Surfactants industrial applications, surfactant-based

Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate is undoubtedly the anionic surfactant used in the greatest amount because it is the basic component in almost all laundry and dishwashing detergents in powder and liquid forms. However, alcohol and alcohol ether sulfates are the more versatile anionic surfactants because their properties vary, with the alkyl chain, with the number of moles of ethylene oxide added to the base alcohol and with the cation. Consequently, alcohol and alcohol ether sulfates are used in almost all scientific, consumer, and industrial applications. 

The unique surface characteristics of polysiloxanes mean that they are extensively used as surfactants. Silicone surfactants have been thoroughly studied and described in numerous articles. For an extensive, in-depth discussion of this subject, a recent chapter by Hill,476 and his introductory chapter in the monograph he later edited,477 are excellent references. In the latter monograph, many aspects of silicone surfactants are described in 12 chapters. In the introduction, Hill discusses the chemistry of silicone surfactants, surface activity, aggregation behavior of silicone surfactants in various media, and their key applications in polyurethane foam manufacture, in textile and fiber industry, in personal care, and in paint and coating industries. All this information (with 200 cited references) provides a broad background for the discussion of more specific issues covered in other chapters. Thus, surfactants based on silicone polyether co-polymers are surveyed.478 Novel siloxane surfactant structures,479 surface activity and aggregation phenomena,480 silicone surfactants application in the formation of polyurethane foam,481 foam control and... 

Industrially, silicone surfactants are used in a variety of processes including foam, textile, concrete and thermoplastic production, and applications include use as foam stabilisers, defoamers, emulsifiers, dispersants, wetters, adhesives, lubricants and release agents [1]. The ability of silicone surfactants to also function in organic media creates a unique niche for their use, such as in polyurethane foam manufacture and as additives to paints and oil-based formulations, whilst the ability to lower surface tension in aqueous solutions provides useful superwetting properties. The low biological risk associated with these compounds has also led to their use in cosmetics and personal care products [2]. 

Surfactants based on aliphatic alcohols are used as cleaners in both domestic and industrial applications. They provide excellent properties such as wetting, dispersion, and emulsification. The ethoxylates derived from alkylphenols are chemically stable and highly versatile, finding more use in industrial practice than in domestic applications. They are used both as processing aids and as components in various products. Their applications include metal cleaning, hospital cleaners and disinfectants, agricultural chemical formulation surfactants, insecticides and herbicides, oil-well drilling fluids, and many others. 

Within certain industrial applications like gas and oil industry and ink and printing industry there is a need for cleaning when the remaining surface should be water-wet. A neutral microemulsion system based on a surfactant, a lactate ester as co-surfactant and an organic solvent like limonene is suggested by Harrison for this purpose. Butyl lactate is shown to enlarge the one-phase (Winsor IV) area in the phase diagram, for instance SDS and limonene in water [94, 95]. 

Interactions between surfactants and polymers is now an important field of interest in colloid science.1 Many aqueous solutions used in industrial applications contain mixtures of surfactants and polymers, in particular polyelectrolytes, which are widely used in water based formulations such as paints, drilling muds, etc. An interesting class of natural and biodegradable polymers are the polysaccharides found in plants. Among them, polyelectrolytes with rigid... 

Separation techniques using surfactants are valuable in industrial operations and in analytical chemistry. We will briefly discuss several industrial applications of surfactant-based separations to illustrate how surfactants are used in such important operations as wastewater clean-up and recovery and purification of valuable materials. 

The measurement of ultralow interfacial tension has been of continued interest (98, 116-128) both in fundamental research and in industrial applications, particularly in surfactant-based (enhanced) oil recovery - an attempt to recover remaining oil reserves by reducing the oil/water interfacial tension through microemul- sions (117, 120, 125, 129, 130). Typically, oil is recovered in a primary process by the natural energy of a reservoir. However, as much as 40-60% of the original oil can remain trapped in porous rocks due to capillary retention force. A seeondary process of water injection with surfactant is therefore used to facilitate further oil displacement. 

This book provides an introduction to the nature, occurrence, physical properties, propagation, and uses of surfactants in the petroleum industry. The primary focus is on applications of the principles of colloid and interface science to surfactant applications in the petroleum industry, and includes attention to practical processes and problems. Books available up to now are either principally theoretical (such as the colloid chemistry texts), much more general (like Rosen s Surfactants and Interfacial Phenomena, Myers Surfactant Science and Technology, or Mittal s Solution Chemistry of Surfactants), or else much narrower in scope (like Smith s Surfactant Based Mobility Control). The applications of surfactants in the petroleum industry area are quite diverse and have a great practical importance. The area contains a number of problems of more fundamental interest as well. Surfactants may be applied to advantage in many parts of the petroleum production process in reservoirs, in oilwells, in surface processing operations, and in environmental, health, and safety applications. In each case appropriate knowledge and practices determine both the economic and technical successes of the industrial process concerned. 

The simplest reaction ofTOFA is the formation of soaps upon treatment with bases. Tall oil fatty acid soaps, such as ammonium tallate, potassium taUate, and sodium tallate are water soluble. The low proportion of saturated fatty acids allows them to be used in numerous cosmetic and personal care applications, functioning as an emulsifier or surfactant. The same applies for many industrial applications such as bitumen emulsions commonly used in roadway construction and maintenance. Asphalt emulsions are classified based on their ionic charge anionic, cationic, and nonionic. Anionic emulsions... 

The history of surfactant applications in personal care products can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians. Soap was the only available surfactant in those early centuries. It was not until the Second World War that synthetic surfactants were developed and formulated into daily personal care products. Diversification and expansion of synthetic surfactants based on the technological and economical advances of the oleochemical and petrochemical industries made surfactants indispensable for daily life in industrialized countries such as the United States, western Europe, and Japan, and the same trends are expanding throughout the world. We now face a controversial problem cleansing ability as the primary function of surfactants versus gentleness to humans and environmental impact. 

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