Shell to boost Henkel’s renewable surfactants volume

Shell Chemical will replace 200,000 metric tons (t) of petroleum with renewable feedstocks for the surfactants it manufactures for the cleaning product maker Henkel over the next 5 years. It estimates that the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions will be equivalent to 120,000 t of carbon dioxide. The switch will start this year at two of Shell’s plants in Louisiana, where the renewable carbon will be mixed in with conventional fossil starting materials. The firms will use mass balance to credit a corresponding proportion of the plants’ output as renewable, and all that volume will go to Henkel. The firms intend to use ethanol and soybean oil as raw materials at first and hope to eventually move to using agricultural and other waste. The US deal follows a similar move made by Henkel in Europe in March, when it agreed to purchase 440,000 t of renewable surfactants from BASF plants in the European Union over 4 years.