What Are The Commonly Used Surfactants for Washing Powder

Surfactants are the main components of water cleaning agents, and the main varieties commonly used are as follows. At present, anionic surfactants are still heavily used in detergents, while the amount of non-ionic surfactants is increasing, and cationic and zwitterionic surfactants are used less. This is mainly determined by the performance and economic cost of surfactants, the earliest use of anionic surfactants is soap, because it is more sensitive to hard water, the generated calcium and magnesium soap will be deposited on the fabric and washing utensils on the wall to affect the cleaning effect, so it has been replaced by other surfactants.

At present, soap is mainly used in powdered detergent as a foam modifier, because it is easy to combine with alkaline earth metal ions, so when combined with other surfactants, it can play a "sacrifice agent" role to ensure that other surfactants play a full role. Straight chain alkyl benzene sulfonate (LAS) is the most used anionic surfactant in detergent formulation because of its good water solubility, good decontamination and foamability, better biodegradability than tetrapolypropylene alkyl benzene sulfonate (ABS), and lower price. Some other commonly used anionic surfactants are secondary alkyl sulfonates (SAS), α-olefin sulfonates (AOS), alcohol sulfates (FAS), -sulfonyl fatty acid esters (MES), fatty acid polyoxyethylene ether sulfate (AES), although they can be used as the main component of detergents alone, but usually in combination with linear alkyl benzene sulfonates. Among them, the secondary alkyl sulfonate (SAS) is better than LAS in water solubility, will not be hydrolyzed and can be stable, and is often used to prepare liquid alpha - olefin sulfonate (AOS) with hard water resistance, foam, decontamination, and low irritation to the skin, so it is more used in skin cleansers. Among them, the α-olefin sulfonate with carbon atomic number in 14 ~ 18 has the best performance. Fatty alcohol sulfate (FAS) is a commonly used anionic surfactant in heavy detergent, and has the advantage of strong detergency. Its disadvantage is that it is more sensitive to hard water, so the formula used must be added with chelating agent. D-sulfonyl fatty acid ester (MES) is made of natural raw materials such as oil, good biodegradability, safety to the human body, is a new variety developed in recent years, with people's attention to the protection of the environment, it is increasingly paid attention to the second MES is a new variety of low sensitivity to hard water, good dispersion of calcium soap, good washing performance, the disadvantage is that it will hydrolysis, Appropriate stabilizer should be added when using. Fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether sulfate (AES), with the characteristics of anionic non-ionic surfactants, still has good detergency in hard water, the foam formed is stable, and has high stability in the liquid state, so it is widely used in the preparation of various liquid detergents.

Nonionic surfactant: The most commonly used nonionic surfactant in detergents is fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether (AEO). It has good decontamination ability and dispersion of dirt at lower concentrations, and has good hard water resistance and unique anti-fouling redeposition. Alkyl phenol polyoxyethylene ether (APEO), which was commonly used in the past, has similar properties to fatty alcohol and polyoxyethylene ether, but due to its poor biodegradation performance, the amount of detergent is decreasing. Alkanol amide compound detergent has rich and stable foam, and coordination with other surfactants have good make, use, and beneficial to improve the detergency of detergent in low concentration and low temperature, so the compatibility usually do detergent ingredients. Amines have good water solubility, good compatibility with LAS, low irritation to skin, and good foam stabilization. The disadvantage is that the thermal stability is poor, the price is high, and it is currently used to prepare liquid detergent.

Although zwitterionic surfactants have good decontamination ability, due to their high price, they are currently only used in small amounts in personal hygiene products and special purpose detergents. Cationic surfactants have poor decontamination, but excellent soft, bactericidal and antistatic properties, so the combination of cationic surfactants and non-ionic surfactants can produce detergent with both washing function and soft, disinfection function.