Speciality surfactants
Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension between two liquids, or between a liquid and a solid. A surfactant is usually an organic amphiphilic compound, meaning that it contains both water soluble (hydrophilic) and water insoluble (hydrophobic) components.
Surfactants are key ingredients in both consumer and industrial cleaning products, where they may act as: detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming or defoaming agents, rheology modifiers, degreasers or dispersants.
We offer a wide range of surfactants, including a full offering of non-ionic, anionic, cationic and amphoteric surfactants, as well as surfactant blends and speciality performance additives. We are committed to a continuous development of novel technologies and can offer technical expertise to support our customers throughout their product development to meet unique customer demands.
Sustainable bio-based surfactants brochure
Regulatory information
Industry leaders in surfactant chemistry
The key application areas for our speciality surfactants are:
- fabric care - detergency, cleaning and conditioning;
- vehicle cleaning and detailing;
- automatic and hand dishwash;
- hard surface cleaning (including polishes);
- industrial and institutional cleaning; and
- air care - solubilisation, emulsification and hydrotroping.
Sustainability
We are leading the way in finding innovative solutions to meet customer expectations and we are encouraged by the market drive for renewable product sourcing. Our aim is to solve the age-old dilemma for many companies – performance or sustainability. At Croda, have created the first plant that has lead to the manufacture of 100% renewable non-ionic surfactants, which are used in a wide range of household and industrial cleaning products. The plant is located at our Atlas Point facility in New Castle, USA and represents a tidal shift in sustainable production, especially for consumer goods manufacturers who are striving to meet both performance-driven market needs and sustainability targets.
This expansion of Atlas Point’s operations has enabled us to produce non-ionic surfactants from bio-ethanol, whilst maintaining performance standards. By using bio-ethanol, we have reduced the usage of fossil fuels and have moved away from traditional petrochemical derived ingredients, taking yet another step to meet the growing needs of our customers for sustainable options that perform as well as non-sustainable options.
