Clariant debuts sustainable, performance- boosting ingredients at HPCI Congress India

"Touch of Nature" ingredients support growing demand for natural-based cosmetics in emerging Indian market
New pigments address environmental and aesthetic-goals of home care applications
Efficiency and product differentiation benefits for formulators

Mumbai (India), March 15, 2012 - Clariant supports the growing sustainability and quality needs of India’s expanding home and personal care markets with the introduction of cutting-edge formulation ingredients at HPCI Congress India, March 15-16, 2012, under the theme: “Touch of Nature – Natural Polymer, Natural Beauty”.

At Booth 130, Hall 5, the specialty chemicals expert will showcase innovative ingredients focused on boosting the performance, efficiency, safety and environmental compatibility of applications, across the broad spectrum from skin care formulations to detergents. Congress visitors will gain insight into Clariant's commitment to deliver service tailored to the specific requirements of customers in India, based on its global experience and expertise in these end-markets, and through its local production and support facilities.

New product highlights of Clariant at HPCI Congress India 2012 include:

Touch of Nature

Clariant presents three new lines of innovative vegetal-based biopolymers for skin and hair care to India's cosmetics sector. The active ingredients and sensory boosters respond to the market's growing demand for natural-based products. All are extracted from fungal sources that are: non-GMO, inexhaustible, quality constant, traceable and renewable.

The natural ingredients moisturize, repair and protect skin and hair. They will support the region's cosmetics formulators in differentiating their products and fulfilling consumers' desire for purity, effectiveness, and a youthful appearance.

Vitipure™ repairs and protects skin, reduces wrinkles, boosts elasticity and firmness and rebalances and hydrates skin.
Velsan® provides a natural, vegetal replacement for silicones in skin care, repairs and coats hair in haircare and creates stable, creamy foam with a pleasant, soft touch.
Zenvivo™ is the only available vegetal Chitosan. Its low molecular grade reduces odor in mouthwash and deodorants or boosts preservation in cosmetics. Its high-molecular grade is a film-former in hair-styling, sun care or decorative cosmetics, and provides conditioning performance in skin and hair care.

The three product lines already are in commercial trials with Clariant customers. Early reports suggest that the vegetal biopolymers outperform synthetic and animal-based products on sensorial properties, i.e. delivering a 'gentle' feel to skin and hair. They also offer a top-drawer environmental profile: Vitipure™ and Zenvivo™ are certified by ECOCERT, the leading accreditor for organic products; and they comply with GMP (FDA and EMEA), HACCP and ISO9001:2008.

"Within the personal care market in India there is strong growth in demand for nourishing products with a natural and biologic positioning. The introduction of our new vegetal-based biopolymer lines in India, together with our recently inaugurated Consumer Care formulation laboratory in Kolshet (Thane-India), enhances our capability to support customers in their development of formulations that meet these evolving needs," comments Dr Alexander Snell, Head of ICS Business, Clariant Chemicals (India) Limited.

"Clariant is committed to provide superior-quality products for the global personal care industry that address the sustainability and end-product performance challenges of the sector. Our new biopolymers are a great example of our focus on transforming new, sustainable, innovative technologies into cost-efficient products that can add real value to our customers' formulations and operations," said Mr Gregor Keil, Head of Sales & Application Consumer Care-APAC.

Vitipure™ will be the subject of an in-depth presentation by Dr. Tom Fricke, R&D Manager Personal Care-Clariant Prod. GmbH entitled: "Vitipure™ - A Unique Solution for Complete Skin Repair," on March 16, 2012 at the parallel HPCI Conference at the same venue.

Color competence with consumer appeal

Clariant features four new pigment advances for the first time at HPCI Congress India. The high performance organic pigments, pigment preparations and dyes are aimed at taking the sector in India to the next level, helping customers respond to growing demand for hygiene products and greater awareness of "green" products by consumers.

Clariant's formulation-stable colorants enhance product appearance, support differentiation and attract consumers, as well as aid processing efficiency.

New liquids: Sanolin Ponceau SP liquid - Acid Red 18 solution in water-PEG formulation especially suitable for powder detergents and tablets.
Sanolin Blue AS-NBL liquid - Acid Blue 80 aqueous formulation for detergent applications.
New FM-BR gran wax based pigment preparations for shoe polish.

These innovative developments allow for straight-forward processing through easy and dust free dosing, and good compatibility with, and fast and easy incorporation into, the final formulation.

Clariant also introduces HPCI visitors to its innovative encapsulated pigments for color change effect, which enable manufacturers to add exciting visual appeal to personal, home and fabric care applications.

"Product quality & regulation has become a must for all FMCG companies in India. At HPCI 2012, we will aim to highlight how Clariant's innovations combine the assurance of advanced performance with product safety, and environmental and regulatory compliance to support new trends, across all C&D applications. Clariant in India is fully geared up to address the new challenges, in terms of local availability of selected High Performance Pigments through local production activities at its Roha and Cuddalore sites in India. In addition, we have set up a state of art Technical Service Lab and the Product Safety Lab (in Kolshet,Thane-India) to support customer projects on development activity and regulatory support," explains Mr. Sambit Roy, Head of Plastics and Special Applications, Clariant Chemicals (India) Limited.