Surfactants Info: Uses & Benefits in Everyday Life

Exactly what is a surfactant?
Surfactant, also referred to as surfactants, are compounds that will significantly reduce the surface tension or interfacial tension between two liquids, between liquids and gases, and between liquids and solids. The molecular structure of surfactants is amphoteric: hydrophilic group at one end, hydrophobic group at the other end; hydrophilic groups tend to be polar groups, like carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid, sulfuric acid, amino or amine groups and their salts, hydroxyl, amide, ether bonds, etc., can also be used as polar hydrophilic groups; and hydrophobic groups tend to be nonpolar hydrocarbon chains, like hydrocarbon chains of over eight carbon atoms. Surfactants are split into ionic surfactants (including cationic surfactants, anionic surfactants, and amphoteric surfactants), nonionic surfactants, complex surfactants, as well as other surfactants.
Summary of surfactants
Surfactants are a class of chemical substances having a special molecular structure, which often contain hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups. This amphiphilic nature enables surfactants to form interfaces between water and other immiscible liquids and reduce interfacial tension, thus playing the roles of wetting, emulsifying, dispersing, solubilizing, foaming, defoaming and so on.
Types of surfactants
Surfactant is really a special chemical substance that will significantly decrease the surface tension from the solvent in a very low concentration, thus changing the interfacial state of the system. This substance usually has both hydrophilic and lipophilic properties and may play a bridge role between two immiscible liquids, water and oil, therefore it is also known as an amphiphilic molecule.
Surfactants have an array of applications in many fields, like daily life, industrial production, and scientific research. According to their different chemical structures and properties, surfactants can be split into two categories: ionic and nonionic. Ionic surfactants could be further split into cationic, anionic, and amphoteric types.
Ionic surfactants
Anionic surfactants
Anionic surfactants would be the most generally used and many widely produced surfactants. Common anionic surfactants include salts of essential fatty acids, sulfonates, sulfate salts and phosphate salts. They may have good detergency, emulsification, dispersion, solubilization, and other properties and therefore are commonly used in detergents, cosmetics, textiles, printing and dyeing, petroleum, pharmaceutical, and other industries.
Cationic surfactants
Cationic surfactants are generally nitrogen-containing organic amine derivatives with good bactericidal, antistatic and softening properties. Because of their good softness and antistatic properties on fabrics, they are often used as post-treatment agents, softeners, antistatic agents and sterilizers for textiles.
Amphoteric ionic surfactants
Amphoteric ionic surfactants have both positive and negative charge groups within the molecule and show different charge properties at different pH values. These surfactants have excellent foaming, low irritation, good compatibility, and bactericidal properties and therefore are widely used in detergents, cosmetics, medicine, as well as other fields.
Nonionic surfactants
Nonionic surfactants do not dissociate into ions in water and exist in solution by means of neutral molecules or micro ions. These surfactants are highly stable, not easily affected by strong electrolytes and, acids and bases, and therefore are compatible with other types of surfactants. Common nonionic surfactants include polyethylene glycol type, polyol type, fluorinated surfactants and silicone type. They may be widely used in detergents, emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents and so on.
Examples of surfactants:
Ionic surfactants
Anionic surfactants: e.g. sodium fatty acids, alkyl sulfates, etc.
Cationic surfactants: e.g. quaternary ammonium salts, amine salts, etc.
Amphoteric ionic surfactants: e.g. amino acid type, betaine type, etc.
Nonionic surfactants
Polyoxyethylene ether type: such as fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether.
Polyol type: e.g. glycerol ester, sorbitol ester, etc.
Amine oxide type: like dimethylamine oxide, etc.
Special types of surfactants
Polymer surfactants: surfactants with higher molecular chain structure.
Bio-surfactants: like phospholipids, glycolipids and other surfactants of natural biological origin.
What are the main functions of surfactants?
(1) Emulsification: Due to the large surface tension of grease in water, when grease is dripped in to the water and stirred vigorously, the grease will be crushed into fine beads and mixed to create an emulsion, however the stirring will stop and re-layering will require place. If you add surfactant and stir hard, it will not be easy to stratify for a long time after stopping, which is the emulsification effect. This is because the hydrophobicity from the grease is encompassed by hydrophilic groups of surfactant, forming a directional attraction, lowering the oil within the water dispersion from the work needed to make the grease emulsification is superb.
(2) Wetting effect: Parts often follow the surface of a layer of wax, grease, or scale-like substances, that are hydrophobic. Due to the pollution of these substances, the surface from the parts can be difficult to wet with water. When adding surfactants towards the water solution, the water droplets around the parts is going to be easily dispersed so that the surface tension of the parts is cut down tremendously to achieve the purpose of wetting.
(3) solubilizing effect: oil substances in adding surfactant to be able to dissolve, but this dissolution could only occur when the concentration of surfactant reaches the critical concentration of colloid, the size of the solubility based on solubilizing objects and properties to decide. When it comes to solubilization, the long hydrophobic gene hydrocarbon chain is stronger than the short hydrocarbon chain, the saturated hydrocarbon chain is stronger compared to the unsaturated hydrocarbon chain, as well as the solubilization effect of nonionic surfactants is normally more significant.
(4) Dispersing effect: Dust, dirt, as well as other solid particles are simple to gather together and settle in water; surfactant molecules can make solid particle aggregates divided into small particles so they are dispersed and suspended in the solution and be involved to advertise the uniform dispersion of solid particles.
(5) Foam effect: the development of foam is mainly the directional adsorption of active agent, is the gas-liquid two-phase surface tension reduction caused by. Generally, the reduced molecular active agent is simple to foam, high molecular active agent foam less, cardamom acid yellow foam is the highest, sodium stearate foam is definitely the worst, anionic active agent foam and foam stability than nonionic good, like sodium alkyl benzene sulfonate foam is extremely strong. Usually used foam stabilizers are fatty alcohol amide, carboxymethyl cellulose, etc. Foam inhibitors are essential fatty acids, fatty acid esters, polyethers, etc. as well as other nonionic surfactants.
Use of surfactants
Surfactants have an array of applications, almost covering our daily life and various industrial production fields. These are among the main applications of surfactants:
Detergents and cosmetics: Surfactants are essential ingredients in detergents and cosmetics, like laundry detergents, liquid detergents, shampoos, shower gels, moisturizing lotions and so on. They reduce the surface tension of water, making it simpler for stains to be taken off the surface of objects while providing a wealthy lather and lubricating sensation.
Textile industry: In the textile industry, surfactants are utilized as softeners, wetting agents, antistatic agents, dispersants, leveling agents and, color fixing agents, etc., which assist in improving the quality of textiles and improve the uniformity of dyeing and color vividness.
Food industry: Surfactants can be used as emulsifiers, dispersants, wetting agents, defoamers, etc., within the manufacture of dairy products, beverages, confectionery, as well as other food products to enhance their stability and taste.
Agriculture and pesticides: In agriculture, surfactants can improve the wetting and dispersion of pesticides, thus improving their insecticidal effect. They can also be used as soil conditioners to enhance soil water retention and permeability.
Petroleum industry: In the process of oil extraction and processing, surfactants can be used emulsion breakers, oil repellents, anti-waxing agents, and enhancement of recovery, etc., which help to improve the efficiency of oil extraction and processing.
Pharmaceutical industry: Within the pharmaceutical industry, surfactants may be used to prepare emulsions, suppositories, aerosols, tablets, injections, etc., playing the role of emulsification, solubilization, wetting, dispersion and penetration.
In addition, surfactants play an important role in lots of industries, such as construction, paint, paper, leather, and metal processing. Their application during these fields is primarily realized by improving product processing performance, enhancing product quality, and reducing production costs.
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