The Role of Surfactants in Modern Industry and Advanced Surfactant Testing

[Mindy]

Surfactant refers to a substance which is added in a small amount to cause a significant change in the interface state of solution system. It has a fixed hydrophilic lihilic group and can be aligned on the surface of solution. The molecular structure of the surfactant is amphiphilic: one end is a hydrophilic group and the other end is a hydrophobic group; the hydrophilic group is often a polar group such as a carboxylic acid, a sulfonic acid, a sulfuric acid, an amino group or an amine group; The salt, hydroxyl group, amide group, ether bond and the like may also serve as a polar hydrophilic group; and the hydrophobic group is often a non-polar hydrocarbon chain, such as a hydrocarbon chain of 8 or more carbon atoms. Surfactant is classified into ionic surfactant (including cationic surfactants and anionic surfactant), nonionic surfactant, amphoteric surfactant, complex surfactant, other surfactant, and the like.

Surfactant and synthetic detergents form an industry dating back to the 1930s. Synthetic surfactant and detergents derived from petrochemical feed stocks have broken the world of soap. After more than 60 years of development, the total world detergent production in 1995 reached 43 million tons, including 9 million tons of soap. According to experts' predictions, the world's ulation will double from 2000 to 2050, and the total amount of detergent will increase from 50 million tons to 120 million tons, a net increase of 1.4 pp. This is an encoging figure.

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