Personal and home care: Developing and optimizing raw materials and products

Personal & Home Care Research: Cream in the Lab
© iStock.com / Motortion

Interdisciplinary research and development for holistic concepts

From skin creams and hand soaps to dishwasher capsules and dish soaps — these are products that almost everyone uses every day. There is, however, increasing demand in this industry for safe and sustainable products. This challenges companies to develop new ecologically friendly, high-quality products, as well as to optimize existing ones.

Which raw materials do consumers perceive as sustainable? Which alternative ingredients still ensure a high-quality product? How can the shelf life of natural products be improved? These are just some of the questions we are tackling through our research.

Our interdisciplinary team pools knowledge and expertise from across a range of relevant fields to develop products that are sustainable from start to end of the process chain: from raw materials to the mechanical processes and then to the packaged product. We aim to work with you to develop bio-based and recyclable products as well as resource-conserving processes for personal and home care products.

If you are interested, feel free to get in touch!

Our personal and home care sector services

Applied research and development for skincare, hair care, oral care, color cosmetics and fragrances, as well as detergents and cleaning products, textile care products and air fresheners, and raw materials certified as natural cosmetics for personal and home care products.

Product optimization

Quality & efficacy

We analyze your applications and products in relation to your needs:

 

Product performance

Psychophysiological effect

We test how your product is perceived by customers:

 

Product safety

Custom packaging concepts

We develop safe and sustainable packaging for you:

 

Production processe

Hygiene & efficiency

We optimize your production and cleaning processes:

 

Quality optimization

Emulsion-based Encapsulation

We increase the effectiveness and shelf life of your products:

 

 

Together we can develop the optimal personal and home care product!

Ways to use our personal and home care sector services

Our research and development methods can be applied to any ingredient or product across a variety of categories. Here is an overview of potential ways you can use our personal and home care sector services.

Ingredients

Ingredients certified for natural and synthetic use in personal and home care products

 Optimized skin cream Fraunhofer IVV 2022
© Arielle Springer
skin creams, facial cleansing foam, peelings
© iStock.com / Magone

There is a wide range of applications for ingredients certified for natural and synthetic use in the personal and home care sector. These materials also come with an equally broad array of challenges for manufacturers, suppliers and users. From manufacturing, storage and transportation to using ingredients in end products, we tailor our solutions to your needs.

Our ingredients sector services:

  • Measurement of psychophysiological reactions to multisensory stimuli and evaluation of marketing claims
  • Analytical evaluation and selection of plant-based ingredients and alternatives to synthetic ingredients, for example bio-based additives or proteins
  • Development and validation of sensors and analytics systems in view of the required detection of marker substances, for example to assess the source, purity or effect of ingredients
  • Development of encapsulation processes for biopolymer materials or microencapsulation to protect ingredients
  • Investigation, modeling and optimization of ingredient shelf life in combination with packaging materials with the aim of protecting active ingredients and fragrances

Personal Care

Skincare (rinse-off and leave-on products), hair care, oral care, color cosmetics, fragrances

Different make up products
© iStock.com / Floortje

Whether your product is a cream, lotion, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, toothpaste or bath salts, we can support you in developing personal care products, assessing and addressing these products and issues raised using tailored methods.

Our personal care sector services:

  • Measurement of psychophysiological reactions to multisensory stimuli and behavior and haptic perception (skin-feel) prediction for personal care products, as well as assessment of psychophysiological effects of aroma components
  • Analytical evaluation and selection of plant-based and alternatives to synthetic ingredients
  • Optimization of product development and marketing claims
  • Recipe and packaging testing, modeling and optimization in view of protecting active ingredients and fragrances and extending shelf life
  • Assessment of and advice on barrier properties, recyclability and use of bio-based ingredients in packaging and packaging systems

Home Care

Detergents and cleaning products, textile care products and air fresheners

Product optimization Home Care detergents
© iStock.com / Maridav
Product optimization detergent
© iStock.com / shironagasukujira

Sustainability and functionality also play a part in home care products. In view of resource shortages, many manufacturers focus on developing biodegradable and environmentally friendly formulas. While doing so, it is important that products continue to fulfil their function and are pleasant for consumers to use. Our interdisciplinary team of experienced scientists will investigate your products and develop uniquely tailored methods to suit your needs, whether it be liquid or powder detergents, conditioners, dishwashing or household cleaning products, textile care products or air fresheners.

Our home care sector services:

  • Measurement of psychophysiological reactions to multisensory stimuli and behavior and olfactory perception (scent) prediction for home care products, as well as assessment of psychophysiological effects of aroma components
  • Analytical evaluation and selection of plant-based and alternatives to synthetic ingredients
  • Optimization of product development and marketing claims
  • Recipe and packaging testing, modeling and optimization, including protection of active ingredients and fragrances and extending shelf life
  • Assessment of and advice on barrier propertiesrecyclability and use of bio-based ingredients in packaging and packaging systems

Current research projects and articles in the field of Personal & Home Care

 

Research project »PhysioToolbox«

Development of a digital toolbox for objective measurement of response to scents and other sensory perceptual effects.

Research Project »ProColor«

Development of a plant-based new color transfer inhibitor for use in powder color detergents.

Project »Damaged Beans«

Using damaged cocoa pods to manufacture cosmetic products.

Further services

Sustainable product development along the entire process chain: our interdisciplinary team of experts has comprehensive expertise in various fields. Learn more about our cross-institutional services here: