Database/Emulsifying Surfactant/PEG-30 Castor Oil
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is PEG-30 Castor Oil natural?

Mostly not. Natural castor-oil triglyceride heavily ethoxylated, so petrochemical ethylene oxide now exceeds half the mass.

INCI namePEG-30 Castor Oil
CAS61791-12-6
FunctionEmulsifying Surfactant · Cleansing Surfactant
FeedstockMade by reacting castor oil, pressed from Ricinus…

How we scored it

Castor oil 933Da (natural) + 30×ethylene oxide 1320Da (petrochemical) = 933/2253 → 0.41
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 reacting castor oil, pressed from Ricinus communis seeds, with 30 moles of petrochemical ethylene oxide. No alternative commercial route is used.

In plain English

An emulsifier made from castor oil reacted with a larger amount of ethylene oxide. It helps blend oil and water in cleansers and shampoos.

CosIng definition: Castor oil, ethoxylated (30 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-30 CASTOR OIL. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  3. 3PEG-30 CASTOR OIL. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=PEG-30%20CASTOR%20OIL