During the course of FY24 project work, Sironix worked with both contract manufacturing and sulfonation partners to achieve a scalable soy-based surfactant manufacturing process. The surfactant pricing estimates generated based on a TEA for this process demonstrated the ingredients to be cost-competitive with commercial surfactants in Sironix’s target beachhead market, personal care. Results from a third-party LCA projected a very favorable environmental impact for the soy surfactants compared to commercial petrochemical surfactants, with nearly 50% reduction in total climate impact on a kg CO2 equivalents/kg surfactant basis. Toxicology and application testing of the surfactant materials are currently pending return of sulfonated material from our sulfonation partner, where it is queued for production. To communicate our progress in development, Sironix published an article in AOCS INFORM magazine’s biotechnology issue (April, 2024) summarizing the recent advances in our surfactant technology, and highlighting the sustainability benefits of US soy feedstocks compared to imported plant oils.

Progress in FY24 project work served to de-risk Sironix's hydrogenated soybean oil-based surfactant technology. Work with contract manufacturers demonstrated a scalable manufacturing process. A techno-economic analysis determined a competitive price point for the surfactants in the personal care beachhead market. A third-party screening life cycle assessment projected a significant improvement in climate impact compared to the state-of-the-art petrochemical-based surfactants currently on the market. Commercialization of high-performing, biorenewable, domestically-sourced, and cost-competitive soy surfactants from this project will enable substantial market penetration into the $12 billion cleaning and personal care product markets. If transitioning soybean surfactant technology to commercial scale is successful, offtake of more than 50 million bushels of soybeans per annum is expected. Continued development of biorenewable surfactants prepared by Sironix will enable expansion beyond the cleaning and personal care product markets into the broader anionic surfactants market, including such applications as HI&I, paints, inks, coatings, and agrochemical spray products.