Evonik is enjoying sweet success with its newest ingredient—sugar! According to Dave DelGuercio, senior vice president and general manager, North America, Evonik Corporation, Nutrition & Care, new Rheance One imparts a a range of benefits in personal care products. DelGuercio detailed the benefits of the new material at a press event held at the French bistro Benoit in New York City on June 27. He noted that Rheance One recently won a gold medal for best functional ingredient at In-Cosmetics Global 2018. This substance from the glycolipid family can be used for cleaning skin and hair gently yet effectively. This also makes it suitable for challenging skin types.


Rheance One is produced via fermentation—with sugar as the sole source of carbohydrates. Production does not require the addition of any tropical oils. This gives the product the advantage of being both natural and sustainable. Its positive application properties include a dense, creamy foam and a pleasant, natural feel on the skin. The glycolipid is completely biodegradable and offers extremely good environmental compatibility.


“We are moving in a sustainable profile,” he told Happi. “This new ingredient is based off fermentation technology. It is useful for any cleansing applications and is quite mild. It also mitigates allergic reactions and has good emulsifying and oil dispersing properties.”


DelGuercio told Happi that one of Rheance One’s benefits is that it prevents foaming in production.


“The foaming impacts the yields and is quite cost-efficient,” he explained. “Yields to foam are important to make a product viable.”


Rheance One is ideal for personal cleansers and can be used in natural scrubs, too. Its initial production is in Eastern Europe but according to DelGuercio, Evonik’s goal is to expand into production locations in the US.


“We have plenty of fermentation capabilities in North America,” he said.


Good Growth

During the event, John Rolando, president, North America, presented a company overview. Rolando joined the company in 1987 and has held various marketing and management positions at Evonik Corporation and its predecessors.


Corporate sales last year were €14.4 billion ($16.8 billion at current exchange rates). Evonik is off to a good start in 2018 with 22 business lines in three segments: Nutrition & Care, Resource Efficiency and Performance Materials. Sales grew 1% to €3.68 billion in the first quarter, driven mainly by slightly higher sales volumes as well as increased selling prices. Adjusted EBITDA increased to €679 million in the first quarter, a significant rise of 14% year-on-year, according to the company.


“We are targeting excellence in three strategic focus areas,” Rolando said. “A more balanced and more specialized portfolio, leading in innovation and having an open and performance-oriented culture.”


In fact, Rolando attributes “the power of three” to Evonik’s success in its sectors. This includes safety, people and growth. Safety includes protecting employees, contractors and other staff; being a steward of the environment and fostering a workplace that promotes wellness. The people portion features recruiting and retaining the best talent for Evonik’s future, developing strong leadership and driving a performance culture while diversifying awareness. Finally, growth is key by cultivating a growth-oriented mindset while continuously developing highly profitable areas of application.


With eight R&D centers, Evonik plans to further expand its scope by cooperating with universities to foster future talent. Also, its business acquisitions are going very well, noted Rolando in his presentation. Since the start of 2017, Evonik North America has added 1,000 new colleagues and nine new locations to its regional footprint through the Air Products PMD and J.M. Huber Silica acquisitions.


Other New Developments


The Nutrition & Care segment is led by Evonik Nutrition & Care GmbH and contributes to fulfilling basic human needs. That includes applications for everyday consumer goods as well as animal nutrition and health care. This segment employed about 8,200 employees, and generated sales of around €4.5 billion in 2017.


Evonik’s range of active ingredients presented so far in 2018 for the first time included a microbiotic product. The cell-free lactobacillus extract Skinolance promotes the natural balance of the skin’s flora to strengthen the barrier function of the skin, and to protect against roughness and dryness.


Hairflux is a new olive-based ceramide from Evonik that enables the effective care of damaged hair and irritated scalp with a single active ingredient. This product is also based on natural ingredients and involves a gentle manufacturing process.


Tego Pep Up is a new tetrapeptide that increases the collagen production of the skin and the fiber production of the extracellular matrix to achieve a lifting effect.


Meanwhile, Tego Enlight was developed as a means of natural skin brightening. Its two plant-based ingredients complement each other’s effects.


Dr. Straetmans, an expert in alternative preservation systems, has been part of the Evonik Group since 2017. Dr. Straetmans recently rolled out the Dermosoft Decalact series, which features four natural multifunctional active ingredients to combat certain microorganisms that cause problems such as body odor, or oily, blotch, or flaky skin.


News at Evonik’s Silica Business Line is all about additives that can be used for stabilizing pickering emulsions. Aerosil R 816 and Aerosil R 974 can be used to transform a wide range of different emollients into PEG-free and silicone-free emulsions. Modifying the rheology of emulsions in the process is made easy. Evonik also offers a variety of particle sizes for replacing microplastics with silica.


More info: www.evonik.com