TK 4104 – 03 CHEMICAL PRODUCT DESIGN

SUMMARY GUEST LECTURE

“Master Batch Surfactant & CRODA”
____________________________________________________________________________
Name : Fauzan Abdurrahman
Date: 23rd September 2021
NIM : 13018220
Guest Lecture: Erwin Harun
Institution: Bandung Institute of Technology

Summary of Presentation

Should include:
- What have you learnt from the presentation?
- Question(s) you have regarding the topic of presentation.
- Your idea/perception towards the topic of presentation.

Based from the presentation, we have learned about CRODA Company and the product that
revolves around it, which includes surfactant.
Firstly, the identity of Company CRODA is mentioned. They have several branches in North
America, Latin America, Western Europe, EEMEA, and Asia Pacific. Based from the information
given, most operation as of today are located in Asia Pacific regions, although the highest sales by
region are from Europe, Middle East and Africa. In terms of sales by sector, CRODA are mostly
dominant in consumer care (beauty actives, home care, fragrances, etc), followed by life sciences
(health care, crop protection, and seed enhancement), performance technology (smart materials,
energy technologies), and industrial chemicals. The company’s strategy is defined by 3 points:

 Growth, with profit growing ahead of sales and ahead of volumes that remain consistent.
 Innovation, the lifeblood of the business with the aim to increase the proportion of New and
Protected Products (NPPs) that they sell.
 Sustainability, by aligning the business with their purpose and accelerating our customers’
transition to sustainable ingredients.
The system of their innovation itself composed of 3 parties that are involved, namely the organic
R&D, open innovation, and technology investment. These 3 will synergize with each other in a term
called “culture of innovation” and produce outputs such as; growing proportion of NPP, increased
differentiation, intellectual property, and stronger cash generation and returns. In CRODA, their
main capabilities is shown below.
In terms of sustainable aspect, the company uses the fundamentals (9 SDGs) as their benchmark,
and then characterize it into 3 parts namely climate positive, land positive, and people positive.
With this planning, the company’s progress is included in a 2020 results, where they manage to
improve the energy mix since 2015 by 25%, saved 16.5 thousand hectares of land, used 67% of
bio – based of raw materials, and contribute their component in the Pfizer vaccine to 50 million
people.
In terms of their main facilities, the presentation focuses on the Sulphate Plant and Ester Plant.
They use ester reactors (2015) of 10T & 5T with unit ANFOMUL 2887&2500. HYPERMER 2296V,
and CRODADRILL L10 as their reactors for liquid ester, oleic ester, and PIBSA Amide. As for the
Napthalene sulphonate and phosphate ester, they used Glass Lined (1995), Sulphate Reactor 5T,
and Blender 15T&5T with unit MATEXUL DA-N and DEPSOLUBE ACA. Examples of the glass
lined reactor is showed below.

As for now, they have an program for expanding the Cikarang Ester Plant, showed a the figure
below.
In terms of the product, they are focusing on surfactant which is defined as a surface – active agent
that have a hydrophobic part as well as hydrophilic part. The design of these substances involves
three parameters; Stoichiometric, Kinetic, and Thermodynamic. These parameters are also
affected by the nature, physical state, surface are, concentration, temperature, catalyst/s that are
used, and the pressure. The surfactant itself can be innovated that depends on the method namely
inside – out and outside – in. examples of these method’s product is shown at the chart below.
In CRODA, the process of developing the product itself is similar to other companies. Starting from
market study, feasibility study, and supply – demand as their first stage, which is the business
case. Next, the development of the product is determined by the technology, lab trials,
acclimatization, and followed by a plant scale – up and product launch. This process can take from
3 – 12 months. Several key factors that needs to be considered are the safety, quality, and the
sustainability of these materials. The teams that are involved in the development program are
technical, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and commercial team.
As for the question, I have no particular question regarding this topic, nor do I have any opinion that
should be mentioned. I just found it interesting during the whole session.