Speaker: Prof. Dr. Andrea Wanninger

Company: Hochschule Niederrhein

Title: Evaluation of Raw Materials and Formulation Concepts for Cold Process Emulsification

Language: German

Abstract:

Cold process emulsification has become popular as a way of reducing energy, production time and costs. It is seen as a greener production method, increasing the sustainability of a cosmetic emulsion and significantly reducing the carbon footprint. Compared to the conventional emulsification process up to 90% of the energy and the time for heating and cooling can be saved.

On the one hand the cold process has clear benefits, on the other hand the selection of suitable cosmetic ingredients is limited and has some preconditions, especially when natural cosmetics are the aim.

Regarding the development of formulations for cold process O/W and W/O emulsions, the most ingredients have to be liquid, and solids have to be soluble in the oil phase or the aqueous phase. Some ingredients such as metal soaps or solid particles which form Pickering emulsions are dispersed in order to stabilize emulsions. Waxes and polymers which have to be processed hot, or solid emulsifiers which have to be molten, are excluded from those formulations.

In this presentation, the variety of suitable basic ingredients, which is nevertheless still huge, will be presented and compared as an orientation for product development, focusing on emulsifiers and rheological additives or thickeners.

In emulsions that are produced in a hot or hot/cold process, solid, wax-like ingredients are parts of stabilizing lamellar gel structures or oleogels. Therefore, in the cold process a different formulation world is present. The performance of emulsifiers, stabilizing and rheological additives has been investigated.

In this presentation, formulation concepts for cold processed O/W emulsions, W/O emulsions, and Pickering emulsions are presented, which were compared with each other and with hot processed emulsions.