Produced using a ‘green chemistry’ process and soybean oil, Dow Corning HY-3200 Emulsifying Soy Wax emulsifies and thickens at low use levels, supports consumer beauty trends for anti-ageing and sustainable products, and reduces the number of ingredients required, which presents a potential cost advantage.
“HY-3200 Soy Wax opens new possibilities in the growing trend for natural products used in face and neck lotions, creams and serums,” said Sahoko Takeuchi, Dow Corning beauty and personal care marketing manager. “The challenge was finding a renewable material that would allow emulsification and thickening. It’s difficult to achieve each one of those pieces individually. To get both of those in the same material is something that the industry doesn’t have today. It’s simple, stable and sustainable.” At lower use levels in formulations, Dow Corning HY-3200 Emulsifying Soy Wax can form a stable emulsion across a broad range of oils. The soybean oil, which contains a large amount of polyunsaturated fatty acid, is metathesised, hydrogenated and then modified by the addition of polar groups. The result is an emulsifying wax with thickening benefits in combination with a wide range of cosmetic oils which can create emulsions that are pH and electrolyte tolerant. “While standard triglycerides have limited functionality, metathesised triglycerides provide an innovative architecture with the potential to enable reduced crystallinity, increased malleability and reduced brittleness,” Takeuchi said. The ‘green chemistry’ used to process Dow Corning HY-3200 Emulsifying Soy Wax is self-metathesis – a simple synthetic route pioneered by Elevance Renewable Sciences for expanding the use of renewable resources that offers options to modify natural lipids to create new benefits for personal care products. The process has higher reaction efficiency, reduced solvent waste and lower energy consumption as compared to petrochemical technologies.
