SEPAWA Congress 2025 live: Evonik’s next wave of sustainable beauty ingredients
16 Oct 2025 | Evonik
At the SEPAWA Congress 2025, Evonik speaks to us about its new innovations centered on performance and sustainability. The company highlighted X50 NeoSyno-Col, which targets skin cells such as fibroblasts for anti-aging treatments, and Dermosoft GPT MB, a multifunctional antimicrobial that protects formulations. It also introduced Isolan DisperPlus, a biodegradable emulsifier for water-in-oil systems that enhances pigment dispersion in decorative cosmetics. Evonik tells us that personal care will continue to focus on sustainability, with growing attention to feedstock origins and upcycling waste.
This is Beatrice Vlander for Personal care Insights.
I'm here at SAA 2025 in Berlin, Germany.
I am with Christian Bella Canson, who is global head of applied innovation for delivery system, Jurg Pranze, business director of Central Europe, and with Anne Marie Shiver, business development for product protection at Ebonik.
Welcome.
Can you tell us what you are showcasing here today?
Yes, of course, today we are showcasing the X50 Nelson Cola.
Evoni is presenting the new generation of the cosmetic drone, the so-called cosmetic drone, which is a new technology where we actively targeting specific cells, in this case the fibroblast for anti-aging treatment, and with this new technology we can.
Claim the precision cosmetics because we are delivering the active exactly where it is needed.
So in this case we have a product that is boosting collagen production which is addressing the fine lines and wrinkles, and we can address precisely into the fibroblasts where the collagen, and all the structural.
Proteins are produced.
Hi, my name is Anne Marie, and this year in Berlin we are showcasing our new multifunctional antimicrobi wheel which is responsible for the protection of the formulation.
It's called Dermaso.
And it's a wetting agent and the inky is glycer sesquihalagon and then one additional product we would like to highlight is a new emulsifier which is basically dedicated to water and oil systems where we are aiming to improve.
The dispersion of pigments.
So this material is mainly addressing decorative cosmetics, but also, for example, pigment containing sun care formulations.
The idea behind that is that we know from our business so far that for such kind of application, silicone-based emulsifiers are very attractive and very useful.
But in times of sustainability, silicon polymers are let's say let's say the chemistry for the future because polymers are somehow a little bit critical.
So we have been aiming for finding something which can do the same job or maybe even a better one, but based on a more sustainable chemistry which is our DS plus, which is a polyglyester.
Which is based on much more sustainable raw materials and also finally a product which is better biochemical and can be used in the same way like the silicons but with a much let's greener profile and so this is something we are now just at the moment starting to promote and so we hope that this will be an attractive new emulsifier.
Or as I said, color cosmetics and suncare applications.
Interesting.
And what is inside that makes it biodegradable or a more sustainable alternative compared to other?
So first of all, it's because it's the chemical structure as such, so it's an ester, which means that by very simple.
Mechanisms nature can crack the molecules, so to say, and you get rid of it, so to say, whereas silicons are much more, how do you say that, they are not really, let's say, influenced by microorganisms which you need for such kind of waste.
Oh, I, I don't have the right words, so the biodegradability is difficult because the structure of the molecule is not related to such kind of effects and therefore, The polyglycol esters are much better because you can really make sure that they will not stay in in the nature for many years.
All right, thank you.
And what is the personal care industry expecting in the coming future?
That's the question about the future, which is of course always difficult to answer.
So I think since quite a while.
We have been talking about sustainability, so that is still a topic I would say.
It's something which is not something exotic any longer but something very normal.
And I think also if you walk around these days, it's still on top of the list of topics people would like to talk about, so sustainability will remain of importance, I would say.
Furthermore, I think we see more, more and more discussions about feedstocks, which is also part of sustainability, but where do products come from?
Yeah, so what kind of feedstocks are you using?
Talk about vegetable-based materials, sometimes it's not enough anymore.
If you talk about palm oil derivatives or coconut-based products, it's vegetable based, but also not free of problems.
So we at least see that more and more companies are interested in derivatives coming from side streams which are maybe somehow a kind of waste but still can be used for producing new products, so kind of upcycling.
Something of importance and so that's where we are also very much working on.
And then of course also technologies, how to produce products, fermentation, at least from our perspective, is a very interesting topic.
So not classical chemistry anymore, but making use of microorganisms to produce something which we can use in personal care applications.
The best example is our biosurfaccants which are produced by Fermentation process and so you can make sure that you do not use such kind of critical raw materials.
You avoid a lot of waste.
You have a very nice CO2 footprint, so it's basically also sustainability again, but from a different angle.
Do you have any other comments about what is expected in the future, what also we foresee as ionic, what the cosmetics will require even more.
In the future is for sure more active ingredient that can show a very scientific based and proven efficacy, and there is also one of the main drivers is also focused on precision cosmetics, personalized cosmetics, and also the use of artificial intelligence to develop more effective active ingredients.
And in this regards with our products.
15, we are already following this path because we are developing the library system that actually proves scientifically their efficacy and they are targeting precisely the cell communication so we can claim about precision cosmetics and also developing personalized ingredients for assessing all the different conditions for every, every people, every person.
And also what we are actively working on is implementing implementing the artificial intelligence in our development.
So we are using every time more in silico screening, silical prediction, artificial intelligence.
Intelligence to see the affinity of our ligand peptides, for example, for specific receptors and developing new ligands or new peptides with a specific activity from the product protection perspective, it's definitely a growing field because we see.
Product protection is really needed for formulations.
Formulations get more and more complex and need more and more preservation topics, also antioxidant support, but also on the raw material perspective, which also are complex and formulation for itself and also need of protection.
So definitely a growing field.
