Abstract
Soap applications for cleaning and personal care have been used for more than 4000 years, dating back to the pharaonic period, and have widely proliferated with the appearance of synthetic surfactants a century ago. Synthetic surfactants used to make macro-micro-nano-emulsions and foams are used in laundry and detergency, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, food conditioning, emulsified paints, explosives, enhanced oil recovery, wastewater treatment, etc. The introduction of a multivariable approach such as the normalized hydrophilic–lipophilic deviation (HLD N) and of specific structures, tailored with an intramolecular extension to increase solubilization (the so-called extended surfactants), makes it possible to improve the results and performance in surfactant–oil–water systems and their applications. This article aims to present an up-to-date overview of extended surfactants. We first present an introduction regarding physicochemical formulation and its relationship with performance. The second part deals with the importance of HLD N to make a straightforward classification according to the type of surfactants and how formulation parameters can be used to understand the need for an extension of the molecule reach into the oil and water phases. Then, extended surfactant characteristics and strategies to increase performance are outlined. Finally, two specific applications, i.e., drilling fluids and crude oil dewatering, are described.
Highlights
The synthesis of surfactants for the solubilization of complex oils, including crude oils and polar oils, has been widely researched since the late 1970s in universities and industrial settings [1,2]
Aoudia et al [14] achieved high performance with crude oils and a very long polypropylene oxide (PO) = 15 extension in a C14PO15SO4 surfactant. These first state-of-the-art extended surfactants synthetized and proved for high solubilization of polar oils allowed a progressive advance of research [15,16]
It was not until the early 2000s that new molecules were developed at FIRP Lab. [17,18,19,20], including surfactants with a carboxylate head and others derived from triglycerides and natural sugars [21,22]. These first trends concerning new extended surfactants for the high solubilization of polar oils allowed the progressive advance of research [2,20,23]
Summary
The synthesis of surfactants for the solubilization of complex oils, including crude oils and polar oils, has been widely researched since the late 1970s in universities and industrial settings [1,2]. Aoudia et al [14] achieved high performance with crude oils and a very long PO = 15 extension in a C14PO15SO4 surfactant These first state-of-the-art extended surfactants synthetized and proved for high solubilization of polar oils allowed a progressive advance of research [15,16]. [17,18,19,20], including surfactants with a carboxylate head and others derived from triglycerides and natural sugars [21,22] These first trends concerning new extended surfactants for the high solubilization of polar oils allowed the progressive advance of research [2,20,23]. S/12/6/2/SO4 S/12/10/2/SO4 S/12/14/2/SO4 A/14−15/8/0/SO4 A/10/18/2/SO4 A/14−15/4/0/SO4 A/16−17/4/0/SO4 A/12−13/8/0/SO4 A/12−13/4/0/SO4 Chen/8/9/3/SO4 A/12−13/4/0/SO4 He/13/2/0/SO4 A/10/4/0/SO4
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