surfactant
Surfactant
Surfactants are also known as ‘surface active agents’. They are usually organic compounds that contain hydrophobic tails and hydrophilic heads. They have wetting, emulsifying and dispersing properties, which can be used to improve the wetting ability of water, break up stains and keep the dirt in the water solution to prevent re-deposition of the dirt onto the surface from which it has just been removed.
Surfactant can act as wetting agent as it lowers the surface tension of water. As a result, water can spread over on the surface of clothes uniformly and seep into dirty clothes fibers.
As an emulsifying agent, surfactants can bring water and oil, which is originally immiscible, together. The hydrophobic tails of the surfactants dissolve in the grease on clothes fibers and the hydrophilic heads of surfactants dissolve in water. The attraction between water molecules and ionic heads lifts the grease from the clothes surface. Upon shaking, oil dirt breaks into small oil droplets. The repulsion between the same-charged ionic head on the oil droplets prevent them from coming together. The oil droplets are suspended in water and can be carried away by water.
Apart from being an important ingredient in laundry powder, surfactants are also used in other products, such as cosmetics, shampoo, toothpaste and insecticide.
Detergents usually contain several types of surfactants such as soaps (anionic), alkylbenzenesulphonate (anionic), ethoxylated fatty alcohols (non-ionic). The mixture is carefully balanced to control foaming and provide the appropriate washing efficiency (for the required washing temperatures, types of fabric and water hardness), at a price the consumer is willing to pay. However, surfactant efficiency is very much reduced in hard water and their detergent properties are not complete even in soft water.
Surfactants do another important job too. One end of their molecule is attracted to water, while the other end is attracted
Surfactants are also known as ‘surface active agents’. They are usually organic compounds that contain hydrophobic tails and hydrophilic heads. They have wetting, emulsifying and dispersing properties, which can be used to improve the wetting ability of water, break up stains and keep the dirt in the water solution to prevent re-deposition of the dirt onto the surface from which it has just been removed.
Surfactant can act as wetting agent as it lowers the surface tension of water. As a result, water can spread over on the surface of clothes uniformly and seep into dirty clothes fibers.
As an emulsifying agent, surfactants can bring water and oil, which is originally immiscible, together. The hydrophobic tails of the surfactants dissolve in the grease on clothes fibers and the hydrophilic heads of surfactants dissolve in water. The attraction between water molecules and ionic heads lifts the grease from the clothes surface. Upon shaking, oil dirt breaks into small oil droplets. The repulsion between the same-charged ionic head on the oil droplets prevent them from coming together. The oil droplets are suspended in water and can be carried away by water.
Apart from being an important ingredient in laundry powder, surfactants are also used in other products, such as cosmetics, shampoo, toothpaste and insecticide.
Detergents usually contain several types of surfactants such as soaps (anionic), alkylbenzenesulphonate (anionic), ethoxylated fatty alcohols (non-ionic). The mixture is carefully balanced to control foaming and provide the appropriate washing efficiency (for the required washing temperatures, types of fabric and water hardness), at a price the consumer is willing to pay. However, surfactant efficiency is very much reduced in hard water and their detergent properties are not complete even in soft water.
Surfactants do another important job too. One end of their molecule is attracted to water, while the other end is attracted