Nonionic surfactants are not ionized in water, and their surface activity is provided by both water-soluble polar groups and water-insoluble nonpolar groups. The hydrophilic group is ether group and free hydroxyl group which can form hydrogen bond with water, while the lipophilic group is long chain alkyl group, alcohol group and aliphatic amine.
Nonionic surfactant has high surface activity, low surface tension and critical micelle concentration, which leads to good wetting, emulsifying, dispersing, penetrating, hard water resistance, degreasing and solubilizing ability. Compared with anionic surfactant, nonionic surfactant foam is lower.
In use, another remarkable feature of nonionic surfactant is that it has cloud point.
Due to the hydrogen bond between ether group and water, the binding force is very weak, about 29.3kjmol-1. When the aqueous solution is heated, the increase of temperature accelerates the thermal movement of water molecules, resulting in the breaking of hydrogen bond between ether group and water molecules, resulting in dehydration, and the surfactant is insoluble in water and precipitates, which makes the solution turbid. When the temperature drops, the nonionic surfactant dissolves in water and becomes transparent. The turning point of phase transition is the cloud point. The cloud point is usually independent of the concentration of the solution, except when it contains a lot of additives or solvents.
The separation of nonionic surfactants has an important influence on the washing process. At high temperature, the surfactant precipitates and covers the fabric, so that the oily dirt on the fabric is dissolved due to solubilization. When the temperature is reduced, the surfactant and water are combined again, and the oil is carried into the washing solution, so as to remove the oil. At the same time, the effect of foam is also very large. The cloud of non-ionic surfactant is very small.
Fatty Alcohol Polyoxyethylene Ether
1. Fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene (3) ether
[Fatty Alcohol Polyoxyethylene (3) Ether]
Alias AEO-3
The structural formula is R-O - (CH2CH2O) 3h, r = C 12 ~ 1 6 alkyl
The performance is 25 ° C is colorless to light yellow transparent liquid, soluble in oil and non-polar solvents, insoluble in water.
The physical property index is as follows
The HLB value was 7.9
Toxic and nontoxic
Biodegradability ≥ 90
It has the properties of emulsifying, leveling and penetrating, and has strong emulsifying ability to mineral oil and vegetable oil.
It is mainly used as W/O emulsifier for the preparation of cosmetics, polymer emulsion and Detergent emulsion. It is also used as levelling agent, wetting agent and components of various oils in textile industry. After sulfonation, fatty alcohol ether sulfate (AES) can be prepared, which is an important surfactant for liquid detergent.
2. Fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether
[Fatty Alcohol Polyoxyethylene(7) Ether]
Alias AEO-7
The structural formula is R-O - (CH2CH2O) 7h, r = C 12 ~ 1 6 alkyl
Performance colorless or light yellow liquid, soluble in water. Dispersing power, decontaminating power and emulsifying power. Resistance to hard water. The HLB value was 12.
It is used to prepare various detergents, shampoos, metal cleaners and auxiliaries in textile industry.
3. Fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene (9) ether
[Fatty Alcohol Polyoxyethylene(9) Ether]
Alias AEO-9
Performance white to light yellow paste, soluble in water.
The relevant physical property data are as follows:
PH (L% aqueous solution) 6.5 ~ 7.5
Cloud point (1% aqueous solution) (65 ± 5) ° C
HLB value 13
Toxic and nontoxic
Biodegradability ≥ 95
It has strong ability of decontamination, degreasing, shrinking, wetting and foaming.
It can be used as detergent, emulsifier, shrinking agent and degreasing agent in textile industry. It is also used as leveling agent and cleaning agent in printing and dyeing industry, emulsifier in cosmetics and ointment production and active ingredient in metal cleaning agent.
The differences between AEO-9 and LAS in decontamination, foaming, wetting and so on. AEO-9 has good decontamination ability for cotton fiber and polyester fiber, but its foaming ability is poor and its foam stabilizing ability is weaker. Therefore, it is very suitable for machine washing detergents, such as super concentrated washing powder and heavy scale liquid detergent, which do not require foam. It is also commonly used in hand washing detergent formulations. In the powder detergent, the dosage should not exceed 5%, otherwise it will make the powder too sticky and affect the appearance fluidity and apparent density.
4. Fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene (10) ether
[Fatty Alcohol Polyoxyethylene(lO) Ether] ,
Alias aeo-10
Structural formula R-0 - (CH2CH2O) 10h r = c12-16 alkyl
Performance milky white to light yellow viscous liquid, soluble in water. It has good wetting, emulsifying, decontamination, degreasing and hard water resistance.
It is used as detergent, detergent, wetting agent, component of textile oil, emulsifier of pesticide, etc.
5. Fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene (15) ether
[Fatty Alcohol Polyoxyethylene(15) Ether]
Alias pingjia-15, aeo-15, OS-15
The structural formula is R-O - (CH2CH2O) 15h, r = c12-18 alkyl
It has excellent emulsifying, dispersing and decontaminating properties.
Relevant physical property data:
Cloud point (1% aqueous solution) > 90 ° C
pH 6〜7
The HLB value was 14.5
Application: leveling agent for textile industry, cleaning agent for metal processing, emulsifier for cosmetics, pesticides and ink.
6. Fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene (20) ether
[Fatty Alcohol Polyoxyethylene（20） Ether]
Pingjia-20, aeo-20
Performance white to yellowish paste, frozen when cold. Soluble in water, transparent in 10% aqueous solution. It has good emulsifying and dispersing ability.
Relevant physical property data:
PH (1% aqueous solution) 7.0-8.0
Cloud point (1% aqueous solution) > 75 ° C
HLB value 15
Toxic and nontoxic
Biodegradability > 95%
It is used as leveling agent, stripping agent and spinning finish in textile industry. It is a common emulsifier in emulsion industry and oil drilling fluid. It has unique emulsifying properties for stearic ACID, paraffin and mineral oil.
Combined with LAS, it can improve the decontamination effect of detergent, and is commonly used in industrial cleaning agent.
7. Summary of fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether
(1) The water solubility is related to the degree of EO addition polymerization. With the increase of polymer, the water solubility is strong. The product can be from oil solubility to water dispersion to water solubility.
When the concentration exceeds 25%, it is easy to form viscose and has certain hygroscopicity.
surface activity
Decontamination: excellent decontamination ability, especially for the removal of oil. The detergency is not affected by the hardness of water. In general, C12 (EO) 7 ~ 10 is considered to have the best comprehensive performance.
Wetting: good wetting ability. The wettability is the strongest at 50% - 60% EO.
(3) medium foam. With the increase of EO addition, the foam is more abundant.
The stability is stable in hard water and acid-base, but the ether bond is not resistant to sodium hypochlorite. The irritation is slightly lower than that of anionic surfactant.
(5) Several kinds of non-ionic surfactants are used to achieve the best effect.
