Unilever has launched a laundry capsule in China that uses surfactant made from industrial carbon emissions.
The OMO (Persil) laundry capsule, launched on World Earth Day, outlines Unilever's commitment to sustainability, the company added.
Typically derived from fossil fuels, surfactants are a critical ingredient for creating the foam and cleaning action of many household cleaning and laundry products, from dish soaps to fabric detergents.
The surfactant used in the product was developed by the FMCG giant in partnership with LanzaTech and India Glycols.
Series Of Innovations
The partnership is just one in a series of innovations Unilever is investing in as part of its Clean Future strategy, announced in September 2020.
Under Clean Future, Unilever seeks to eliminate fossil fuel-based chemicals from its cleaning and laundry product formulations by 2030.
Peter ter Kulve, president of home care division at Unilever, said, "Advancements in technology like this mean we can now reinvent the chemistry of our products. Instead of valuable carbon being released directly into the atmosphere, we can capture it and recycle it in our products instead of using fossil fuels."
Recycled Carbon
The new process involves the production of surfactants with recycled carbon.
Recycled carbon is a key form of renewable carbon and is essential in eliminating the use of fossil fuels in product manufacturing.
A recent report, published by the Nova Institute and Unilever in April 2021, estimates that demand for fossil-derived chemicals will more than double by 2050.
The report outlines that renewable carbon production will need to increase 15 times in size by 2050 to phase out the use of fossil carbon in consumer products.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Conor Farrelly. For more A-Brands news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
