DETERGENTS AND SURFACTANTS
Still today, most surfactants are derived from oil. To provide solutions to this problem, industrialists in the sector are developing new products from biomass.
The radiocarbon method is just the thing to analyze, control and validate the biobased content of detergents and surfactants whether during their development phase, their industrialization phase or on finished products.
Analysis of biobased products, a unique expertise
- EN 16640:2017: European standard specifying techniques for biobased products, it considers the amount of total carbon;
- ASTM D6866-22: current international standard regarding the analysis of biobased content, it considers either the amount of total carbon or the amount of total organic carbon;
- EN 16785:2016: European standard detailing all the conditions to determine the content of biobased products, it requires the measurement of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen concentrations.
- ISO 16620-2:2019: international standard describing the biobased content for bioplastics and biopolymers.
How to measure the biobased content of your detergents
Biomass materials are mostly modern carbon, their carbon-14 content is 100. Petrosourced products contain only “old” carbon, their carbon-14 concentration is zero. Mixtures, containing both bio-based and petro-based products, are going to have an intermediate carbon-14 content that will reflect the proportion of bio-based and synthetic.
The radiocarbon technique, also known as carbon-14 dating, quantifies the carbon-14 concentration. This is the percentage of modern carbon, pMC. It is this value that represents the rate of biobased versus synthetic products. A 100% natural product will need to have a pMC of 100%.
Radiocarbon analysis for many industries
For more information about the components and materials analyzed in our laboratories, contact us. Our scientists adapt the analyses to your requirements and needs.
> Discover other CIRAM areas of expertise: