portfolio of chelating agents, biopolymers, antimicrobials and specialty surfactants, including our new Berol Nexus surfactant,” Brad Pearson, VP of cleaning goods at Nouryon, tells us.

What are the main advantages of Berol Nexus surfactant for the North American cleaning market?
Nouryon: Berol Nexus surfactant represents the culmination of extensive research and development efforts by Nouryon’s global innovation team. It is a novel hydrotropic surfactant that provides a performance advantage in North America’s hard surface and laundry applications. It is recommended as an alternative to sodium xylene sulfonate (SXS) and its family for superior cleaning. Berol Nexus is extremely efficient, meaning significantly fewer ingredients and water (SXS at 40%) are added to make up cleaning formulations, advancing the compaction and refill trend. 

Stuart Holt, strategic marketing manager of cleaning goods at Nouryon.Available in a 70% concentrated aqueous liquid form, it has a low-color and low-viscosity profile that can easily be formulated into various cleaning applications.

Berol Nexus is also partially bio-based. This is the sister product to Berol Nexxt, launched in Europe in October 2023, which has many of these properties but is preferred from a regional regulatory and manufacturing perspective.

Can you expand on Nouryon’s sustainability commitment and how Berol Nexus contributes to it?
Nouryon: Our Home and Personal Care Vision is to be the first place that customers call for sustainable ingredient solutions. 

We are committed to a sustainable future and partner with our customers, suppliers and employees to deliver innovative solutions, drive progress and create a safe and sustainable future. We are working hard to help our cleaning customers achieve their stated aspirations of attaining net zero by 2039/2040. In addition, we have set targets to reduce our carbon emissions, freshwater usage and waste. We aspire to be a net zero organization by 2050.  

In 2022, 77% of the company’s R&D pipeline was focused on solutions with sustainability benefits.

A large focus for Nouryon is greener or more sustainable ingredients, particularly those made from bio-based raw materials.  

In the area of cleaning surfactants, we are already producing many majority (and partially) bio-based specialty surfactants using renewable hydrophobes and continue to work to replace synthetic surfactants used commonly in the industry today, such as SXS, linear alkylbenzene sulfonates and sodium laureth sulfate (e.g., with Berol Nexxt and Berol Nexus).    

Brad Pearson, VP of cleaning goods at Nouryon.A new example of this was the announcement in December 2023 that Nouryon was the first to offer bio monochloroacetic acid (ISCC Plus certified) to the market. Expect the list of ISCC Plus-certified bio-based raw materials Nouryon uses to grow. Bio-based materials significantly reduce product carbon footprint and are more sustainable (employing new carbon to manufacture our specialty chemicals).

Other greener products are green chelates (GLDA and MGDA) based on amino acids rather than the synthetic feedstocks (mostly) used to produce edetic acid.

In polymers, we have been leaders in hybrid polymers that are biodegradable, mostly bio-based and functionally equivalent as replacements to synthetic polyacrylates. We also offer carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), a majority-biobased polymer used as an anti-redeposition agent in laundry.

In antimicrobials, our Triameen Y12D is a highly bio-based (72%), high activity and more efficient (versus quats) antimicrobial for hard surface cleaning.

How does Nouryon’s investment in technical service capabilities support efficient and sustainable cleaning solutions?
Nouryon: Investing in our solution provider capabilities allows us to deliver enhanced levels of engagement and intimacy to our customers. To accelerate sustainable innovation and improve product performance data, Nouryon has invested in a new application Centers-Of-Excellence (COE) model. We have expanded our labs, resources and competencies to deliver world-class technical service levels in laundry, dishwashing and hard surface cleaning applications. 

The new COEs in Europe and North America are close to or co-located with our plants, advanced analytical services, and in-house Ecotox labs. Nouryon’s advanced technical service capabilities offer advanced performance-in-use testing for hard surface cleaning, dishwashing and laundry applications, with the ability to evaluate processes under household, industrial and institutional conditions. Nouryon has application development centers for the cleaning end-market in Deventer, the Netherlands; Stenungsund, Sweden; Bridgewater, New Jersey; and Chattanooga, Tennessee, US.

By Venya Patel