Henkel cuts carbon footprint with BASF’s biomass balanced renewable feedstock

01 Apr 2022 --- BASF and Henkel are jointly committing to replace fossil carbon feedstock with renewable feedstock for most products in Henkel’s European Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care businesses over the next four years. The move follows a pilot with Henkel’s cleaning and detergent brand Love Nature in 2021.

PackagingInsights speaks with Ivo Grgic, senior purchasing manager at Henkel and Dr. Jan Schöneboom, head of Global Sustainability Care Chemicals at BASF. 

“The biomass balance approach by BASF enables Henkel to use more [environmentally] sustainable biomass in our existing production chain without changing our processes because the substitution of the fossil feedstock takes place in the production plants of BASF,” explains Grgic.

The companies say that through the cooperation, the fossil feedstock for around 110,000 metric tons of ingredients per year will be substituted with renewable feedstock using BASF’s certified biomass balance approach. As a result, Henkel’s core brands like Persil, Pril, Fa and Schauma will come with a reduced carbon footprint, avoiding around 200,000 tons of carbon emissions.

The replacement of fossil carbon feedstock with renewable feedstock will be applied to most products in the European Henkel Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care businesses. These applications include laundry detergents, dishwashing and cleansing products like shampoos, shower gels and liquid soaps. 

Biomass balance approach
The companies explain the replacement of fossil feedstock is made possible through BASF’s biomass balance approach. Renewable resources are used in the first steps of chemical production. The bio-based feedstock amount is then attributed to specific products through the certified method.

Henkel production Laundry & Home Care (Image credit: Henkel).“One of the main benefits of BASF’s biomass balance approach is that the certi­fied products are chemically identical to the fossil-based products and therefore have the same performance,” asserts Grgic. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Schöneboom explains that the advantage of the biomass balance approach is that the certified renewable feedstock can be consumed in the existing infrastructure of its Verbund sites where it replaces fossil feedstock. 

“The certified renewable feedstock is consumed in BASF’s steamcracker and synthesis gas production plants. No technical adaptations were made to these plants. The required standard on quality and purity of the purchased certified [environmentally] sustainable renewable feedstock is guaranteed by our suppliers,” he says.

BASF chain of custody
Furthermore, BASF has established a closed chain of custody from the renewable feedstock it uses through to the final product. TÜV Nord, an independent certification body, supports the practical implementation and confirms according to the REDCert2 certification scheme that BASF replaces the required quantities of fossil resources for the biomass balanced product with renewable feedstock.

In another environmental sustainability development, BASF and Trinseo are partnering on the production of styrene-based on circular feedstock. The collaboration aims to boost both companies’ environmental sustainability profiles. 

Earlier this year, BASF launched adhesives for labels that do not interfere with paper and paperboard recycling. When coated with the Acronal RCF 3705 or Acronal RCF 3706 adhesive, paper labels combine adhesive properties with easy removal from the recovered paper stream during transport box recycling. 

By Natalie Schwertheim