Surfactants Suppliers Address Evolving Needs

Nothing happens in a vacuum, so the saying goes. That includes selection of surfactant technologies for personal and home care products.

“Customer expectations continue to evolve, not because performance requirements have changed, but because the number of factors influencing purchasing decisions has increased. In addition to cleaning efficacy, foam, reliability and scalability, formulators are increasingly evaluating feedstock sourcing, sustainability objectives, regulatory considerations, supply resilience and application-specific requirements. As a result, customers are seeking greater optionality, looking for multiple pathways to achieve the performance they need while aligning with their broader business and formulation goals,” Stacie Hecht, director of technical and innovation, Pilot, told Happi.

Coast Southwest has significantly expanded its surfactant portfolio to give formulators a more complete toolbox for developing mild, sulfate-free products, according to Jarrod A. Kaltenbach, vice president, surfactants, Coast Southwest. 

The company’s stable encompasses amphoterics, amino acid surfactants, sulfosuccinates, amphoacetates, sultaines, betaines and other specialty surfactants “that help fill performance gaps within sulfate-free systems,” he said.

According to Kaltenbach, Coast Southwest’s advantage is that formulators can come to the team for a broad range of surfactant technologies under one roof. 

“That allows us to look at their entire formulation challenge rather than trying to make one chemistry answer every need. Our goal is to give formulators practical options. They can select individual chemistries or use carefully designed blends that provide a clearer route to a finished formula,” he told Happi.

Kaltenbach pointed to Coast Southwest’s partnership with Holiferm and the introduction of HoliSurf biosurfactants, which are fermentation-derived glycolipids produced from non-GMO feedstocks. They are readily biodegradable and have a favorable carbon-footprint profile. 

“Just as important, they provide meaningful formulation and performance benefits. These are not ingredients that a formulator selects simply to make a sustainability claim,” Kaltenbach said.

Coast Southwest is incorporating HoliSurf biosurfactants into products such as its Endinol MILD BSB blends, which provide a more accessible and cost-effective way to use glycolipid technology while gaining benefits related to mildness, foam, cleansing performance and formulation aesthetics, according to the company.

“Advances in both surfactant chemistry and formulation technique are making it possible to deliver much stronger performance from sulfate-free systems. We can now develop products with excellent foam, good foam stability, effective cleansing and appealing sensory properties without sacrificing the mildness consumers expect,” said Kaltenbach.

The solution, he said, is not simply one new surfactant, but instead combining improved surfactant technologies with compatible thickeners and practical formulation knowledge. 

“Coast Southwest’s manufacturing capabilities, supplier relationships, and applications laboratory all contribute to that process,” said Kaltenbach. “Through our work with technology partners and the experience developed in our own lab, we can help formulators balance foam, mildness, cleansing, and viscosity rather than solving one problem at the expense of another.”

Additionally, Coast Southwest is developing formulation guidance specifically around thickening approaches for sulfate-free systems. 

“That type of practical support is increasingly important because formulators need more than an ingredient. They need to understand how to make the complete system work,” Kaltenbach added.

“Beauty and personal care rinse-off applications have been favoring sulfate-free formulations for several years, due to the desire for mildness, sustainable formulation, and ingredient transparency. Recently, we have seen facial cleansing as well as child/baby cleansing applications formulate with taurate surfactants to further this trend. Taurates offer a balance of sensory feel and gentle foam with an effective yet mild cleansing performance. Taurates also formulate well with other surfactants and humectants to create on-trend formulas that have recently performed very well in the masstige space,” noted Amy McCellan, director, product marketing management, Surfactants, Ingredients + Specialties, Univar Solutions.

Univar executives told Happi that recent customer requests have focused on identifying alternatives to “incumbent surfactants” as companies navigate supply chain disruptions and seek greater formulation flexibility. 

“At the same time, large consumer packaged goods companies and brands are unwilling to compromise on cleaning performance, so we have been supporting a growing number of projects that evaluate alternative surfactant technologies and optimize formulations with the goal of achieving equivalent or enhanced stain removal, detergency, and overall product performance,” noted Allison Hunter, technical services manager, homecare and industrial cleaning, Ingredients + Specialties, Univar Solutions.

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Product Performance

Surfactants make a difference in laundry formulations. One year ago, P&G released a reformulated version of Tide original liquid with a 25% increase in “cleaning surfactants” to remove stains and 40% more nonionic surfactants to tackle body soils—a main source of malodors. It was hailed as the biggest upgrade to original Tide liquid in more than two decades. What P&G didn’t change was the price point. 

The investment into the surfactant stack is paying off, according to officials. During a July 29, 2026 earnings call with analysts, P&G President and Chief Executive Officer Shailesh Jejurikar said that since its relaunch, “Tide Original Liquid has gone from declining to high-single-digit growth.”

Leading players in household care will continue to seek surfactant solutions as they expand portfolios to meet evolving demands, including concentrated and waterless products.

“Beyond surfactant substitution, customers continue to push toward more concentrated and sustainable product formats. No-water and low-water solutions such as laundry pods, automatic dishwash pods, laundry detergent sheets, ultra-concentrated liquid detergents and dilutable cleaning tablets remain strong areas of interest because they have the potential to help reduce packaging requirements, transportation demands and the impacts associated with shipping water, depending on the product design and supply chain,” said McCellan. 

“These compacted formats also align with consumer demand for convenience while helping brands advance their sustainability goals without sacrificing cleaning performance,” she added.

Coast Southwest’s high-active surfactants can support concentrated and reduced-water formulations, said Kaltenbach. These include amino acid surfactants, betaines, sultaines, other secondary surfactants and high-active sulfate technologies. 

Endinol SCS is high-foaming, bio-based sodium coco-sulfate offering. Kaltenbach said Coast Southwest has expanded the technology to include the development of palm-free versions of sodium coco-sulfate and other surfactants that can be considered for solid, concentrated, and low-water formats.

“Concentrated-format development requires more than supplying a high-active ingredient. It requires an understanding of how the surfactant, conditioning materials, package, and final use format work together. Coast Southwest’s applications team can help customers evaluate those relationships and determine where a concentrated or waterless approach makes technical and commercial sense,” he said.

That’s critical as high-profile marketers must be assured their products will hit performance benchmarks. 

P&G’s foray into a solid format under the Tide banner began in 2024 in a test market in Colorado. Tide Evo is now rolling out nationally.

In the same earnings call, P&G officials also discussed the importance of Tide Evo’s mixture of concentrated “active surfactant ingredients” spun into individual fibers. This ensured that the tile delivered “the powerful cleaning performance of Tide while also enabling the creation of the convenient Tide Evo unit dose form,” Jejurikar said.

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Selection Process

Cost remains a major part of the conversation in the surfactants market—especially when comparing the price of a bio-based ingredient directly with the price of a conventional surfactant, noted Kaltenbach.

“The more meaningful comparison is cost in use and the value the ingredient contributes to the complete formula. A glycolipid can contribute important performance attributes at usage levels as low as one percent,” he asserted.

According to Kaltenbach, Endinol MILD BSB-1 and Endinol MILD BSB-2 blends allow formulators to experience the performance of HoliSurf glycolipids within systems designed around different performance, sustainability, and cost objectives.

The BSB products can provide a “more plug-and-play approach,” said Kaltenbach. “Rather than asking a formulator to rebuild an entire formulation around an unfamiliar technology, we can provide a blend with an established performance roadmap. That makes it easier to evaluate the ingredient, understand its cost in use, and incorporate the technology into a commercially realistic product. The BSB blends also help us address combinations of formulation needs with a single ingredient, including mildness, foam, cleansing, sustainability, and viscosity. When one system contributes across several of those areas, the raw-material price alone does not reflect its full value.”

Multifunctional surfactants, and multifunctional ingredients more broadly, are a major area of interest and will continue to gain traction, according to Kaltenbach. “Cleansing ability alone is no longer enough. When we evaluate or develop a surfactant, we also consider mildness, skin feel, hair feel, moisturization, viscosity contribution and the overall experience the finished product provides,” he said.

 Amino acid surfactants are a good example. He said glycinates and glutamates can contribute to mild cleansing while also providing an attractive after-feel. Other ingredients in Coast Southwest’s portfolio can provide moisturization and sensory benefits while contributing to viscosity or formulation stability.

“Multifunctionality can also make the formulator’s job more efficient. Traditional formulations often require additional ingredients to counteract an undesirable characteristic of the primary surfactant. With sulfates, for example, formulators might add secondary surfactants, emollients, or other materials specifically to reduce harshness,” said Kaltenbach. “With many newer mild-surfactant technologies, formulators can build upon the ingredient’s inherent benefits rather than beginning by correcting its limitations. Some performance enhancement may be necessary, but the development process starts from a stronger foundation.”

Multifunctional ingredients help formulators reconcile those competing expectations by accomplishing more with fewer individual components while continuing to deliver the cleansing, sensory and conditioning benefits consumers expect, noted Kaltenbach.

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Solving Formulation Challenges

Hecht of Pilot said alpha olefin sulfonates (AOS) continue to resonate with formulators because they “solve real formulation challenges,” while delivering the performance customers expect. 

“AOS offers strong cleansing, high foam, broad pH stability, formulation flexibility and reliable cost-in-use performance across a wide range of applications. As the market continues to evolve, technologies that consistently deliver dependable performance remain highly valued because performance is still the foundation of successful product development,” she said.

There’s a growing importance of “customer optionality,” noted Hecht.  

“Historically, the focus was largely on identifying the best-performing ingredient for a particular application. Today, formulators are balancing performance requirements alongside considerations such as sourcing preferences, sustainability objectives, regulatory requirements, and supply chain resilience. We believe the future will be shaped by the ability to provide customers with meaningful choices, allowing them to select the solution that best aligns with their needs while still achieving the performance their products demand. In that environment, performance remains the foundation, but optionality is becoming an increasingly important differentiator,” said Hecht.

Alkylbenzene sulfonates have been a workhorse anionic surfactant in home care applications, particularly liquid laundry detergents, due to their strong cleaning performance and cost effectiveness. However, recent global supply chain disruptions have led many customers to seek alternative technologies and alpha olefin sulfonates (AOS) are emerging as a leading replacement because they offer an attractive balance of economics and performance, according to Hunter of Univar.

“In fact, our recent evaluations have shown AOS to be a strong-performing alternative in laundry applications,” she said.

According to Becky Stiles, marketing and innovation director, personal care, North America at BASF, in personal care, foam remains an important consumer cue for efficacy, but formulators are increasingly focused on the quality of that foam, its creaminess, density, stability, and sensory profile. This, she said, is where synergistic surfactant systems become particularly valuable. BASF said its APG-based formulations, combined with technologies such as taurates, isethionates, glutamates, glycinates and betaines, demonstrates how formulators can create differentiated cleansing products that deliver both performance and elevated user experience.

“We’re also seeing strong interest in alternative product formats and formulation concepts. Consumers are embracing more diverse personal care solutions, including concentrated and water-conscious formats, which require surfactant systems capable of delivering performance under different formulation conditions. Technologies such as SFA-based surfactant systems offer formulators additional flexibility across liquid rinse-off and waterless applications, while maintaining key attributes such as foam performance, clarity, viscosity, and naturality,” said Stiles.

BASF also re-entered the anionic surfactants market in the US and Canada in June.

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Investment & Assurance

Leading surfactants companies that spoke with Happi for this story are investing in their operations to better serve the evolving needs of their customers.

Pilot continues to invest in technologies that officials say will provide customers with additional formulation options while maintaining the performance and reliability they expect. Recent developments include investments in AOS technology and the introduction of biobased AOS offerings.

“These efforts reflect our commitment to supporting evolving customer needs while continuing to build on the proven performance of core surfactant technologies,” said Hecht. 

Construction is also underway on a new sulfonation reactor train at Pilot’s Middletown, OH site. Expected online in early 2027, the expansion will enable Pilot to more than double the volume of AOS that it supplies to the personal care, household and industrial and institutional (I&I) markets, according to officials.

Coast Southwest has been in period of “significant investment and expansion,” according to officials. For example, Coast Southwest has continued to invest in its distribution infrastructure, including the opening of its Bear Creek distribution center in Texas. The company has also expanded its footprint, product capabilities and manufacturing operations in Paso Robles, CA. 

“These investments strengthen our ability to manufacture, inventory, and deliver products reliably while supporting customers with shorter lead times and more responsive service,” Kaltenbach added.

Scale matters, too. Customers need to be reassured that any innovative technology can support commercial-scale production, making reliable supply chain another important piece of the value equation.

 To that end, Coast Southwest says it has committed significant resources to glycolipid technology and Holiferm has continued investing in manufacturing capacity and supply-chain development.  

Additionally, Coast Southwest has also expanded relationship with Ethoxy Chemicals.

“We are selective about new technologies and partnerships. We do not pursue every trend that enters the market. We look for technologies that answer a real formulation need, have long-term commercial potential, and can be supported by a dependable supply chain,” said Kaltenbach.

Supply chain resilience remains critical in customer decision making, according to industry insiders.

Over the past five years, Coast Southwest has made a concerted effort to bring more of its supply chain back to North America.

“That includes investing in our own domestic manufacturing capabilities and working with supplier partners that are expanding production in the region. Reshoring is not simply a corporate or economic talking point. It directly affects a formulator’s ability to move a successful laboratory formula into commercial production,” Kaltenbach said.

He continued, “A technology is not a complete solution if the customer cannot obtain it reliably, for example  if lead times are unpredictable, or if freight volatility makes cost impossible to manage. Domestic and regional manufacturing can provide tighter lead times, greater price stability, and a more dependable path from product development to launch. Innovation and supply security, therefore, have to progress together. Customers want new technologies, but they also need confidence that those technologies will remain available as their brands grow. Coast Southwest’s role is to help connect those two requirements.”