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Lipex® Illipesoft

Borneo Butter for Natural Body Care News!

stable illipe butter for body butter and other skin care applications soft and dry skin feel with high emolliency sustainable ingredient from the rainforests of Borneo

Lipex® Illipesoft is a novel improved illipe (shorea)

butter with soft consistency and simple crystallisation

behaviour. It is especially suited for emulsifi ed and

anhydrous body butters due to its excellent moistur-

ising properties.

Stable even at high levels in skin care formulationsLipex® Illipesoft differs from traditional Illipe but-

ter in that the melting and crystallisation behaviour

has been optimised to suit the needs of the cosmetic

industry. Traditional Illipe butter is a hard, brittle

solid melting close to body temperature while Lipex®

Illipesoft has a higher melting point (49 °C) but is

softer at room temperature, see fi gure to the right.

The crystallisation and stabilisation into the pre-

ferred beta crystal form is also more rapid. This gives

formulations made with Lipex® Illipesoft a longer

shelfl ife, even when used at high levels in the formu-

lation. Typical levels in a skin care formulation would

be up to 5 %.

100

80

60

40

20

02010 40 5030

Solid fat content (%)

Temperature (°C)

Traditional Illipe Butter

Lipex® Illipesoft

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Sustainable Borneo Butter for Natural skin careIllipe butter (INCI: Shorea Stenoptera Seed Butter) originates in the tropical rainforests of South-

East Asia. The trees grow by the river banks and in

water-logged swamps in Borneo at altitudes up to

800 meters. The climatic conditions are typical for

tropical rainforests – high rainfall, 4000-5000 mm/

year, temperature 28-35 °C and relative humidity 80-

90 %. The tall trees (20-40 m) flower in September-

November after the dry season, the fruits ripening

through January-March. The kernel weighing up

to 45 grams is enclosed by five leaves that harden

as the fruit ripens and act as a wing to assist in the

spreading of the seed around the parent tree.

The kernels are collected by the aboriginal in-

habitants of the rainforests (Dayaks). The families

go up the rivers in their longboats to the territories

traditionally belonging to them. The ground beneath

the trees that will yield a good harvest is cleared to

make it easier to pick the fallen kernels and to scare

away snakes and other dangerous animals. Kernels

can also be collected from the rivers using bamboo

or rattan nets or baskets. The wings are removed

from the kernels which as split open and sun-dried

to reduce the water content.

Composition of Illipe butter

The illipe butter is characterised by a very simple

fatty acid composition, oleic, stearic and palmitic

acid making up more than 95 % of the fatty acid

composition. Stearic acid dominates (45 %), fol-

lowed by oleic acid (35 %) and palmitic acid (17 %).

Illipe butter has a fairly high amount of unsaponifia-

ble matter (1.5 %), dominated by triterpene alcohols

and phytosterols. The content of tocopherols (ap-

proximately 200 ppm) is typical for a predominantly

saturated vegetable oil.

Stearic acid 45 %

Oleic acid 35 %

Palmitic acid 17 %

Unsaponifiables 1.5 %

Illipe soft.indd 2 10-11-09 08.57.15