Hero background

Insights from the Industry

Explore expert perspectives, trends, and innovations
shaping the future of specialty chemicals and your market.

Filter by
What an Inspector Will Ask About Your Antifoam 
Article

What an Inspector Will Ask About Your Antifoam 

An anti foaming agent in pharmaceutical manufacture is either a component of your product or a process-related impurity in it. Most shortlists are drawn up before anyone decides which, and the documen…
When Foam Control Costs You the Batch 
Article

When Foam Control Costs You the Batch 

Antifoam agents in fermentation are selected on knockdown speed and dose economy. Their effect on the culture itself is rarely tested, and it is the variable most likely to explain a titre you cannot…
Specification Equivalence Is Not Performance Equivalence
Article

Specification Equivalence Is Not Performance Equivalence

Two certificates of analysis, every line within limits, same INCI or same CAS number. The purchasing case looks obvious, and then the pilot batch behaves differently. This is the most common disappoin…
Cosmetic Ingredient Substitution: Where to Start Looking
Article

Cosmetic Ingredient Substitution: Where to Start Looking

Substitution projects arrive from three directions: a regulation closes a door, a customer or retailer asks for a claim, or a supplier stops making the grade. The reflex is to look for a molecule that…
EUDR Due Diligence: What an Operator Actually Has to Collect
Article

EUDR Due Diligence: What an Operator Actually Has to Collect

Knowing that a product is in scope is the easy half. The harder half is the evidence: where exactly the commodity was produced, that it was produced legally, and that the land was not deforested. The…
Which Coupling Silane: Si 69, Mercaptosilanes or the Alternatives? 
Technical Article

Which Coupling Silane: Si 69, Mercaptosilanes or the Alternatives? 

Silica reinforces, but it does not bond to rubber on its own. The coupling silane does that job, and the one you pick decides how the compound mixes, when it scorches, how much ethanol leaves the mixe…
Microplastics in Cosmetics: What Is Restricted, and When
Article

Microplastics in Cosmetics: What Is Restricted, and When

The microplastics restriction is often summarised as a ban on glitter and scrub beads. It is much wider than that. Regulation (EU) 2023/2055 restricts synthetic polymer microparticles on their own and…
Fumed or Precipitated Silica: Which One Should You Choose? 
Article

Fumed or Precipitated Silica: Which One Should You Choose? 

Both are amorphous synthetic silica. Both thicken, matt and stop things settling. And they are not interchangeable. The difference starts in how they are made, and it ends in what your formulation fee…
Importing Chemicals Into the EU: Who Holds the REACH Obligation?
Article

Importing Chemicals Into the EU: Who Holds the REACH Obligation?

Buying directly from a producer outside Europe often looks like the cheaper route. It can be, as long as you know what comes with it. The moment a substance crosses into the EU, someone becomes the im…