More Capacity, More Room for Innovation: Power up at BASF’s Emollient and Emulsifier Hub in Düsseldorf
Interview with Johannes Crotogino,
Market Development Manager Skin Care EMEA, BASF
Driven by evolving market needs, BASF has significantly increased its production capacity for emollients and emulsifiers at its site in Düsseldorf, Germany. We spoke to Johannes Crotogino, responsible for skin care market development EMEA at BASF, about what this expansion means for customers, market dynamics, and the future of formulation innovation.
What prompted BASF to expand its emollient and emulsifier production capacity at the Düsseldorf site?
Over the past few years, we’ve seen a steep rise in demand for high-performance emollients and emulsifiers – particularly those that enable the replacement of silicones and other ingredients under regulatory or consumer scrutiny. The growing interest in natural beauty, sustainable sourcing, and next-generation textures is reshaping the personal care landscape at record speed.
To support our customers in navigating these changes, we took bold and proactive action: We significantly increased our production capacity at our Düsseldorf hub, BASF’s third-largest site in Europe and the world’s most important BASF location for the production and development of cosmetic ingredients. This step ensures we can supply key emollients and emulsifiers with greater reliability, faster turnaround, and a sharper ability to respond to dynamic market shifts.
What makes Düsseldorf such an important location for this expansion?
Düsseldorf is an ideal anchor for our global personal care ingredients network. It combines extensive production infrastructure with deep formulation expertise, making it the perfect environment for scaling both mature and innovative technologies. Despite difficult economic times, we continue to believe and invest in our Düsseldorf site. By expanding emollient and emulsifier capacities here, we are reinforcing a robust local production base in Europe – one that strengthens supply security and mitigates risks from demand peaks or market volatility.
From a customer perspective, what tangible benefits does the expanded capacity offer?
For our customers, three main advantages stand out: Firstly, capacity expansion means greater planning confidence and optimized sourcing flexibility. Our customers gain access to a more resilient supply chain and dependable availability of core ingredients for skin care and sun protection products. Secondly, with more capacity, customers can scale faster and explore a wider range of formulation routes.
Lastly, while we already offer one of the most comprehensive portfolios of emollients and emulsifiers on the market – including renewable-based, silicone-alternative, and multifunctional solutions – more production power gives us the freedom to deepen our R&D efforts and accelerate the development of next-generation ingredients. This will further expand the formulation options for our customers in the future.
You said BASF offers a wide selection of emollients and emulsifiers, including renewable-based solutions. How does this fit into current formulation trends?
Today’s formulation landscape is influenced by two powerful, converging forces: the global shift toward natural and renewable ingredients and the accelerating move away from silicones, especially volatile and cyclic types. This dynamic heavily influences how brands design textures, sensory profiles, and certification-ready formulations – and BASF’s emulsifier and emollient portfolio is positioned precisely at this intersection.
On the one hand, natural-based emulsifiers, such as sugar-, amino acid-, and polyglycerol-based systems, are essential building blocks for modern formulations. They allow brands to meet strict ecolabel requirements and a high ISO 16128 index while still achieving stability, spreadability, and appealing skin feel. Their popularity is strongly tied to consumer expectations for transparency, biodegradability, and natural-based formulations.
On the other hand, the industry’s push toward silicone alternatives has created an additional layer of complexity for formulators. Silicones like dimethicone are valued for their light, silky sensorial profile and excellent performance – but replacing them is not straightforward. Renewable emollients often behave differently, and achieving a like-for-like sensory match requires precise selection of both emollient blends and emulsifier systems.
How does BASF support formulators in this challenge?
Our extensive product range is, of course, key. Beyond this, our customers highly appreciate the expert guidance we provide in selecting the most appropriate ingredients from our portfolio to meet their unique application needs. For this purpose, we have developed Emollient Maestro, one of our most transformative digital services. Using scientific modelling and an AI-powered algorithm, it allows formulators to design and compare emollient blends with exceptional precision. It can evaluate sensory profiles, physicochemical characteristics, ecolabel compliance, and renewable carbon indices, making it much easier to identify alternatives to conventional ingredients such as dimethicone or cyclopentasiloxane. With more than 5,000 binary and 150,000 ternary theoretical combinations, Emollient Maestro shortens development cycles dramatically, supports regulatory-driven reformulation projects, and empowers brands to design products with tailored sensory signatures.
The additional production capacity complements this tool perfectly: Once formulators identify the ideal blend, we can supply it with the speed and reliability they need.
How do you see this expansion shaping the future of personal care innovation?
The industry is evolving faster than ever. Brands are under pressure to deliver sustainable, high-performing, and regulatory-compliant products – all at once. With our expanded capabilities, we are not just meeting current needs: We are creating space for the next generation of emollients and emulsifiers that will define tomorrow’s formulations.
Our goal is to empower customers to innovate boldly, whether they are developing renewable-based silicone alternatives, crafting sophisticated sensorial experiences, or navigating complex ecolabel requirements. We have the capacity and technology to move those ambitions forward at scale.
https://care360.basf.com/emea/en/industries/personal-care
