In-cosmetics Global 2026: Sasol on replacing silicones with biobased innovation
28 Apr 2026 | Sasol
Louis Snyders, VP Care Chemicals at Sasol International Chemicals told us about the company’s latest innovations in personal care ingredients, showcased at In-cosmetics Global 2026. He highlighted Parafol 10 RSPO-MB as a biobased, biodegradable alternative to silicones, while examining multifunctional emollients and biosurfactants. The discussion also covered balancing performance with sustainability and key trends shaping silicone-free, eco-conscious formulations for skin, hair, and sun care.
This is Sabina Waldeck for Personal Care Insights joined by Louis Snyders, Vice President Care Chemicals at Sasol International Chemicals.
Welcome.
So can you tell me a bit about what you're showcasing at InC Cosmetics?
For us this is quite an important in cosmetics because over the last couple of years we've worked really hard to transform ourselves from being a raw material ingredients supplier to truly being a solution supplier, so.
We've invested in a lot of R&D, specifically in Germany, to enable us to really have that deep application knowledge, and this is the time for us to showcase that and show our customers how this company is transforming from an ingredient supplier to really truly specialty and solution supplier.
Perfect.
And Sasol is highlighting Pyrofol 10 RMB as a bio-based biodegradable alternative to volatile silicone oils.
What performance and sustainability benefits should formulators expect?
So we expect that this could be a really a direct replacement for products like isododecane, but what is very important for us is that we really listen to our customers in terms of sustainability, and that doesn't always fall back to palm oil, but to other solutions.
We looked at at least having biodegradability and then matching performance.
So that is the key for us behind Powerful 10 that we are launching now.
And your portfolio includes multifunctional emollients and biosurfactants.
How are these addressing current consumer demands for texture, skin feel, and eco-conscious products?
So we've seen that there's a really strong pull towards milder surfactants, but also milder surfactants that have a good story behind them, and biosurfactants for us is a key ingredient that we believe is.
Has an immense future, but it takes a little bit more time to adapt because our our customers need to formulate around that and cannot just have drop-in solutions.
So we will continue driving these products with multi-factor and sustainable background and that can serve as multifunctional ingredients to formulations.
And then with increasing pressure on silicon-free and natural origin claims, how is Sasol balancing formulation performance with biodegradability?
We believe we've found products that can reach that center base where we can replace and we can have the performance, and that's why we've launched our Paraful 10 product in this show, because that is really helping to replace silicone oils with products that match, but hey, in certain cases even perform better.
And then what trends are driving the development of new personal care ingredients like high volatility alkalines and conditioning emollients for skin, hair, and sun care?
I think there's a whole sensory experience that customers want, and when they wash, they want to feel that it's doing something that there's actually.
Something working but also not damaging or hurting or having a negative cause.
A negative cause here might be on your own skin, it might be on the world, it might be anyway, because our consumers these days are a lot more informed and a lot more opinionated about what is really mattering to them and to the world.
