Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th July 2024 Issue no. 1124
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Research Award recognises importance of surfactant stability
Research that could be used to inform surfactant formulation has been recognised as the best paper published in 2023 in the Journal of Surfactants and Detergents. The Distinguished Paper Award is an annual honour presented by the American Cleaning Institute.
The authors of the research include Dan Lundberg, AstraZeneca R&D, Maria Stjerndahl, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Krister Holmberg, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Their article reviews the alkaline hydrolysis of cationic, anionic and nonionic ester-based surfactants and surfactant mixtures. Cationic surfactants readily undergo alkaline hydrolysis. Anionic ester-based surfactants are highly stable and can be used in alkaline formulations that when diluted to a level below the critical micelle concentration (e.g., in a wastewater treatment plant), the hydrolysis rate will quicken and facilitate biodegradation. Nonionic ester surfactants can behave similarly to anionic ester surfactants in the formation of micelles that inhibit hydrolysis.
Cleaning products are often formulated using mixtures of different surfactants to achieve hydrolysis patterns that are advantageous for different cleaning applications. This review article summarises the current state of the science on surfactant features that are important to consider during their synthesis.
The authors were recognised during the 2024 American Oil Chemists' Society Annual Meeting, held 28th April - 1st May in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
"We are thrilled to be presented with this award," said the paper's authors. "We believe that the issue of stability of ester-based surfactants is important both from a user's perspective and from an environmental point of view."
The paper, 'Ester-based surfactants: Are they stable enough?', was published in the Journal of Surfactants and Detergents, May 2023, Volume 26, Issue 3, pp 223-451.
2nd May 2024