New powerful

PEG-free
emulsifier systems
Flawless
Natural Beauty
There is no contradiction
between PEG-free and
high performance.
With our new
SEBUMOL emulsifiers we
underline natural beauty
in a smart way.

ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ is a family owned

German Chemical Company with 15 production locations world wide and subsidiaries in
13 countries. The company is well known for
the extensive application and development
support for their customers in the field of
personal care applications.
To satisfy the growing demand for cos-

New powerful
PEG-free
emulsifier systems

metic raw materials from non-petrochemical resources ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ

developed PEG-free and easy to use
liquid emulsifiers on the basis of polyglycerol esters. The new and innovative
SEBUMOL types are well balanced blends
of these PEG-free esters so that stable
W/O emulsions (SEBUMOL WO 200 and
SEBUMOL WO 300) as well as O/W emulsions (SEBUMOL OW 800) can be pre-

Dr. Alexander T. Wagner,

Dr. Bernd Schlichting
ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ GmbH & Co KG
CHEMISCHE FABRIKEN, Lahnstein, Germany

pared easily. SEBUMOL B 1000 allows the

formulator to create a PEG-free clear oil
bath with a blooming effect. This effect is
a special sensual experience caressing the
soul whereas the oil is caressing the skin.
In W/O emulsions water droplets are dispersed in oil. Oil as continuous phase offers
several benefits in comparison to an aqueous continuous phase e.g. water repellent
properties attractive for sun care formulations or sealing properties to protect dry
skin from water loss by evaporation. Nevertheless O/W emulsions are much more present in the area of personal care formulations

than W/O emulsions. One of the reasons is

the former difficulty to formulate (kinetically)
stable W/O emulsions. To get an impression
of this challenge, imagine that in normal
W/O emulsions the continuous oil phase has
a proportion of about 30% by volume. About
70% water phase has to be emulsified. That
means water droplets literally are touching
each other and suitable measures have to
be taken to prevent aggregation of the water
drops, Ostwald ripening and finally coalescence. These processes accelerate a phase
separation and in the end the emulsion will
break.
Even the manufacturing of a W/O emulsion
is challenging: By mixing about 70% water
and about 30% oil regardless of using suitable emulsifiers (low HLB) there is a good
chance to get an O/W emulsion instead of
a W/O emulsion. In addition to the emulsion
manufacturing process (hot process) there
are two other common measures to promote
the formation of W/O emulsions: The addition of magnesium sulfate and waxes, which
may be traced back to Bancroft's rule.
To stabilise W/O emulsions the choice of
the right emulsifiers is absolutely decisive.
Previously the formation of stable W/O emulsions was only possible with paraffins. The
invention of polymeric emulsifiers, loosely
grouped in graft copolymers and block
copolymers nowadays allows the formulator

to create stable W/O emulsions with (nearly)

we used Polyglyceryl-3 Polyricinoleate,

all kinds of oils including vegetable oils.

Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Polyglyceryl-3

Typical examples for these emulsfiers are:

Dilaurate and Polyglyceryl-4 Oleate. From

Cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone or Poly-

the beginning we focused on the develop-

glyceryl-4-Diisostearate/Polyhydroxystea-

ment of two special blends: One for emul-

rate/Sebacate and PEG-30 Dipolyhydroxy-

sions with more non polar oils the other for

stearate respectively.

emulsions with more polar oils including

vegetable oils. SEBUMOL WO 200 and
SEBUMOL WO 300 are the results of our
development.
SEBUMOL WO 200 is a special development mainly for synthetic oils. This emulsifier is the right choice for light and even so
rich W/O formulations like creams, lotions
and sunscreens with inorganic and organic
filters. SEBUMOL WO 300 is the appropriate alternative for more polar oil mixtures including vegetable oils. SEBUMOL WO 300
allows the formulator to create more nourishing W/O emulsions e. g. baby care products
and products for sensitive skin.
In O/W emulsions the situation is completely

In

some

ways

the

approach

of

ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ for developing

suitable W/O emulsifiers for oils of different
polarities is another one: We consciously
have chosen well known and commercially
available polyglycerol esters, to show that
combining them in a new and intelligent way
even this well established chemistry leads to
new high performing emulsifiers. As pool

different as normally the content of the dispersed oil phase is approximately 20% of
the formulation by volume. That means in
comparison to W/O emulsions there is a big
interspace between the droplets of the dispersed phase with less risk of aggregation
and coalescence.

The state of the art technology for manufacturing of O/W emulsions today are nonionic
surfactants notably PEG emulsifiers. These
emulsifiers are exceptionally suitable to create stable O/W-emulsions. The stability is
due to the behavior of PEG chains in water
solutions: Whereas the hydrophobic part of
the emulsifier is anchored in the oil droplets the PEG chains show strong repulsive
forces when approaching another emulsified
oil droplet. This stabilising effect is called
steric stabilisation. It prevents aggregation
and finally coalescence of oil droplets and
leads to longterm stable O/W emulsions.
The target of ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ was
to develop PEG-free and easy to use liquid
O/W emulsifiers with high performance for
oils with different polarities. In principle steric
stabilisation effects can be copied by simply
exchanging the PEG chains of an emulsifier
with other (nonionic) water soluble polymers.
Like for the development of the W/O emulsifiers we also have chosen polygylcerol
esters. Nevertheless, PEG emulsifiers cannot be replaced by single emulsifiers based
on polyglycerol esters without a distinct loss
of performance.
To find the right performance we carried out
numerous lab trials with different combinations of suitable polyglycerol esters. The
final emulsifier pool in this case was Polyglyceryl-3 Cocoate, Polyglyceryl-3 Laurate,

Polyglyceryl-4 Cocoate and Polyglyceryl-6

Oleate.
The blend we developed - SEBUMOL OW
800 - is able to emulsify different oils as effective as conventional PEG emulsifiers.
With SEBUMOL OW 800 light O/W leave-on
as well as rinse-off formulations e.g. body lotions and hair conditioning creams can be
created easily. Further work on O/W emulsifiers based on polyglycerol esters is in progress.
Blooming bath oils provide a special sensual experience caressing the soul whereas
the oil is caressing the skin. When pouring
blooming bath oils slowly in water they do
not float on top as an oily layer. Through the
selfemulsifying power the oil bath converts
itself into a milky white O/W emulsion with a
special blooming effect. During bathing
Special sensual experience: Blooming effect

the emulsified oils are able to nourish the

skin.
Up to now Polysorbate 80 and Laureth-4 respectively are often used as emulsifiers in
blooming bath oils. Following the strategy
to replace PEG emulsifiers by polyglycerol
ester blends ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ has
developed SEBUMOL B 1000 which is easy
to mix with different oils to create a PEG-free
clear oil bath with blooming effect. The
polyglycerol esters used are Polyglyceryl-3

Max-Schwarz-Strae 3-5 56112 LAHNSTEIN / GERMANY

Tel. +49 2621 12-262 Fax +49 2621 12-568
care@zschimmer-schwarz.com
www.zschimmer-schwarz.com

Polyricinoleate, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate

and Polyglyceryl-3 Caprate.