Database/Cleansing Surfactant/PEG-150 Oleate
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is PEG-150 Oleate natural?

Mostly not. Oleic acid from vegetable oil provides the natural acyl fragment, but the 150-unit petrochemical ethylene oxide chain overwhelms the total mass.

INCI namePEG-150 Oleate
CAS9004-96-0
FunctionCleansing Surfactant
FeedstockMade by ethoxylating oleic acid from vegetable oils…

How we scored it

Supplied formula (326.5) is the 1-EO structure and contradicts the '150 mol EO' description; recomputed: oleoyl 265.46 (natural) / [265.46 + 150x44.05 + 17.01 = 6890.4] = 0.04.
What counts. ISO 16128-2 scores the atoms that remain in the final ingredient. Reagents, solvents, catalysts and protecting groups used during manufacture leave no mass behind and are not counted.

Where it comes from

Made by ethoxylating oleic acid from vegetable oils with about 150 moles of petrochemical ethylene oxide. No natural route exists for the polyoxyethylene chain.

In plain English

A cleansing surfactant made by reacting a plant-oil fatty acid with a large amount of ethylene oxide, a petroleum-derived building block. It helps products foam and cleanse.

CosIng definition: Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl), .alpha.-(1-oxo-9-octadecenyl)-.omega.-hydroxy-, (Z)- (150 mol EO average molar ratio)

Natural alternatives with the same function

References

  1. 1ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017 — Guidelines on technical definitions and criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. ISO, Geneva.
  2. 2PEG-150 OLEATE. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  3. 3PEG-150 OLEATE. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=PEG-150%20OLEATE