Formulating Hydroalcoholic Gels with Carbopol Technical ... - Lubrizol

Lubrizol Advanced Materials’ rheology modifiers are
efficient ingredients to provide thickening,
stabilization and suspension of these types of
formulations. Carbopol polymers are the preferred
polymers to provide cost effective and aesthetically
pleasing hand sanitizing gels. The use of Carbopol
polymers will create thick clear gels that will prevent
dripping and will maximize contact of alcohol on the
skin for optimum performance.
Benefits
• Quickly kills bacteria when water is not available.
• Quickly evaporates on application requiring no
need for rinsing or drying of the hands.
• Consumer convenience over ordinary hand
washing with soap and water.
• Emollients, botanical extracts, moisturizers and
fragrances can all be incorporated and are
compatible -- thus helping to provide additional
functional benefits such as conditioning.
TDS-255
Formulating Hydroalcoholic Gels with Carbopol ® Polymers
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Polymer Selection
Although all Carbopol polymers can thicken
hydroalcoholic systems, several grades offer
advantages such as higher clarity, better
efficiency, ease of handling and better overall
aesthetics for hand sanitizing gels. All three of our
Carbopol Ultrez polymers are good rheology
modifiers for these gels. A typical hand sanitizing
gel contains less than 40 wt% deionized water.
Due to this constraint, the low dispersion viscosity,
as well as the processing ease, makes the
Carbopol Ultrez polymers well-suited for these
types of formulations as compared to the more
traditional polymer grades. The following table will
assist in polymer selection.
Carbopol ® Polymer Ultrez 10 Ultrez 21 Ultrez 20 980 940
HSG Viscosity*, >0.2 wt% ��� ��� �� ��� ��
Clarity �� �� ��� � �
Electrolyte Tolerance � �� ��� � �
Smoothness after use ��� ��� ��� �� ��
Ease of dispersion ��� ��� ��� � �
Balling or Pilling** � �� ��� � ��
��� Preferred � Lower performance
*The HSG Viscosity references the formulation viscosity of the Hand Sanitizing Gel shown in table below
**The more checks the less pilling of system occurs
Screening Formulation for Carbopol Polymer Comparison
Use Level of Carbopol ® Polymer 0.1 wt% 0.2 wt% 0.3 wt% 0.4 wt% 0.5 wt%
Deionized Water (wt%) 39.8 39.6 39.4 39.2 39.0
Ethanol (wt%) 60.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 60.0
TEA (wt%) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5