Unilever is working together with India Glycols and LanzaTech to produce a surfactant from industrial carbon emissions instead of fossil fuels. The surfactant is used to make laundry soap. For the first time, the three companies are working together, utilizing biotechnologies and a newly configured supply chain to achieve the innovative shift in production.
Surfactants are a vital ingredient in many household laundry and cleaning products (like fabric detergents and dish soaps) that create foam and cleaning action. They usually are derived from fossil fuels, but the trio’s new process allows them to be made using recycled carbon, a fundamental form of renewable carbon.
Recycled carbon is essential to eliminating the use of fossil fuels. In this case, its captured carbon emissions. Nova Institute and Unilever published a report in April 2021 in which it estimates that demand for fossil-derived chemicals is expected to more than double by 2050. So, to phase out the use of fossil carbon in consumer products, renewable carbon production has to increase by 15 times by 2050.
Peter Ter Kulve, the Unilever President Home Care, said:
Advancements in technology like this mean we can now reinvent the chemistry of our products. Instead of valuable carbon being released directly into the atmosphere, we can capture it and recycle it in our products instead of using fossil fuels.
We want to make sustainability easy for everyone that uses our products. Innovations like this help move our iconic cleaning brands away from fossil fuels without compromising performance or affordability. We’re excited by the potential that this breakthrough represents for future innovations across our portfolio and our industry.
This initiative also marks the first time a surfactant offered to consumers in a mainstream cleaning product is being made using captured carbon emissions. It launched in an OMO (Persil) laundry capsule in China on April 22nd, Earth Day. Best of all, the price of the product didn’t and will not increase.
China recently pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2060, and consumers have been increasingly seeking out more environmentally friendly products and practices. According to Unilever’s 2020 consumer data, 87% of Chinese consumers consider climate change as severe a threat as COVID-19. It was the highest number of all countries polled.
This initiative is one way Unilever stays true to its promise to eliminate fossil fuels in cleaning products by 2030. According to a LanzaTech study, the process used to create ethanol from captured carbon reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 82% compared to the fossil fuel process.
Jennifer Holmgren, LanzaTech’s CEO, said:
Our planet is running out of time, and how we treat carbon requires urgent revision. By working with Unilever and IGL, we can turn waste carbon into an opportunity, keeping fossil fuels in the ground and enabling new circular processes to make the products we use every day.
The Unilever Home Care division has also pledged to achieve Net Zero emissions from all products by 2039. Furthermore, Unilever plans to halve its virgin plastic use by 2025 and invest $1 billion in climate change projects over the next ten years.
