An Environmentally-Friendly, High-Performing Surfactant
In the past few years, there has been growing consumer concern about sustainability. This has led to changes in the market that range from an increase in the amount and variety of organic and natural foods available in the supermarket, through the trend of having as few ingredients as possible in cosmetic products, to heightened vigilance regarding product ingredients.
Consumers are expecting more transparency with respect to the materials we put in, on, and around us, and this has driven regulatory agencies, consumer advocacy groups, and CPG companies to ask the chemical industry to provide more sustainable solutions. One such outcome of this growing change in the market is an emphasis on cleaning solutions that have little to no volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. This is a challenging request – since solvents, an essential component of cleaning formulations – typically contain VOCs. BASF’s scientists developed a solution: a synergistic surfactant blend, which yields a high performing formulation without the use of any solvent.
The name of this product is Dehypound® Advanced.
Dehypound Advanced appears as a light, yellow, clear liquid with an active matter content that falls within the range of 75-79%. It contains a maximal 1.4% VOC content due to the presence of the short alkyl chain lower ethoxylate oligomers.
Dehypound Advanced is an environmentally-friendly yet effective surfactant. It provides great cleaning performance while free of glycol ethers. Furthermore, Dehypound Advanced is readily biodegradable, has low toxicity, and is on the EPA’s Safer Choice List.
For primary cleaning, a 1% active solution of Dehypound Advanced (the recommended level for a ready-to-use all-purpose cleaner, or APC-RTU), was tested using an ASTM soil A6. Dehypound Advanced was found to have cleaning performance superior to the market leading APC-RTU products. BASF’s excellent results were achieved with neither builders nor solvents (ingredients included in typical APC-RTUs formulations).
Please refer to Figure 1 below.
Dehypound Advanced is not only a high performing surfactant, with more controlled foaming than other non-ionic surfactants, it is also gentle on plastics. This is a unique property for a non-ionic surfactant and is essential for today’s increasing usage of plastic.
Please refer to Figure 2 below.
Dehypound Advanced’s unique flexibility enables its wide usage amongst a variety of applications. Many different types of formulations can be made simply by adjusting the level of the ingredient. BASF utilized this surfactant’s feature to develop a base formulation concentrate (See Figure 3). This formulation can be diluted to different levels to create different types of cleaners. The 1:8-1:16 dilution, for example, can be used as an APC (RTU); 1:2 can be used as a concentrated floor cleaner; 1:128 dilution is perfect for an RTU floor cleaner; the 1:6 dilution works excellently as an RTU spot cleaner for carpets, and 1:16 aligns with light-duty glass cleaner needs. The performance of the glass cleaner can be further improved by adding 2.9% IPA, which will yield a premium glass cleaner. In institutional settings, cleaning professionals can easily dilute Dehypound Advanced to achieve different formulations for different applications.
Please see Figure 3 below:
In conclusion, Dehypound Advanced has unique properties: efficient primary cleaning, controlled foaming, environmental synergies, and low-corrosivity when used with plastics. Furthermore, BASF’s Dehypound Advanced is flexible and versatile enough that depending on the level of dilution needed, it is suitable for a wide variety of cleaning applications.
The product was developed with our customer in mind: someone who wants to use minimal raw ingredients for sustainability purposes, while reducing production time and cost. This multifunctional base formulation concentrate helps customers solve multiple application challenges while utilizing a high-performance formulation made from environmentally-friendly ingredients.
Request a sample of Dehypound Advanced
Paid Content provided by BASF Home Care and I&I Team
The views, opinions and technical analyses presented here are those of the author or advertiser, and are not necessarily those of ULProspector.com or UL Solutions. The appearance of this content in the UL Prospector Knowledge Center does not constitute an endorsement by UL Solutions or its affiliates.
All content is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without prior authorization from UL Solutions or the content author.
The content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. While the editors of this site may verify the accuracy of its content from time to time, we assume no responsibility for errors made by the author, editorial staff or any other contributor.
UL Solutions does not make any representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness or completeness of the content. UL Solutions does not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of sites listed or linked to in any content.
Interested to know more about the product. We manufacture variety of cleaning products