Bolingbrook, Ill.-based Elevance Renewable Sciences Inc. and Dow Corning Corp. have introduced a new biobased home-care product, Dow Corning HY-3200 Emulsifying Soy Wax, the third in a growing family of biobased product lines based on Elevance’s novel metathesis of natural lipids.

According to Andy Shafer, vice president of sales and market development for Elevance, Dow Corning HY-3200 provides emulsifying characteristics that the industry typically receives from polyethylene glycol, a polyether compound traditionally made from petroleum and used in various industrial manufacturing applications. He added that the biobased ingredient also acts as a thickening agent that simplifies formulations.

“These are two advantages that give flexibility in formulating, and a cost advantage in formulating that they’ve never had before,” Shafer said, adding that the product will be commercially available in 2011. “The challenge is finding a renewable material that would allow emulsification and thickening. It’s difficult to achieve each one of those pieces individually. To get both of those in the same material is something that the industry doesn’t have today.”

Dow Corning HY-3200 joins similar biobased personal care ingredients currently available on the market: Dow Corning JY-3051 Soy Wax Blend and Dow Corning HY-3050 Soy Wax products. Dow Corning HY-3051 Soy Wax Blend is a naturally derived alternative to petrolatum that provides conditioning, shine and anti-frizz for leave-in hair products. Dow Corning HY-3050 Soy Wax offers film foaming and emolliency for skin care and adds body to sticks, pomades and creams.

Shafer said Elevance and Dow Corning formed their alliance in 2008 to introduce a suite of biobased ingredients and products to the personal care market, products that offer similar or better properties of traditional petroleum-derived personal care products currently on the market.

“The personal care industry wants more ingredients in its products coming from renewable sources,” Shafer said.