Abstract Submissions

On behalf of CESIO, the European Association of Surfactant Manufacturers, we invite you to contribute to the next World Surfactant Congress which will take place in Rome from 5th to 7th June 2023. After a long period of online meetings and webconferences we are going to offer sufficient place and time for face-to-face networking and – of course – first-class presentations and posters in the fascinating capital city of Italy, which is unrivaled in the world.

The theme of the Congress is:

“Surfactants — High Performance Solutions for a better World”

Global warming, Environmental Legislation, COVID-19 - the last years have clearly shown that “business as usual” will not be a viable option for the upcoming decades. To an extent global societies will need to adapt to minimise irreversible collateral damage. This will involve governments, regulators, citizens and industry and its supply chains. Some commentators think that new economies with new business models may be required for a better world – a threat to some, an opportunity for others.

With this background, what is the specific mission of surfactants and their producers? Surfactants play a significant role as part of high-performance solutions that are required to meet the global challenges. For example, surfactants add value by helping to keep the components within a complex product formulation compatible. They also provide performance features in their own right (e.g. cleaning, wetting, foaming, emulsification, etc).

Surfactants are thus one crucial component for consumer products that enable them to do what they are supposed to do, e.g. related to cosmetics, household applications, professional and industrial uses (e.g. I&I or agrochemicals and many others). With current trends surfactant producers are required to reduce the global warming potential of chemical processes and products. As a result, research and investment in several fields will be required for surfactants, including lower CO2, bio-based raw materials and circularity. The challenge will be to identify surfactants with lower environmental impact as determined by Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) that can be produced at current mainstream surfactant scales, perform well (e.g. clean as well as current products), and be cost effective. On the retail consumer side, digitalization should help to speed up activities as in the COVID-19 era consumers buy more and more products online than off-the-shelf. COVID-19 has also resulted in a huge demand for products and surfactants for hygiene and sanitation.

An important role of our industry organization, CESIO, is to provide surfactant related knowledge and ensure that any industry regulations developed are based on facts, good science and recognised testing protocols. As regulations and raw material chains develop, there will be both restrictions and new opportunities opening up. This will affect surfactants as well as biocides, solvents, polymers and other ingredients. The surfactants industry has a tremendous breadth and depth of expertise in bringing ingredients together in advanced formulations and is therefore well positioned to help downstream users adapt to supplier changes and identify new business opportunities.

The conference has three clusters with the following topics:

Cluster — Technical and Applications

• Sustainability and circularity in surfactants
• Detergency, cleaning and sanitation
• Innovation in Household, Personal Care and I&I
• From structure to properties to applications
• Impact of digital, regulation and consumer behaviour
• Selected applications: household, I&I, personal care, agrochemicals, industrial uses of surfactants including oil and gas, process aids, paints and coatings, emulsion polymerization, mining, etc.

Cluster — Safety and Regulatory Affairs

• Sustainability Policies in USA, Europe and Japan
• REACH and CLP under the EU Chemicals Strategy
• How can the efficiency of sustainability be assessed?

Cluster — Business and Market Trends

• Legal and technical impact into business models for sustainable products
• Global trends: Hygiene and sanitation beyond COVID-19
• Digitalisation and consumer behaviour
• Dinosaur meets Unicorn – what long-established companies can learn from start-ups

We welcome papers and/or posters on the above topics. Please note that the above is intended as guidance only. Proposals for papers on topics not mentioned above are also most welcome.

• The period for submission of abstracts for oral presentations closes on 10 February 2023.
• The period for submission of abstracts for posters closes on 18 April 2023.

Every speaker at the congress will automatically enter the contest for CESIO 2023 awards for the best presentation in each cluster.

All accepted posters could be published during the congress and will automatically enter the contest for CESIO 2023 awards for the best poster.

• For detailed information on speakers’ conditions, please click here.
• For further guidance on abstract submission, please click here.

Please do not register for the congress until you have received a response regarding the approval of your contribution by the CESIO Programme Committee at the end of February.