Alkylated surfactants linear alkylbenzene production

Surfactants such as alkyl sulphates (AS), alkyl ethoxysulphates (AES) and linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) are the major cleaning ingredients found in household and personal care products. The annual North American consumption volumes of AS and AES for 2003 were estimated to be 260 and 1,083 million pounds, respectively (Modler et al. 2004). 

The subject of this entry relates to the manufacture of linear alkylbenzene (LAB), commercially known as detergent alkylate. It is one of the primary surfactant raw materials for the production of household, laundry, dishwashing, and other surfactants. 

Linear mono C10-C13 alkylbenzenes (LAB) which are used in the production of biodegradable surfactants are produced industrially by benzene alkylation with linear alkenes, HF or AICI3 being used as catalysts (1,2). Because their degradabUityis very high, the 2-phenylalkanes are preferred to the other isomers... 

GC analysis of LAS is only possible after derivatization into volatile derivatives. Desulfonation of LAS in the presence of strong acids like phosphoric acid leads to linear alkylbenzenes (LAB). The identification of every single LAB isomer by GC-FID is achieved with detection limits lower than 1 /rg/1. In an alternative derivatization method, LAS are converted into their alkylbenzene sulfonyl chlorides by PCI5, which can be directly analyzed by GC-FID. Derivatization reactions for aliphatic anionic surfactants have mainly been described for product analysis. Among the very few methods for environmental analysis, the derivatization of alkyl sulfates to their corresponding trimethylsilylesters followed by determination with GC-FID is mentioned here. ... 

The alkylation of benzene with linear olefins (Cj(,-Cj4) is largely used industrially to produce linear alkylbenzenes (LABs), precursors ofalkylbenzenesulfonates which are employed as surfactants and detergent intermediates. LAB global demand is about 2.7 million metric tons per year. Traditional processes are catalyzed by acid catalysts such as AlClj and mainly HF. The processes are designed to minimize skeletal isomerization of the linear olefins since high linearity is necessary to yield biodegradable products [31). In order to improve the sustainability of these processes, various solid acids have been developed. The use of ILs is one of the possibilities to consider. 

Production of aikyibenzene suifonates [1, 2]. The alkylbenzene sulfonates, used as liquid surfactants in making the detergent slurry, are produced by the sulfonation of linear alkylates followed by the neutralization step with a caustic solution containing sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The process of sulfonation of alkylbenzenes with oleum takes... 

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