Probiotics and enzymes to enhance cleaning products

IMCD home care and I&I has been exploring the latest industry trends and consumer behaviours to create an insightful and detailed guide for brand owners and manufacturers. Featuring an expert interview with business and technical contributors from IMCD, this article provides an analysis of key trends such as the quest for ultimate efficiency, and cleaning for fun.

IMCD home care and industrial & institutional (I&I) has six global laboratories with interconnected teams of experts who pride themselves on offering a deep understanding of formulation development alongside insights into global and regional market trends. This business group develops smarter, more appealing formulations for cleaning, hygiene and disinfection, working with customers to create tailor-made solutions for end users.

In 2020, the group’s home care and I&I cleaning business rose to the challenge to meet the demand for hygiene and cleaning solutions which suddenly skyrocketed. Supported by industry-leading technical expertise and market knowledge, it has helped its partners get to market fast with solutions that meet the growing and evolving demands of their customers. Now, the business group is sharing insights into what comes next on the home care and I&I landscape along with the trends that are shaping this segment.

THE NEW SUSTAINABLE STANDARD

As our lives keep getting busier, the pressure is on to achieve as much as we can in as little time as possible, and with the least amount of effort. This is especially true when it comes to the routine tasks of cleaning and disinfection.

According to Mintel, in Brazil as many as 93% of adults use a multi-purpose cleaning product at least once a week. In commercial spaces, there’s a different kind of pressure. As employees return to work and places of business let the public through their doors once again, the transition needs to be as smooth as possible in order to help people feel safe while managing more intensive cleaning routines.

At the same time, efficiency cannot be at the expense of sustainability. Home care and I&I brands are expected to pursue the highest environmental and ethical standards without compromising on ease of use, convenience and efficacy.

As manufacturers innovate to meet the need for efficiency, they are increasingly drawn to the magic of “multi-function

Formulating for efficiency

As home care and I&I manufacturers innovate to meet the need for efficiency, they are increasingly drawn to the magic of “multi-function”. The versatile and cost-effective solutions which catch their eyes include formulations that control both water hardness and metal ions in water-based systems, while maintaining a good ecological profile. This can be achieved through the use of ingredients such as biodegradable chelates with superior environmental and (eco) toxicological properties. These enhance both the experience and efficiency of the product by reducing the detrimental effects of metal catalysts.

The rise of more sustainable processes, such as the use of naturally-derived raw materials, avoidance of solvents and greater industrial water recycling have one unintended downside – an increased risk of microbial deterioration. This is why biocides have an important role to play in safeguarding our standard of living and realising a more sustainable future.

When IMCD’s customers were looking for a highly efficient biocide for disinfectant and preservative applications, the supplier turned to a less traditional fatty amine-based biocide to uncover a solution. Not only does this product provide a broad spectrum of efficiency, but it also has the additional benefits of being non-sensitising and free from aldehydes, halogens and quats. IMCD works closely with its customers to bring them the most value from this solution, offering technical expertise to optimise product performance and cost in use.

Assistance from industry experts

Thorsten Pohl, market manager, home care and I&I at IMCD Germany, and Fanélie Jaeglé, global marketing and technical director, home care and I&I at IMCD, share their expert advice on formulating for efficiency and how to find that perfect balance in product development. How can manufacturers optimise efficiency while maintaining high standards in sustainability?

Pohl: Saving energy and water is essential, so it’s important that manufacturers explore formulations that enable this. Packaging is also a critical consideration. According to Mintel, in Germany 72% of adults who clean want to switch to cleaning products that use less packaging.

Jaeglé: Manufacturers should ask if it’s possible to do more with less. Can they include less water in the formulation itself, or less packaging for the same number of washes, for example? Could they use renewable materials or create packaging that can be re-used?

It’s also important to seek out raw materials that are cleaner or more ethically sourced, and which provide the same levels of efficiency as their harsher counterparts. It’s here that probiotics and enzymes, for example, have a big role to play. Please elaborate on the role of probiotics and enzymes in cleaning applications?

Jaeglé: Enzymes enable dish and laundry formulations in particular to achieve excellent performance, depending on their profile, at a low temperature, sensible pH, in concentrated formulations and in short time cycles. Enzymes break down different types of dirt into smaller particles, making it easier for surfactants to remove dirt from hard surfaces and fabrics.

Pohl: Probiotics are typically used in hard surface and drain cleaning. Microorganisms multiply on a surface, producing enzymes that break down the organic soilage present so that probiotics can use it as an energy source. They can therefore continue to grow while producing further enzymes as long as soilage is present. In this way, probiotics enable a cleaning solution with a long-lasting effect and positive impact on the malodour caused by organic soilage, in the bathroom for example. Moreover, when spread on a surface they will enable better disinfection.

What’s next?

IMCD never stops asking, “what’s next” – for the group, its partners and for those who use, live and work with the products that IMCD helps to create. This drives the group’s passion to uncover the trends shaping future communities – from the broadest global level down to the smallest local scale. IMCD is excited to co-create with its partners to bring those trends to life – supported by 25 years’ expertise, consumer insight and market-leading technical capabilities.

To download a copy of IMCD’s Tomorrow’s Cleaner Living trends commentary and to find out more about its home care and industrial & institutional cleaning business group, visit https://bit.ly/2WqAGKq. •

It’s important to seek out raw materials that are cleaner or more ethically sourced

Meet the ‘cleanfluencers’

What do you do to have fun during your free time? Several years ago, few of us would have said “cleaning the house”. But the way we see our cleaning routines is changing. At first glance, the social media platform TikTok seems an unlikely place to host a hygiene revolution. According to the blog Apartment Therapy, since the start of the pandemic, TikTok has reported a massive increase in users searching for cleaning content, with close to 4bn uses of the hashtag #cleaning recorded by October 2020. Furthermore, #cleanup, #cleaninghack and #cleanthatup trailed closely behind with a few hundred million tags each. TikTok has become home to loads of short video cleaning tutorials and aspirational before-and-after clips that create a sense of satisfaction, even for those who don’t usually do any cleaning themselves. As with any social media trend, influencers are at the fore. Leading figures such as UK-based Instagrammer Sophie Hinchcliffe and American YouTuber Melissa Maker have acquired followers in the millions. Check out some of the influencers’ cleaning-related content here:

• Sophie Hinchcliffe – www.instagram.com/mrshinchhome

• Melissa Maker – https://bit.ly/3DhsTQ3