Application and Market Prospect of Silica in Food and Cosmetics
Silica is a safe and environmentally friendly daily chemical additive, and has better performance in high-end applications. For example, as beer silica gel in food to make products taste better, and as an anti-caking agent in cosmetics, it is harmless to the environment.
Regulatory agencies in various countries have certified silica as a safe and harmless additive. Regulatory agencies in Europe, the United States, and the United Nations have approved silica as an additive for use in food and other fields. A 2006 study by the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals (ECETOC) showed that human inhalation of silica through the mouth, skin or eyes is essentially non-toxic and has no significant impact on environmental quality.
1. Application and substitution of silica in the food field
Silica has the excellent properties of non-toxic, harmless, stable properties and large specific surface area, which is exactly in line with the characteristics of food anticaking agents and adsorbents, and is more high-quality and efficient than the original products.
In the field of table salt, silicon dioxide is not only non-toxic, but also has high resistance to caking, which is superior to potassium ferrocyanide and ferric ammonium citrate, and can be used as a green and healthy anti-caking agent in table salt products. .
In the field of beverages such as beer and fruit juice, silica can agglutinate turbid substances and has a clarifying effect. It can effectively remove turbid proteins in beer without affecting the quality of beer products, and the loss of beer in the whole process is very small. Compared with other filter aids, it has the advantages of less dosage and better effect, and has been widely used in the beer industry as a new type of environmentally friendly adsorbent.
In the field of edible oil, adding less silica can greatly reduce the amount of activated clay used, avoid the color of the edible oil being too light, not only can get better quality sunflower oil, but also help enterprises save production costs.
2. Application and substitution of silica in the field of cosmetics
Plastic microbeads have been banned from production due to environmental issues, and silica is widely used as an excellent ingredient in cosmetics. Silica is a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) ingredient in personal care products such as cosmetics and sunscreens, and its spherical, small particle size, and porous properties make it an anti-caking agent in the cosmetic field And thickener, can improve storage stability and dispersion of powder products, is widely used, such as dispensing lipstick and cosmetic pigments to help improve the free-flow properties of hair bleach and nail polish coating properties.
3. The growth of high-end daily chemical applications of silica is exploding
Silicone rubber is odorless and non-toxic, suitable for a wide range of working temperatures, and has good insulation, oxidation resistance, light resistance, mildew resistance, and chemical stability. With the improvement of people’s requirements for quality of life, it is widely used in daily chemical consumption such as baby care products. middle.
The fields of food and cosmetics are relatively scattered, and the potential space for consumption upgrade is huge. The global demand for silica used in food and cosmetics can reach 100,000 tons.
The trend of high-end beer in food is in the ascendant, the price of products is constantly rising, and consumers’ demands for product quality and taste are also increasing accordingly. According to the data of Japan’s Kirin Holdings (Kirin), the global beer production has reached 191.06 billion liters in 2018. According to beer silica gel The addition of 0.03%-0.06% is assumed, and the global demand is 60,000-120,000 tons.