UP Circular Solutions

As consumer trends shift and the market moves towards natural and circular materials, beauty and detergent companies must switch to more sustainable feedstocks. However, this switch is technically challenging due to the lack of direct replacements and the limited availability of natural feedstocks. To achieve global sustainability goals, a new approach is possible through circular economy and a circular mass balance approach. 

Syensqo offers circular mass balance solutions, utilizing upcycled raw materials, which have a positive sustainability impact beyond carbon footprint and meet performance requirements. These solutions are now part of Syensqo's UP product line.

“Upcycling with Performance” summarizes our approach of supplying products that are identical to optimized fossil-feedstock-based products while using circular raw materials, and thus delivering:  

• Significant CO2 footprint reduction
• An overall positive impact on other life cycle analysis aspects such as lower land usage, reduced water consumption…
• Final product specifications remain unchanged, enabling a “drop-in” replacement

Discover Mirataine® CBS UP

Syensqo’s UP range means we can now providing our customers with our existing high-performance products, which now exhibit a significantly improved environmental footprint. Mirataine® CBS UP, used in several key home and beauty care applications such as hand dish washes and body washes, is one of our grades produced under the Upcycling with Performance principle.

Discover Rhodasurf® B7 UP

Rhodasurf® B7 UP extends Syensqo’s UP range into liquid laundry detergents, offering a bio-circular version of a trusted high-performance surfactant with a significantly improved environmental profile. Rhodasurf® B7 UP, a laureth-7 nonionic surfactant for modern liquid laundry formats, leverages our Upcycling with Performance approach to integrate bio-circular feedstocks into mainstream fabric care while keeping performance, handling and supply security unchanged.

• Manufactured under ISCC PLUS biocircular massbalance certification at our Moerdijk on-pipe ethoxylation site with bio-circular ethylene oxyde feedstocks to deliver low-carbon and 100% natural alcohol ethoxylates.
• Drop-in laureth-7 grade for liquid laundry detergents that matches the performance and robustness of conventional Rhodasurf® surfactants, with no reformulation or supply-chain changes needed.
• Uses less virgin fossil carbon resources and enables a 100% naturality claim¹ according to the mass-balance principle, supporting ambitious decarbonization and circularity targets for leading laundry care brands and private-label.

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We combine circular feedstocks with standard feedstocks in our manufacturing stream, following the mass-balance principle. This allows us to account for the sustainability benefits throughout the manufacturing chain up to our UP Circular solutions. Our approach enables the production of mixed renewable and fossil feedstocks without requiring new processing equipment. The traceability of renewable feedstock is ensured through a set of rules. 
 

Principle of the circular mass balance approach along the manufacturing chain

Our technologies improve the environmental profile of fossil-based ingredients by replacing part of the fossil feedstocks with natural or circular feedstock. We also enhance the environmental impact of natural raw materials by utilizing oleo waste streams such as used cooking oil.

We prioritize sustainability by carefully examining the origin of substitution feedstocks to ensure we achieve not only a CO₂ footprint improvement but also that the overall sustainability impact is positive. This effort is backed up by circular mass balance system certifications, such as ISCC PLUS for our Zhangjiagang, China and Moerdijk, the Netherlands plants. Additionally, we make use of the collected data to carry out detailed life cycle analyses (LCA) of our upcycled ingredients.
 

Life Cycle Analysis to measure the overall environmental impact 

To ensure sustainability improvements, it's crucial to assess overall positive impact on ecosystems beyond the CO₂ footprint when switching from fossil to circular/natural raw materials.

Product life cycle and Syensqo's focus on life cycle analysis

Syensqo's approach to circular mass balance involves conducting detailed life cycle analyses for each ingredient being considered for the switch. We evaluate not only greenhouse gas emissions but also factors like land use, acidification, eutrophication, and water consumption. Changes are implemented if they result in a holistic positive environmental impact.

^{*This evaluation is based on a review of recent composition data and information supplied by the vendors. The information and the LCA results hereinabove are provided “as is”, at the discretion of the disclosing company, without guarantee, warranty or representation of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to, as to (i) their accuracy or completeness, (ii) their fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement of third parties’ intellectual property rights, and (iii) their use. The Syensqo Group companies shall incur no liabilities in connection with the foregoing. According to ISO 14040-44 standards, the use of LCA results to support comparative assertions intended to be disclosed raises special concerns and requires specific critical review.}