How Shell Chemicals delivers surfactant ingredient integrity
Formulators and procurement teams in personal care, fabric care, and hard surface cleaning depend on ingredients that behave predictably in development and production.
When raw materials vary in composition or purity, formulating becomes more complex. These inconsistencies can make products harder to scale, since production parameters must be recalibrated to achieve uniform quality, increasing both time and manufacturing risk.
Strict standards around ingredient integrity help reduce these challenges by giving manufacturing teams confidence that their inputs will perform consistently across applications.
Shell Chemicals combines analytical precision, standardised testing, and consistent global manufacturing processes to support formulation stability and product reliability. These practices help customers reduce uncertainty and maintain performance across product categories.
Precision manufacturing alcohol ethoxylates and linear alpha olefins for consistent molecular quality
Shell NEODOL® alcohols and ethoxylates and Shell NEODENE® linear alpha and internal olefins originate from Shell’s proprietary manufacturing technologies. These technologies convert ethylene into linear alpha olefins and then into primary alcohols with defined molecular structures.
The Shell Higher Olefins Process (SHOP) produces olefins with high linearity, typically between 90% and 99% for Shell NEODENE alpha and internal olefins.
Shell NEODOL alcohols are manufactured using Shell Hydroformylation (SHF), which introduces a lightly branched structure that is approximately 80% linear and 20% branched.
This structure offers ease of formulating, product stability, and compatibility with other ingredients, supporting solubility and emulsification across a variety of conditions.
Shell NEODOL and Shell NEODENE also serve as precursors for primary alcohols, alcohol ethoxylates, alcohol ethoxy sulfates, alpha olefin sulfonates, and other surfactant intermediates used in personal care, fabric care, and cleaning applications.
Globally aligned manufacturing and quality standards help maintain uniformity across Shell Chemicals’ production network. Customers receive material with consistent molecular profiles, which supports predictable formulation performance.
Standardised analytical testing for surfactant ingredient purity
Ingredient integrity depends on verifiable composition and controlled impurity levels. Shell Chemicals supports this through defined analytical specifications, including Shell Methodology Specifications (SMS) and ASTM International test methods.
This standardises purity, molecular distribution, colour, water content, and carbonyl levels across products.
Tightly defined molecular structures, combined with controlled impurity limits, help formulators maintain predictable behaviour during formulation.
Shell NEODOL and Shell NEODENE are high-purity materials with very low levels of contaminants such as water, oxygenates, diols, heavy metals, and S, N, and P polar compounds.
Rheology as a tool for predicting formulation behaviour
Rheology helps formulators understand how ingredients behave under different conditions.
Small adjustments to surfactant chemistry, solvents, or fragrance oils can affect flow, viscosity, suspension, and texture. These changes can influence how products pump, pour, spread, or dissolve, which makes rheological data an important complement to molecular specifications.
Rheological screening can also provide early indicators of sensory attributes such as thickness or spreadability.
Shell Chemicals applies rheological analysis to help evaluate flow behaviour, gel formation, and stability in formulas that include Shell NEODOL. This provides measurable insight into how formulation changes, temperature shifts, and concentration ranges influence performance during mixing, dilution, and storage.
Meeting environmental and regulatory expectations
Environmental and regulatory considerations are an important part of ingredient integrity.
Several Shell NEODOL products have been reviewed by EPA’s Safer Choice program and
qualify for use in Safer Choice-certified grades. Shell NEODOL grades are also listed in Europe’s Detergents Ingredients Database, which can support applications for voluntary programs such as the EU Ecolabel.
All Shell NEODOL grades are readily biodegradable, which can help support environmental compliance across markets.
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Global quality assurance for consistent surfactant ingredient performance
Shell Chemicals applies Global Quality Assurance processes, including Global Manufacturing and Product Specifications. These practices help ensure Shell NEODOL and Shell NEODENE achieve consistent product quality and performance, continuously meeting expectations across regions.
Our manufacturing technologies support reliable material profiles, including consistent linearity, branching, and purity. These attributes contribute to uniform behaviour in formulation and help limit variability during development and production.
This work is supported by our dedicated scientists, who provide analytical verification, formulation troubleshooting, and technical support.
Surfactant ingredient sourcing you can trust
Shell NEODOL alcohols and ethoxylates and Shell NEODENE olefins are supported by defined analytical specifications and controlled molecular structures that help maintain purity, colour, and stability.
These attributes support ease of formulating, product stability, and compatibility with other ingredients across a range of conditions and applications.
The consistent molecular structure, high linearity, and high purity found across Shell NEODOL and Shell NEODENE grades help support predictable ingredient behaviour during development and scale-up.
Shell’s manufacturing systems, standardised testing, and products that meet global standards help customers maintain formulation confidence and product consistency across markets. These practices support stable performance, reliable development, and uniform behaviour during production and use.