Today, Dot Ingredients discloses for the first time its 3CS™ formulation, a novel approach that uses its Naturdots™ cellulose particles to stabilise oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions at concentrations of just 1% or less by weight.

What are Naturdots™?

Naturdots™ are Dot Ingredients’ cellulose particles. They’re made from wood pulp – a feedstock that’s made all around the world using residual or waste wood from the timber industry, and normally used to make paper.

Dot Ingredients’ proprietary green chemistry process forms Naturdots™ into tiny balls of cellulose between 0.1 micron and 0.3 micron in size (0.1-0.3 millionths of a metre). Produced as a white slurry or dried into a powder, Naturdots™ are non-toxic and retain the very high biodegradability of the original wood feedstock.

What is 3CS™?

3CS™ is an abbreviation for Dot Ingredients’ new 3 Component System – a new patent-pending emulsifier made up of Naturdots™ and two other natural components that work together to act as a powerful emulsifier. A typical 3CS™ for a 1:9 oil: water emulsion comprises

• 50% Naturdots™,
• 35% fatty acid, and
• 15% fatty acid salt.

The ratio of the different components is adjusted for different applications.

Fatty acids are very common naturally occurring chemicals and make up the largest fraction of natural plant oils. The most common, and widely used, fatty acid is oleic acid – it’s the major component in plant oils such as olive oil, sunflower oil and canola oil. Fatty acids, including oleic acid, are easily converted to their fatty acid salt using lye (also known as caustic or sodium hydroxide) to make sodium oleate – otherwise known as common soap. Fatty acids and fatty acid salts are readily available commodity ingredients already used in cosmetic, personal care, food and pharmaceutical products.

Outstanding emulsifier performance

Existing natural emulsifiers need to be used at 4% to 9% of the total product formulation in cosmetics, skincare, and pharmaceutical lotions. In comparison, Naturdots™ 3CS™ works at an extremely low emulsifying load of just 1%. It significantly outperforms other natural emulsifiers, and also most petrochemical-derived emulsifiers.

The following data shows how 3CS™ compares to common emulsifiers in an industry standard 50°C accelerated stability test. Whereas every other tested emulsifier failed to maintain an emulsion for even 1 day, 3CS™ was able to stabilise the emulsion for 25 days before the oil and water started separating.

Product opportunities

There are two main product benefits to Naturdots™ 3CS™:

• The ability to stabilise emulsions at very low loadings and without the need for thickeners like gums or waxes, unlocks the potential for new, low viscosity product formulations such as sprayable moisturisers.
• The reduction in emulsifier loading by a factor of 4-9x using 3CS™ means traditional product formats such as creams and lotions can reduce their emulsifier’s environmental footprint by at least 4-9x.

Further sustainability benefits are created because Naturdots™ are made from a waste stream, no new deforestation is caused due to the global excess capacity in the wood pulp industry, and the globally available feedstock increases supply chain resilience.

What about cost?

Dot Ingredients isn’t banking on a ‘green premium’ for Naturdots™ and 3CS™, and expects to match (or even offer cost savings) on a per-bottle basis compared to current natural emulsifiers. This is made possible because

• being made from wood pulp, Naturdots™ uses a very inexpensive feedstock with a long-term declining price;
• the Dot Ingredients Naturdots™ process produces no byproducts, minimising waste and maximising efficiency; and
• the fatty acid and fatty acid salts used in 3CS™ are relatively inexpensive compared to typical natural emulsifiers.

Ongoing development

Dot Ingredients continues to collaborate with existing and new partners, particularly in the cosmetics and personal care industry where the drive for new and sustainable ingredients is strong and ever-growing.

Brands, contract manufacturers and distributors interested in technical information and samples can contact Dot Ingredients.

Intellectual property statement

3CS™ is covered by a pending patent application. Naturdots™ and 3CS™ are trademarks of Dot Ingredients Limited.