SUSTAINABILITY
TABLE 2: LCA results for 1 kg of coconut dodecane Unit
Impact category indicator
Climate change
Resource use, minerals and metals
Acidification
Eutrophication, freshwater
Photochemical ozone formation
Ecotoxicity, freshwater
Water use
Resource use, fossils
kg CO2 eq
kg Sb eq kg SO2
kg P eq
Ozone depletion kg CFC-11 eq kg NMVOC
CTUe Litres MJ
eq
Coconut dodecane/ tetradecane
2,812E+00 2,130E-02 1,506E-02
1,964E-04 1,909E-07 1,515E-02
1,656E+00 8,486E-03 4,519E+01
environmental balances when justified. The summary of the LCA results for the
four formulations discussed below is based on two studies carried out in 2015 and 2021 respectively.24,25
Dodecane/tetradecane (coconut alkanes) For the purpose of the LCA, coconut dodecane/ tetradecane was modelled by combining the dodecane molecule, a coconut fatty ester (alkylester) and dodecanol. The proportions retained are 95% and 5% respectively. To compile the lifecycle inventory (LCI) of dodecane, we used a hydrogenation process for dodecene. Table 2 shows the absolute results of the LCA of 1 kg of coconut dodecane.26 Further analysis highlights the
preponderance of coir dodecane in the results; i.e. almost 90% of the average for all indicators. Overall, the main origin of the impacts lies in the agricultural part related to the production of coconut oil. In addition, the transformation processes to obtain dodecane explain on average between 30% and 40% of the impacts.
Olive squalane The environmental interest of olive squalane lies in the origin of this product, i.e. by- products of the refining of the oil extracted from the fruit. These by-products are distributed as follows: ■ In “pomace”: about 2.5 kg of skins, pulp residues and fragments of olive stones per kilo of olive oil. ■ In “margines”: about 4.5 kilos of liquid residues per kilo of olive oil. The LCI of this squalane is not available in the databases accessible in SimaPro, the calculation tool used for the study. As is possible in the LCA methodology, the ‘Fatty acids from vegetarian oil’ data from EcoInvent was used as a proxy, and then adapted to best match the industrial reality. In this case, the oil blend was changed to olive oil to which glycerine and unsaponifiable co-products were added. The step of separating the squalene from the unsaponifiable part was estimated by adding a distillation step whose energy consumption was extrapolated from the distillation of ethanol.27 shown in Table 3, compared to coconut alkanes,
As
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TABLE 3: LCA results for 1 kg of olive squalane Unit
Impact category indicator
Climate change
Resource use, minerals and
metals Acidification
Eutrophication, freshwater
Photochemical ozone formation
Ecotoxicity, freshwater
Water use
Resource use, fossils
kg CO2 eq
kg Sb eq kg SO2
kg P eq
Ozone depletion kg CFC-11 eq kg NMVOC
CTUe Litres MJ
eq
69
TABLE 4: LCA results for 1 kg of biotechnological squalane
Olive squalane 5,00E+00
3,53E-02 2,41E-02
1,95E-03 5,82E-07 2,21E-02
1,74E+01 1,63E-02 7,96E+01
the impact of olive squalane is about 40-50% higher on the average of the indicators. We have previously indicated that the olive
oil used allows the co-products of refining to be valorised. This is true, but it does not compensate for the difference in yield per hectare between olive growing and coconut oil production, with cross-impacts on the technical agricultural itineraries. With CO2
squalane offers a result comparable to that of coconut oil alkanes and much lower than the 200 kg/kg of squalane from synthetic biology.
Biotechnological squalane This ‘biotech’ squalane (brand name Neossance) is the result of a synthetic biology process and uses glucose as the basic raw material. Here, the glucose syrup comes from sugar cane. The modelling is mainly based on three steps: the fermentative manufacture of β-farnesene (branched C15) followed by the dimerisation of farnesene to squalene, which is finally hydrogenated to farnesane - brand name Hemisqualane. The absolute LCA results for one kilo of
biotech squalane are given in Table 4. The production of squalene accounts for a very significant share of the LCA impact results at around 75% of the average indicator. The fermentative process, involving the consumption of sugarcane glucose and a solvent (heptanol), largely explains this finding.
Bio-based C14 alkane The C14 bio-based alkane (tetradecane) was chosen to better compare it to hemisqualane (C15). This C14 alkane is considered in this LCA study as a bioalkane produced by the same process as the one used to obtain coconut alkanes, i.e. from refined vegetable oil. However, in this case, RSPO-certified palm kernel oil (C14-rich oil) is used instead of coconut oil. In addition to the agricultural
upstream phase, the LCA also includes the manufacturing steps such as alcoholysis of the oil, hydrogenolysis of the fatty esters, distillation, dehydration of the alcohols and final hydrogenation to obtain C14 alkane (sequence of production of a C14 alkane, according to the reaction in Figure 1).
Impact category indicator
Climate change
Resource use, minerals and
metals Acidification
Eutrophication, freshwater
Photochemical ozone formation
Ecotoxicity, freshwater
Water use
Resource use, fossils
Unit kg CO2 eq
kg Sb eq kg SO2
kg P eq Ozone depletion kg CFC-11 eq eq
Biotechnological squalane
1,997E+02 1,107E+00 1,438E+01
5,870E-02 1,392E-05
kg NMVOC 6,102E+00 CTUe
Litres MJ
1,550E+03 5,932E-01 2,264E+03
e emissions of 5 kg/kg, olive
Compared to the ‘coconut oil’ formulation, this C14 alkane emits 40% more greenhouse gases over its lifecycle. On the other hand, the use of palm kernel oil reduces the other indicators by an average of 30%. The following figure illustrates these results. Comparative balance sheet Figure 8 clearly illustrates the difference in environmental impacts between olive and biotechnological squalanes. It is also important not to overlook the
strengths of the other two ingredients analysed here. Indeed, let us recall that the bio-based C14 alkane and the coconut alkanes stand out on the issue of greenhouse gases with, respectively, emissions of between 2 and 3 kg CO2
e/kg.
Table 5 summarises some qualitative aspects inherent to the life cycle of the bio-based alkanes studied. Although the interpretation of this information is somewhat subjective, we can note that the potential level of ‘sustainability’ varies according to the options chosen: olive>palm oil, conventional chemistry>synthetic chemistry, or co-product valorization>no valorization. The ‘science’ of LCA is continually
evolving and the quantity and quality of primary data collected by cosmetics players is becoming more robust, which will make it possible to carry out increasingly detailed and precise analysis. Finally, let us not forget that consumers and French and European institutions contribute, through their involvement in environmental and CSR issues, to encourage these actors to commit to increasingly ambitious eco-design approaches.
Conclusion We have seen that bio-based alkanes are not natural compounds in the literal sense of the term but substances of natural origin. These alkanes are also very different from each other, in terms of their chemical structure, their physicochemical properties, their method of production and above all their environmental impact. In this respect, the biosynthetic biology of
bio-based alkanes has a very strong impact on the environment, in particular due to the intensive method of cultivation of the
April 2022 PERSONAL CARE
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