Speaker: Pascal Yvon, General Manager Americas, Sharon Personal Care

Preserving wipes is complex and known to be challenging. The microbiological risk is due to the unique product characteristics of wipes, which are composed of both a liquid formula (lotion) and a fabric.

The choice of fabric for wet wipes is influenced by several physicochemical properties that affect performance and safety. Non-woven fabrics can be made from synthetic fibers like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or more and more natural fibers such as viscose and cellulose, but most commonly - a combination of both in various ratios. However, biodegradable fabrics, while environmentally friendly, are likely to pose a higher contamination risk due to their hydrophilic nature.

Our research identified microbiological risk associated with the following two factors: the first one is the tendency of non-woven to promote the formation of a biofilm, and the second one is the type of fabric. The latter will be a key driver in selecting the right preservation approach. Indeed, the growing trend of using polysaccharidic natural fibers (wood pulp, viscose, etc.) requires a significantly more hydrophilic preservative system than most of the currently used ones. In addition, the industry is facing another hurdle: a strong trend of "free-from" claims, which are limiting the choice of ingredients and preservation systems.

In this presentation, we will display effective preservative avenues by establishing the quantitative correlation between different fabrics and the anti-microbial efficacy, as a result of understanding and optimizing the relationship of the couple fabric nature/preservative.