Meeting demand for bio-based ingredients

Consumer preferences are changing in line with calls for more sustainable product offerings. But how much are they changing and, perhaps more importantly, how much are consumers willing to spend for this change? In 2023, Foresight Factory, working with Shell Insights, carried out a proprietary survey with more than 1,800 participants globally to gain data into changing consumer demands and preferences for personal care products in terms of their (A) performance and (B) sustainability/bio credentials. 

The research also indicated the market gap for ingredients produced at large scale which have high functional performance and strong sustainability credentials. This gap is now being addressed with bio-based ingredients that are manufactured on a mass balance basis

These bio-based mass balance ingredients include alcohols as emollients and surfactants based on long chain alcohols and olefins that can be used in a variety of personal care products. Chemical producers, including Shell Chemicals, offer such ingredients that are compositionally identical to grades based on fossil feedstocks that have been widely used as functional ingredients in personal care products for decades. The new grades, therefore, can be used interchangeably and without any product reformulation costs or R&D effort.