Unilever Home Care discovered that some micro-organisms can convert sugar into surfactants resulting in the cleaning performance our consumers require, with excellent foaming and dirt removal qualities. Using the latest advances in biotechnology, we can mirror the same process that happens in nature, but recreate it at a bigger scale by feeding bacteria with refined sugar, or waste from the corn and maize industry.

In partnership with German biotechnology company Evonik, Unilever has harnessed this naturally occurring process to develop a first-of-its-kind surfactant for household cleaning products: Rhamnolipid. Not only is Rhamnolipid 100% renewable and biodegradable, but it is also ultra-mild on skin and offers better performance in hard water context. Unilever started using this ingredient in its products in 2019. Made in Europe, it is used in products launched all around the world (from Latin America to Asia) and we have further market rollouts planned later this year and into 2025. This global roll out of the technology has been supported by our partnership with Evonik, who inaugurated in May 2024 a state-of-the-art production facility for Rhamnolipids at its production facility in Slovenská Ľupča, Slovakia. It is the world’s first industrial-scale plant creating rhamnolipids.