Surfactant production, intermediates fatty alcohols

As mentioned above, neither of the reaction steps in the production of monoesters is particularly high in yield. The finished product therefore contains unreacted raw materials and/or intermediate products. The organic raw materials in themselves are mixtures of many substances. No natural raw material is homogeneous and any naturally based surfactant will be a blend. Fatty alcohol made from coconut oil, for example, is a product containing fatty alcohols from Cj0-Cj8 in varying amounts. Lauryl alcohol obtained from this raw material in its industrial form is a fatty alcohol mainly containing C12 fatty alcohol with, however, significant amounts of C10 and C14 fatty alcohols. 

The classic use of methyl esters of vegetable oils has been as intermediates in the production of fatty alcohols from vegetable oils (Peters, 1996 Ahmad et al., 2007) or esterquats and methyl ester sulfonates (Ahmad et al., 2007). Fatty alcohols and the other products are used in surfactants and cleaning supplies. Intermediates were produced from polyisobutylene (PIB) maleic anhydride and rapeseed oil methyl esters which were used to acylate polyethylene polyamines (Hancsok et al., 2006). These additives showed corrosion-inhibiting and lubricity-improving effects. 

Fats and Oils The Raw Materials of Oleochemistry. Fats and oils are triglycerides (i.e., fatty acid esters of glycerol). They are the starting materials for the production of fatty acid methyl esters, which are important intermediates in the production of fatty alcohols and surfactants [198] by the oleochemical route, which has great ecological benefits [199]. The fatty acid methyl esters are produced either by the esterification of fatty acids after hydrolysis of the triglycerides or by direct transesterification with methanol. The overall transesterification reaction is as follows ... 

F. are primarily used as intermediates for the commercial production of - fatty alcohols. They are also an important starting material to make - fatty acid ethanolamides and are the base for making a relatively new class of - surfactants - a-sulfo fatty acid methyl esters. F. react with ethyleneoxide in the presence of hydrotalcite [12304-65-3] to yield nonionic surfactants by inserting EO in the ester function. 

Ethylene oxide is an important intermediate chemical not only for the production of nonionic surfactants like fatty alcohol ethoxylates, alkylphenol ethoxy lates, or propylene oxide/ethylene oxide block copolymers, but also for manufacturing of anionic surfactants like alcohol ether sulfates. 

Monoester salts of phosphoric acid derived from fatty alcohol ethylene oxide adduct or alkylphenol ethylene oxide adduct useful as surfactants are prepared by addition of R(OCH2CH2) OH, alkali fluoride and (C12P0)20 in a molar ratio of 0.9-1.5 0.05-1 1.0 at -50 to + 10°C and hydrolysis of the Cl-containing intermediates with a base. The monoester phosphates showed comparable or better washing and foaming efficiency than commercial products [12]. 

Fatty alcohols are one of the most useful intermediates for the production of nonionic surfactants, some of which are listed in Fig. 36.34. A detailed discussion on all the commercially available nonionic surfactants is beyond the scope of this work and only the major surfactant types are covered. A more complete discussion of different surfactant classes and their properties is available elsewhere.38... 

Secondary alcohols (C1Q—C14) for surfactant intermediates are produced by hydrolysis of secondary alkyl borate or boroxine esters formed when paraffin hydrocarbons are air-oxidized in the presence of boric acid [10043-35-3] (19,20). Union Carbide Corporation operated a plant in the United States from 1964 until 1977. A plant built by Nippon Shokubai (Japan Catalytic Chemical) in 1972 in Kawasaki, Japan was expanded to 30,000 t/yr capacity in 1980 (20). The process has been operated industrially in the USSR since 1959 (21). Also, predominantly primary alcohols are produced in large volumes in the USSR by reduction of fatty acids, or their methyl esters, from permanganate-catalyzed air oxidation of paraffin hydrocarbons (22). The paraffin oxidation is carried out in the temperature range 150—180°C at a paraffin conversion generally below 20% to a mixture of trialkyl borate, (RO)3B, and trialkyl boroxine, (ROBO)3. Unconverted paraffin is separated from the product mixture by flash distillation. After hydrolysis of residual borate esters, the boric acid is recovered for recycle and the alcohols are purified by washing and distillation (19,20). 

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