Alcohols, Linear Ethoxylated

Ethoxylated linear alcohols can be made by the reaction of straight-chain alcohols, usually C12 to C14, with three to seven moles of ethylene oxide. 

The resulting alcohols are one type of many alcohols used for detergents. The linear alcohols can be produced from n-paraffins by way of alpha olefins or by way of the chloroparaffins. Or they can be made from alpha olefins formed from Ziegler oligomerization of ethylene. 

Sulfonation and sodium salt formation of these alcohols converts them into detergents for shampoos and for dishwashing. 

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These detergent range (C C ) odd and even linear internal olefins are fed to oxo-alcohol plants to produce C22 C2 semilinear alcohols. Most of the alcohols are ethoxylated and sold into detergent markets (8). Shell balances carbon numbers by a combination of the ethylene oligomerization extent. 

Linear ethoxylates are the preferred raw materials for production of ether sulfates used in detergent formulations because of uniformity, high purity, and biodegradabihty. The alkyl chain is usually in the to range having a molar ethylene oxide alcohol ratio of anywhere from 1 1 to 7 1. 

The environmental compatibility of silicone softeners is generally favourable [495,496]. The discussion here concerns only the silicone component of the formulation and not the supporting emulsifying system. For the most part this is nonionic, preferably based on linear ethoxylated fatty alcohols, although alkylphenol ethoxylates are still used in some countries [496]. The salient points regarding the environmental influence of silicones can be summarised as follows ... 

Branched Primary Alcohol Ethoxylates (BPAE). The hydrophobes of BPAE are produced by oligomerization of propylene or butene followed by catalytic addition of CO and H2 to yield highly branched alcohols. The ethoxylates of these alcohols biodegrade more slowly and less extensively than the linear alcohol ethoxylates (11.12). 

Linear 2. See Sodium metaphosphate Linear alcohol C13-15. See C13-15 alcohols Linear CIO alpha olefin. See Decene-1 Linear Cl6 alpha olefin. See Hexadecene-1 Linear CIS alpha olefin. See Octadecene-1 Linear C20 alpha olefin. See Eicosene-1 Linear (C12 and C14) alkyl alcohols, ethoxylated. SeeC12-14 pareth Linear polyethyleneimine. See Polyethylene imine... 

Higher n-olefins of Cs-Ci4 are used as intermediates in the manufacture of several types of surfactant materials. Linear internal olefins are used in the production of linear alkylbenzene alkylphenol detergent alcohols, which in turn is used to produce alcohol sulfates, alcohol ethoxylates, and alcohol ether sulfates and synthetic lubricants. a-Olefins are used in the production of detergent alcohols, linear alkylbenzene, synthetic lubricants, and a-olefin sulfonates (another ionic surfactant). 

The earlier commercial products that were sold in the supermarkets, drug stores, and mass merchandisers have many of the same surfactants. As shown in Table 2, the common surfactant found in the prewash products was ethoxylated alcohols, linear and nonylphenol. 

Chem. Descrip. Linear alcohol CIO ethoxylate 3 EO tonic Nature Nonionic... 

Chem. Descrip. Linear alcohol CIO ethoxylate 5 EO tonic Nature Nonionic Uses Wetting agent Properties Hazy liq. (20 C) HLB 12 Biodac 69 [Sasol Italy]... 

Surfactants evaluated in surfactant-enhanced alkaline flooding include internal olefin sulfonates (259,261), linear alkyl xylene sulfonates (262), petroleum sulfonates (262), alcohol ethoxysulfates (258,261,263), and alcohol ethoxylates/anionic surfactants (257). Water-thickening polymers, either xanthan or polyacrylamide, can reduce injected fluid mobiHty in alkaline flooding (264) and surfactant-enhanced alkaline flooding (259,263). The combined use of alkah, surfactant, and water-thickening polymer has been termed the alkaH—surfactant—polymer (ASP) process. Cross-linked polymers have been used to increase volumetric sweep efficiency of surfactant—polymer—alkaline agent formulations (265). 

The reaction between ethylene oxide and long-chain fatty alcohols or fatty acids is called ethoxylation. Ethoxylation of C10-C14 linear alcohols and linear alkylphenols produces nonionic detergents. The reaction with alcohols could be represented as ... 

Linear alcohols used for the production of ethoxylates are produced by the oligomerization of ethylene using Ziegler catalysts or by the Oxo reaction using alpha olefins. 

Alkylation of benzene using alpha olefins produces linear alkylbenzenes, which are further sulfonated and neutralized to linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LABS). These compounds constitute, with alcohol ethoxy-sulfates and ethoxylates, the basic active ingredients for household detergents. Production of LABS is discussed in Chapter 10. 

APG, alkyl polyglucoside FAA, fatty acid alkanolamide FAEO, fatty alcohol ethoxylate FAES, fatty alcohol ether sulfate FAGA, fatty acid glucamide FAS, fatty alcohol sulfate LAS, linear alkylbenzenesulfonate SAS, secondary alkanesulfonate. 

Alcohols obtained from fats and oils contain an even number of carbon atoms and they are completely linear. Alcohols obtained from petrochemical sources can be linear or branched, depending on the manufacturing process, and can also have even or odd numbers of carbon atoms. In many practical applications the small differences observed in the behavior of sulfated alcohols or indeed sulfated alcohol ethoxylates from either source is of no significance and the choice is made on economic grounds. 

Steinle et al. [426] studied the primary biodegradation of different surfactants containing ethylene oxide, such as sulfates of linear primary alcohols, primary oxoalcohols, secondary alcohols, and primary and secondary alkyl-phenols, as well as sulfates of all these alcohols and alkylphenols with different degrees of ethoxylation. Their results confirm that primary linear alcohol sulfates are slightly more readily biodegradable than primary oxoalcohol sulfates and that secondary alcohol sulfates are also somewhat worse than the corresponding linear primary. 

Both nonionic and anionic surfactants have been evaluated in this application (488,489) including internal olefin sulfonates (487, 490), linear alkylxylene sulfonates (490), petroleum sulfonates (491), alcohol ethoxysulfates (487,489,492). Ethoxylated alcohols have been added to some anionic surfactant formulations to improve interfacial properties (486). The use of water thickening polymers, either xanthan or polyacrylamide to reduce injected fluid mobility mobility has been proposed for both alkaline flooding (493) and surfactant enhanced alkaline flooding (492). Crosslinked polymers have been used to increase volumetric sweep efficiency of surfactant - polymer - alkaline agent formulations (493). 

NPE was previously used extensively as nonionic surfactants and emulsifiers in both the textile and the leather industry but has now been replaced by alternative surfactants in Europe. The main alternatives in the leather industry are linear alcohol ethoxylates with different chain lengths and ethoxylation degrees. These compounds are much easier than NPE degraded to non-toxic compounds. The efficiency of linear alcohol ethoxylates as degreasing agents is comparable to that of NPE. 

Nowadays these compounds are usually blended with other surfactants, including nonionic types (section 9.6). In 1990 a typical low- or non-phosphate domestic detergent contained 7% linear alkylbenzenesulphonate and 6% nonionic fatty alcohol ethoxylate [16]. There is increasing use of the long-chain fatty alcohol poly(oxyethylene) sulphates previously described (e.g. 9.12) as a partial or complete replacement for linear alkylbenzenesulphonates [15] since they are made from renewable feedstocks such as tallow and palm oil [16]. 

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