Alkanes surfactant production

As previously mentioned, amphoteric surfactants presently represent a minor fraction of the total surfactants production with only specialty uses. They are compounds with both anionic and cationic properties in aqueous solutions, depending on the pH of the system in which they work. The main types of these compounds are essentially analogs of linear alkane sulfonates, which provide numerous points for the initiation of biodegradation, and pyridinium compounds that... 

Parameters Affecting Phase Behavior. In general, the phase behavior at reservoir conditions for oil-water-surfactant systems without alcohol present is very sensitive to the oil composition. Polar components in the crude oil may act as cosurfactants. On the other hand, model oils like n-alkanes do not contain this type of material. Different papers using the Exxon surfactant product termed RL-3011 (dodecyl-o-xylene sulfonate) illustrate the importance of oil composition on the phase behavior regarding changes in reservoir parameters like temperature, pressure, and salinity [47-50], Conclusions from these papers may be summarized in the following way ... 

Considerable interest arose during the 1970 s and 1980 s in the use of micro-organisms to produce useful fatty adds and related compounds from hydrocarbons derived from the petroleum industry. During this period, a large number of patents were granted in Europe, USA and Japan protecting processes leading to the production of alkanols, alkyl oxides, ketones, alkanoic adds, alkane dioic acids and surfactants from hydrocarbons. Many of these processes involved the use of bacteria and yeasts associated with hydrocarbon catabolism. 

On one hand, /z-alkanes of the molecular range C10-C16 are important starting materials for the synthesis of anionic surfactants. It is possible to dehydrogenate these hydrocarbons to isomeric /z-olefins with internal double bonds olefins) [4], which are also important initial products for the synthesis of an-... 

The direct reaction of 1-alkenes with strong sulfonating agents leads to surface-active anionic mixtures containing both alkenesulfonates and hydroxyalkane sulfonates as major products, together with small amounts of disulfonate components, unreacted material, and miscellaneous minor products (alkanes, branched or internal alkenes, secondary alcohols, sulfonate esters, and sultones). Collectively this final process mixture is called a-olefinsulfonate (AOS). The relative proportions of these components are known to be an important determinant of the physical and chemical properties of the surfactant [2]. 

The amount of residual sulfonate ester remaining after hydrolysis can be determined by a procedure proposed by Martinsson and Nilsson [129], similar to that used to determine total residual saponifiables in neutral oils. Neutrals, including alkanes, alkenes, secondary alcohols, and sultones, as well as the sulfonate esters in the AOS, are isolated by extraction from an aqueous alcoholic solution with petroleum ether. The sulfonate esters are separated from the sultones by chromatography on a silica gel column. Each eluent fraction is subjected to saponification and measured as active matter by MBAS determination measuring the extinction of the trichloromethane solution at 642 nra. (a) Sultones. Connor et al. [130] first reported, in 1975, a very small amount of skin sensitizer, l-unsaturated-l,3-sultone, and 2-chloroalkane-l,3-sultone in the anionic surfactant produced by the sulfation of ethoxylated fatty alcohol. These compounds can also be found in some AOS products consequently, methods of detection are essential. 

SEC-RI/UV has also been used to analyse some 26 thioorganotin compounds, organotin carboxylates and chlorides, essentially PVC stabilisers, and some of their main by-products and related compounds (thioesters and dithioesters, n-alkanes) [803]. Not all organotin chlorides were stable in the adopted analysis conditions. N, Ai -ethylene-bis-stearamide and -oleamide in common plastics (ABS, SAN, PUR, LDPE, PA6.6) can be analysed by SEC after derivatisation with trifluo-roacetic anhydride. SEC analysis of fatty alcohol ethoxy-lates (FAE), used as nonionic surfactants, has also been described [759]. 

The sulfoxidation of aliphatic hydrocarbons is the easiest method for the synthesis of alkylsulfonic acids. Their sodium salts are widely used as surfactive reactants in technology and housekeeping. Platz and Schimmelschmidt [1] were the first to invent this synthetic method. Normal paraffins (Ci4-Cig) are used for the industrial production of alkylsulfonic acids [2-4]. Olefins and alkylaromatic hydrocarbons do not produce sulfonic acids under the action of sulfur dioxide and dioxygen and retard the sulfoxidation of alkanes [5-9],... 

At the end of the 1990s statistics show that the non-ionic surfactants achieved the highest growth in production rates world-wide, though anionic surfactants (anionics) maintained the dominant position in the surfactant market. Today they are produced in a larger variety by the petrochemical industry than all other types of surfactants. Their production spectrum covers alkyl sulfates (ASs), secondary alkane sulfonates (SASs) and aryl sulfonates and carboxylates via derivatives of partly fluorinated or perfluorinated alkyl surfactants to compounds with an alkylpolyglycolether substructure combined with an anionic moiety such as alkylether sulfates (AESs), phosphates, phosphonates or carboxylates. 

NPE). Dehydrogenation of -alkanes from petroleum (C9H20) is the source of the linear nonene. They still have 13% of the production for the major household surfactant market. 

Measurements of forces between probe particle and sessile oil drops in water were first reported by Mulvaney et al. [54] and Snyder et al. [55], with a number of studies following by Hartley et al. [56], Aston et al. [57,58], Attard and co-workers [59-61], Nespolo et al. [62] and Dagastine et al. [63]. As an example of the types of typical forces observed between an alkane droplet and a silica probe in the presence of an anionic surfactant, refer to Figure 4.4 [63]. The general shape of the force curve is similar, at first glance, to the behaviour at rigid surfaces, but as discussed below, this is a product of changes in separation and interface deformation. Also note that at low surfactant concentrations, jump-in does occur, but with an increase in surfactant concentration (which leads to a decrease in interfacial tensions) only repulsive forces are observed. 

Photochemical sulfochlorination of saturated hydrocarbons has been used in the production of long-chain alkanesulfonyl chlorides, again as precursors to the salts as surfactants. These processes involve free radical intermediates. Analogous to the sulfoxidation of long-chain alkanes, these processes also provide mixtures of alkanesulfonyl chloride and chloroalkane products. Nonetheless, pure products can be obtained for short C1-C3 alkyl chain lengths. A high-pressure gas phase process for the reaction of CH4 with CI2 and excess SO2 is used in one commercial manufacturing route to... 

Lipophilic linkers (Salager, 1998) and hydrophilic linkers (Uchiyama, 2000 Acosta, 2002) are used to increase the value of SP and decrease y. Lipophilic linkers are long-chained alcohols (above C8) and their low oxyethylenation products that increase the surfactant-oil interaction. The most effective ones have hydrophobic chain lengths that are an average of the hydrophobic chain length of the surfactant and the chain length of the alkane oil. Hydrophilic linkers increase the surfactant-water interaction. Examples are mono- and dimethylnaphthalene sulfonates and sodium octanoate... 

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