Detergent range alcohols

Most higher alcohols of commercial importance are primary alcohols secondary alcohols have more limited specialty uses. Detergent range alcohols are apt to be straight chain materials and are made either from natural fats and oils or by petrochemical processes. The plasticizer range alcohols are more likely to be branched chain materials and are made primarily by petrochemical processes. Whereas alcohols made from natural fats and oils are always linear, some petrochemical processes produce linear alcohols and others do not. Industrial manufacturing processes are discussed in Synthetic processes. 

Most of the detergent range alcohols used commercially consist of mixtures of alcohols, and a wide variety of products is available. Table 6 shows the approximate carbon chain length composition of both the commonly used mixtures and single carbon materials typical properties are given ia Table 7. 

Table 6. Composition of Commercial Detergent Range Alcohols ...

The detergent range alcohols and their derivatives have a wide variety of uses ia consumer and iadustrial products either because of surface-active properties, or as a means of iatroduciag a long chain moiety iato a chemical compound. The major use is as surfactants (qv) ia detergents and cleaning products. Only a small amount of the alcohol is used as-is rather most is used as derivatives such as the poly(oxyethylene) ethers and the sulfated ethers, the alkyl sulfates, and the esters of other acids, eg, phosphoric acid and monocarboxyhc and dicarboxyhc acids. Major use areas are given ia Table 11. 

In other surfactant uses, dodecanol—tetradecanol is employed to prepare porous concrete (39), stearyl alcohol is used to make a polymer concrete (40), and lauryl alcohol is utilized for froth flotation of ores (41). A foamed composition of hexadecanol is used for textile printing (42) and a foamed composition of octadecanol is used for coating polymers (43). On the other hand, foam is controUed by detergent range alcohols in appHcations by lauryl alcohol in steel cleaning (44), by octadecanol in a detergent composition (45), and by eicosanol—docosanol in various systems (46). 

A.luminum Jilkyl Chain Growth. Ethyl, Chevron, and Mitsubishi Chemical manufacture higher, linear alpha olefins from ethylene via chain growth on triethyl aluminum (15). The linear products are then used as oxo feedstock for both plasticizer and detergent range alcohols and because the feedstocks are linear, the linearity of the alcohol product, which has an entirely odd number of carbons, is a function of the oxo process employed. Alcohols are manufactured from this type of olefin by Sterling, Exxon, ICI, BASE, Oxochemie, and Mitsubishi Chemical. 

Transesterification of fat triglycerides is the predominant method for manufacture of mixed fatty acid methyl esters, and direct esterification of fatty acids (FA) is practiced if very selective cuts of product, in general as an intermediate detergent range alcohol, are desired. Methyl cocoate is a mobile, oily liquid above 25 °C with a yellow tint and a characteristic fatty pungent odor. FAME sulfonation to FAMES is technically possible but been rarely applied up to now (1990) (Table 13). 

Alcohol(s), 10 488. See also C12 alcohol Detergent range alcohols Ethanol Fuel alcohol Higher aliphatic alcohols Plasticizer range alcohols Polyhydric alcohols... 

A small amount, maybe 5%, of the detergent-range alcohols is consumed as such. The Cig and alcohols are used extensively in the cos-... 

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