SEPAWA® CONGRESS 2022 

Speaker: Aliya Defrates-Penelon

Company: Kuraray Europe GmbH

Title: Formulators' Nightmare: Keep Innovating with Fewer Products!

Abstract: Today more than ever formulators of the household industry are struggling as they are torn between two trends. On one hand the market is looking for innovations and improved performances of the household cleaning products and on the other hand development of new products is very limited due to several factors such as the increasing cost of registrations (REACh, UK REACh, KKDIK, Eurasia REACh, …), the cost of new molecule development or the restriction of usage of some chemicals. Some companies also request their formulators to limit the number of ingredients used which is an additional constraint to create new formulations. The possibilities being more and more limited, it becomes crucial to have access to multifunctional ingredients that can bring more than one benefit to the broad range of household products but various advantages to the broad range of household products formulators are asked to create. Kuraray’s solution is MMB (3-Methoxy-3-Metyl-1-Butanol). MMB is a multi-purpose ingredient, registered worldwide, safe for humans and for the environment. This specialty solvent can be used in all types of household products such as air care products, window cleaners, oven cleaners, carpet cleaners, laundry detergents, bathroom cleaners, … MMB has many benefits to offer: degreasing properties can be improved with a better cost in use, the amount of surfactant can be reduced, transparent formulations can be obtained, flash points can be increased as well as cloud points, enzyme’s activity can be less impacted, … MMB is really one ingredient you can use to bring innovation and efficiency to all of your products!