Industrial Surfactants Research Articles

Green alternatives show fastest growth on the global industrial surfactants market, finds Kline

Green alternatives show fastest growth on the global industrial surfactants market, finds Kline

The effects of additives on the reduction of the pour point of diesel fuel and fuel oil

ABSTRACTOne important industrial problem is the wax precipitation of oil fractions. Factors such as oil composition, temperature, and pressure are effective in causing wax precipitation. One way to prevent wax precipitation is using of chemical inhibitors to reduce pour point. Studying the effects of additives on specific oil samples could help solve wax precipitation problems at various oil processing stages. Despite previous studies that have been done at this aim, finding materials that could decrease the pour point and be economically acceptable, environmentally well optimized, and reasonable is still an unsolved problem. So, it is important to make use of effective materials that could be influential in preventing of wax precipitation or reduction of the amount of precipitation and thus decrease the pour point temperature. In this study, the effects of industrial polymer additives and surfactants that are economically acceptable on decrement of pour point temperature were studied by using three oil product samples, namely light diesel, heavy diesel, and fuel oil (Purification Company of Esfahan). Furthermore, optimized type and concentration of the additives were studied. Results showed that copolymer ethylene-vinyl acetate 28% at a concentration of 500 ppm reduced pour point temperature by 12°C for diesel and that copolymer ethylene-vinyl acetate 19% at a concentration of 300 ppm reduced pour point temperature by 9°C for fuel oil.

Enhanced Purification of Oil-in-Water Emulsions Using Polymer Membranes Treated in a DC Corona-Discharge Field

Separation of oil-in-water emulsions based on I-20A industrial oil and Kosintol-242 surfactant by membranes made of polyethersulfone (PES) with a molecular-mass cut-off of 50 kDa and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) with a molecular-mass cut-off of 60 kDa that were treated in a DC (unipolar) corona-discharge field is investigated. It is shown that the performance increases for filter elements of modified PES and remains the same if electretized PAN membranes are used. Additionally, the separation efficiency of the emulsion increases for both types of membranes after processing in a DC corona-discharge field.

Towards bacterial lipopeptide products for specific applications — a review of appropriate downstream processing schemes

Abstract Lipopeptides are versatile molecules that are viable and potential replacements for synthetic surfactants in agricultural, pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. While process optimization and intensification approaches have significantly improved lipopeptide production in terms of yield and productivity, downstream processing options to produce tailor-made lipopeptide products of different degrees of purity for specific applications have received considerably less attention. The use of conventional downstream methods such as solvent extraction, membrane filtration, adsorption and size exclusion has satisfactorily addressed the demand of lipopeptide mixtures to some extent, but the lack of well-established downstream techniques for these molecules still withholds their complete commercial realization. Moreover, fractionation of lipopeptide mixtures into families or individual isoforms is undeveloped, significantly limiting the use of lipopeptides for high end applications. This review highlights the recent developments in downstream processing of lipopeptides and discusses their pertinence on a case-to case basis in obtaining lipopeptides of appropriate purity for distinct and diverse applications.

Surfactant Binding to Polymer-Water Interfaces in Atomistic Simulations.

Attractive interactions between additive molecules and particle surfaces are key parameters in the design of waterborne suspensions and coatings. We use atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to determine the potential of mean force for a commonly used industrial surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) interacting with acrylate latex particles. We investigate how the potential of mean force and binding free energy depend on the amount of SDS adsorbed, solution ionic strength, and presence of other charged groups on the particle surface. We show that the potential of mean force for SDS is a sum of two independent terms, from the hydrophobic surfactant tail and charged headgroup: dragging the surfactant tail into solution contributes a linear potential of about kT per CH2 group, while the headgroup is repelled by like charges on the surface with a potential of about the zeta potential. Commercial acrylate latex particles also bear multivalent charged "hairs" as a remnant of their synthesis. These charged hairs result in a heterogeneously charged surface, for which SDS binds more or less strongly depending on the local environment.

Fate and effects of nonylphenol in the filamentous fungus Penicillium expansum isolated from the bottom sediments of the Gulf of Finland

Abstract Nonylphenol (NP) is the most abundant environmental pollutant that is classified as an endocrine disruptor, and it originates from the degradation of nonylphenol ethoxylates, which are widely used as industrial surfactants. It has been referred to in a list of substances of particular risk to the Baltic Sea, in a list of priority hazardous substances in the Water Frame Directive, and in the 3rd draft Working Document on Sludge, developed by the EU. In this study, the fate and effects of NP in the filamentous fungus Penicillium expansum isolated from the bottom sediments of the coastal zone of the eastern Gulf of Finland were investigated in laboratory experiments. This strain was more tolerant to technical nonylphenol (tNP) compared to other types of aquatic organisms, such as fish, protozoa, and algae. The toxicity concentration values of tNP in Penicillium expansum were EC 50 20 mg L − 1 and ЕС 90 > 100 mg L − 1 . The activity level of hydrolytic enzymes, cellulases and amylases decreased significantly in the tNP treatments. Given the significant role played by terrestrial fungi in the transformation of organic substrate into bottom sediment, such an effect from tNP on fungi could disturb the regulatory mechanisms and balance between the biosynthesis and biodegradation of organic matter in aquatic ecosystems as well as the formation of cenotic relations in aquatic biocenoses. Oxidative stress induced by tNP has been found to increase the synthesis of enzymatic protection factors, such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and nonenzymatic factors (melanin-like pigments and extracellular polysaccharides). This research indicated that the malondialdehyde concentration (the biochemical marker of lipid peroxidation) in the cells of the fungus decreased with increasing antioxidation factors. Penicillium expansum was able to decrease the tNP concentration in the culture medium. The removal of tNP was mainly caused by fungal degradation rather than by simple sorption and accumulation in the cells. Because terrestrial fungi play a significant role in the function of the heterotrophic block of bottom sediments and because tNP has become an increasingly persistent toxic organic and endocrine disruptor, these results may be ecologically relevant for aquatic systems. The results from this study demonstrate a potential application of this fungal species for the removal of tNP from the environment.

Investigation on Physical Properties and Morphologies of Microemulsions formed with Sodium Dodecyl Benzenesulfonate, Isobutanol, Brine, and Decane, Using Several Experimental Techniques

In the context of chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR), there is no well-established way to characterize and understand the physical properties and structures of microemulsions composed of crude oil and industrial surfactants due to their complexity. Making a comparison to a well-studied model system is a simple and effective way to investigate the complex microemulsions. The purpose of this study is to provide and complete experimental characteristic data of model-microemulsions as a basis of analysis of the complex system. Types of microemulsions studied in the present work were oil in water (O/W), bicontinuous, and water in oil (W/O). The system was composed of water, sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS), isobutanol, sodium chloride (NaCl), and decane. We performed several experiments at room temperature such as spinning drop method, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Karl Fischer titration, Hyamine titration, dynamic light scattering (DLS), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and electron cry...

Assessment of swelling inhibitive effect of CTAB adsorption on montmorillonite in aqueous phase

Physicochemical aspect of wellbore stability during drilling shale formations is linked to the interaction between montmorillonite (Mt) and aqueous phase. This study conducts for the first time a comprehensive study to assess swelling inhibitive effect of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), a celebrated cationic surfactant in petroleum industry, adsorption on Mt in the aqueous phase. Initially, the adsorption behavior of CTAB on Mt below and above the critical micelle concentration (CMC) was assessed by batch equilibrium experiments and then the adsorption data were examined using four famous adsorption equilibrium models. It was found that Mt has a great tendency to adsorb CTAB. Furthermore, the equilibrium data for monomeric and micellar adsorptions suited very well to Langmuir and Linear isotherms, respectively. The swelling inhibitive feature of CTAB was explored through extensive experiments comprising mud making, settlement, filtration, zeta potential, particle size, water adsorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). In contrast to deionized water, CTAB aqueous solution exhibited fairly low rheological profile with larger amount of Mt loading (225g/L). The dispersion of pre-hydrated Mt was fully unstable after being exposed to CTAB. Mt lost completely its ability to control fluid loss in aqueous solution of CTAB. The addition of CTAB to Mt dispersion extremely changed the magnitude of zeta potential from negative to positive, specifically before micelles formation. Compared to deionized water, Mt particles gave larger particle sizes in aqueous solution of CTAB, indicating the low degree of particle delamination. The affinity of Mt to water decreased by about 70% after modification via CTAB. Unlike deionized water, modification of Mt in aqueous solution of CTAB led to the larger size of aggregates, according to SEM analysis. TGA demonstrated that modified Mt in aqueous solution of CTAB has 4.68% water content less than that of modified in deionized water. The findings convey the message that CTAB can act as a far superior clay stabilizer at concentration much higher than CMC. Finally, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis was carried out to prove the adsorption of CTAB on Mt. It was concluded that the intercalation of CTAB (molecules and CTA+) into the interlayer space of Mt through cation exchange and hydrophobic interaction is probably the main inhibition mechanism.

Aloe vera vs. poly(ethylene)glycol-based synthesis and relative catalytic activity investigations of ZnO nanorods in thermal decomposition of potassium perchlorate

ABSTRACTThe green synthesis approach using ecofriendly biological precursors has gained world-wide popularity, reputation and recognition in the synthesis of several inorganic nanomaterials. This work demonstrates that a proper selection of biological precursor from the sustainable natural resources can effectively replace the commercial surfactant for fabrication of nanomaterials. Through this work, the green biotemplate Aloe vera plant extract has emerged as a better substitute of industrial surfactant poly(ethylene)glycol of molecular weight 8000 (PEG8000) in synthesis of ZnO nanorods using a simple sonoemulsion route. The colloidal growth of ZnO nanorods in PEG8000/Aloe vera -assisted sonoemulsion route has been elaborated in the context of relative supremacy of ultrasonic-assisted self-aggregation rate with steric-hindrance effect imposed by PEG8000/Aloe vera . The relative catalytic activity of PEG8000/Aloe vera synthesized ZnO nanorods, Co3O4 nanobelts and CuO nanorods in thermal decomposition of potassium perchlorate has been studied by thermo-gravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis of pure potassium perchlorate and its mixture with nanoscale ZnO/Co3O4/CuO by 2% weight. The ZnO nanorods formulated through Aloe vera route demonstrated higher catalytic activity than that of ZnO nanorods prepared through PEG8000 route. The relative order of catalytic effect of nanoscale metal oxides in thermal decomposition of potassium perchlorate was found in descending order as CuO nanorods > Co3O4 nanobelts > ZnO nanorods.

Insoluble layer deposition and dilatational rheology at a microscale spherical cap interface.

The dilatational properties of insoluble monolayers are important for understanding the mechanics of biological systems and consumer products, but isolating the dilatational response of an interface is challenging due to the difficulties in separating dilatation from shear and other deformation modes. Oscillations of a microscale bubble radius are useful for generating purely dilatational flows, but the current deposition methods for insoluble layers onto fluid interfaces are not easily scaled down. In this paper, we describe a miscible solvent exchange procedure for generating insoluble layers at an air-water interface pinned at the tip of a capillary tens of micrometers in diameter. We show that the amount of surfactant adsorbed at the interface can be controlled by the initial concentration dissolved in isopropanol (the starting solvent) and the volumetric flow rate of solvent exchange. Surface pressure-area isotherms and dilatational moduli are measured concurrently for three insoluble surfactants: palmitic acid (PA), dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC). The isotherms measured on the microscale interface compare well with previous experiments performed on a Langmuir trough. However, the magnitudes of the dilatational moduli differ from those measured on either Langmuir trough or pendant drop apparatuses. Several possible reasons for the observed differences are discussed. A comparison of the dilatational modulus with the Gibbs elasticity is used to determine the presence of dilatational extra stresses at the interface. The isotherm and dilatational modulus of the insoluble component of the industrial surfactant Tween 80 are measured using this approach. The methods developed here also open the possibility for future study of the important role of finite size effects on microstructure formation and the resulting interfacial mechanics.

Biosurfactant

Surfactant is an amphipilic chemical structure which contains the hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups. Surfactant has ability to lower surface tension between two liquids. Surfactant has been used in many industries, such as cosmetics, food, textile, petroleum, and pharmacy industry. Nowdays, most of surfactant used in industries are still based on petroleum resources. The applicationsof this nonbiodegradable surfactant in industry promote environmental problem. Biosurfactant is a biodegradable surfactant that produced from microorganism or natural resources. Biosurfactant produced from microorganism contains Rhamnolipid and Lipopeptide. Surfactin and Dactomicin made from microorganism with antibacterial activity are the examples. Bottle necks of the production of biosurfactant form microorganism are their slow process, high purification cost, and high product price. Biosurfactant from natural resources are potentially produced in large scale due to their fast process and relatively cheap raw material. Metil Ester Sulphonate (MES) is one of biosurfactant produced from natural resources (from palm oil). The other example is biosurfactant from esterification of carbohydrate and carboxylic acid. This paper reviews the literatures dealing with biodegradable surfactant development which can be used as a reference of a research path way and an industrial scale production of biodegradable surfactant.

Change of Thermo-Mechanical Properties of Optical Fibers Aged in CTAC Aqueous Solution

Fiber-optic sensors are mostly used for in situ measurements of diverse chemical composition of industrial surfactants employed in industry as detergents, emulsifying and dispersing agents, coatings, and pharmaceutical adjuvants. These optical sensors are often used in wet chemical environments in which the temperature can be high.The purpose of this work is to study the mechanical behaviour of optical fibers in contact with CetylTrimethylAmmonium Chloride in aqueous solution (CTAC) at different immersion durations and different temperatures.Optical fibers were submitted to dynamic bending test under different velocities.Result analysis demonstrates that immersion in CTAC drastically decreases the fiber strength particularly when immersed for long aging periods at high temperatures.

Colloidal gas aphron drilling fluid properties generated by natural surfactants: Experimental investigation

Colloidal gas aphron (CGA) fluids are special types of fluids containing micro-bubbles with sizes between 10 and 100 microns which are created by mixing an aphronizer surfactant in a polymeric solution at high speed. Recently, CGA fluids have been successfully employed as drilling fluid in petroleum upstream. CGA based drilling fluid properties like stability and aphron size distribution highly depends on the characteristics of an aphronizer surfactant. As a result, selection of an appropriate surface active agent plays a vital role for generating micro-bubbles with the favorable properties. The main objective of the present paper is to evaluate the potential of new natural surfactants as aphronizer in CGA-based drilling fluids. In this regard, two new natural surfactants which derived from roots of Seidlitzia Rosmarinus and leaves of Henna plant are employed for preparing aphron-based fluids. Physico-chemical properties of the aphronized fluids prepared from these surfactants were investigated by various standard experiments including bubble size measurements, rheological characterizations and stability tests. Moreover, the effects of polymer and surfactant concentrations were studied systematically. Based on the experimental results obtained from this work, the two aforementioned natural surfactants are appropriate for generating CGA based drilling fluid while they have no environmental impacts, and have very low cost in comparison with commercial and industrial surfactants.

The Petroleum Industry Surfactants Synthesized from Fish Oils

Biodegradable surfactants for the petroleum industry have been synthesized by the sulfurization of fish oils. A qualitative composition analysis of surfactants was conducted by FTIR spectroscopy that showed the presence of sulfonic acid groups in the samples. Previously, several samples of the technical fish oils (fish processing waste) have been studied with regard to their use for the synthesis of biodegradable surfactants. It has been shown by gas–liquid chromatography, FTIR spectroscopy, high-performance liquid chromatography, and mass spectrometry method that samples under study contain a large amount of saturated and nonsaturated fatty acids with hydrocarbon radicals comprising from 16 to 22 carbon atoms. The results reveal that the concentration of oleic acid approaches to 15 wt%. Fish oils with a high content of free fatty acids were used as the basis for the synthesis of technical, environmentally friendly surfactants that can be applied in the petroleum industry.

Novel zwitterionic surfactant derived from castor oil and its performance evaluation for oil recovery

Abstract Bio-based surfactants have attracted increasing attention due to their renewable resources and excellent surface properties. Novel zwitterionic surfactant derived from castor oil was prepared using a facile and high-yield route and its performance for oil recovery was also evaluated. The surface tension of the surfactant solution reached 30.7 mN/m at its critical micelle concentration value of 7.08 × 10 −6 mol/L. The interfacial tension between crude oil and water could be reduced to ultra-low value as 5.4 × 10 −3 mN/m at a low dosage of 0.010 g/L in aqueous solution with the absence of any extra alkali. When used as dispersant, the dispersion effectiveness of crude oil was 64.69%. Meanwhile, the bio-based surfactant demonstrated strong electrolyte tolerance, temperature resistance and thermostability, better wetting and foaming performance, which implied bio-based surfactants had great potential to replace traditional petroleum-based surfactants in petroleum industries, in particular, in enhanced oil recovery and oil spill disposal processing.

Effect of Organic Alkalis on Interfacial Tensions of Surfactant/Polymer Solutions against Hydrocarbons

The dynamic interfacial tensions (IFTs) of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) surfactant/polymer/organic alkali systems against a homologous series of alkanes have been investigated by a spinning drop interfacial tensiometer. Two organic alkalis with different molecular sizes, ethanolamine (EA) and diethanolamine (DEA), two surfactants with high interfacial activity, heavy alkyl benzenesulfonate (HABS) and petroleum sulfonate (SLPS), and two kinds of polymers, partly hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) and hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide (HMPAM), were employed to study the real mechanisms controlling the IFT behavior. The experimental results show that the addition of organic alkali may affect the dynamic IFTs of surfactant solutions through different mechanisms. First, the possible reaction of organic alkali with the oil-soluble components in industrial surfactants will influence the surface active spices at the interface and enhance the dynamic behavior. Second, the hydrophilic–lipophilic balance (HLB) of the surfactant may vary, and the surfactant may become more water-soluble because of the ionization of oil-soluble components, especially for HABS. Finally, the organic counterion with larger molecular sizes may affect the arrangement of interfacial surfactant molecules. For both HABS and SLPS surfactants, interfacial interactions between the hydrophobic part of surfactants and the hydrophobic blocks of HMPAM will reduce the interfacial concentration of surfactant monomers by forming aggregates and result in an obvious increment of the IFT value. On the other hand, HPAM will obviously enhance the water solubility of the surfactant/organic alkali solutions and reduce the IFT values for the hydrocarbons with lower alkyl carbon number (ACN).

Core Flooding Tests to Investigate the Effects of IFT Reduction and Wettability Alteration on Oil Recovery: Using Mulberry Leaf Extract

Many carbonate reservoirs are oil wet in nature. In oil or mixed-wet reservoirs, however, the capillary driving force for the spontaneous imbibition process is weak and therefore, the waterflooding oil recoveries are low. The recovery efficiency can be improved by dissolving low concentrations of surfactants in the injected water to alter the wettability of the reservoir rock or reduce the interfacial tension (IFT). Due to the high cost of industrial surfactants, chemical flooding is not economically attractive in petroleum industry. In this paper a new plant surfactant (extracted from mulberry tree leaves) was introduced and its effects on wettability alteration, IFT reduction, and oil recovery were experimentally investigated. Carbonate and sandstone rocks were employed to core flooding experiments in order to investigate the effect of mulberry leaf extract on oil recovery. Mulberry leaf extract could reduce the IFT between distilled water and kerosene from about 42 dyne/cm to 20 dyne/cm. Wettability of oil wet carbonate rocks, in the best state was altered from about 150° to 30°. Using mulberry leaf extracts into the injected water enhanced ultimate oil recovery about 7% and 1.5% of original oil in place for carbonate and sandstone rocks, respectively.

Proteolysis of Abnormal Prion Protein with a Thermostable Protease from a Hyper-Thermophilic Archaeon Thermococcus Kodakarensis Kod1

The abnormal prion protein (PrPSc: scrapie-associated prion protein) is considered to be included in the group of infectious agents of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Since PrPSc is highly resistant to normal sterilization procedures, the decontamination of PrPSc is a significant public health issue. Tk-subtilisin is a subtilisin-like serine protease identified from a hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis KOD1. Among the subtilisin family of proteases, Tk-subtilisin has significant high heat stability with its highest specific activity at 90°C and a half-life of 50 min at 100°C. In the present study, a hyper-thermostable protease, Tk-subtilisin, was used to degrade PrPSc. Although PrPSc is known to be resistant toward proteolytic enzymes, Tk-subtilisin was able to degrade PrPSc under extreme conditions. The level of PrPSc in brain homogenates was found to decrease significantly in vitro following Tk-subtilisin treatment at 100°C, whereas some protease resistant fractions remain after proteinase K treatment. Rather small amounts of Tk-subtilisin were required to degrade PrPSc at 100°C and pH 8.0. In addition, Tk-subtilisin was observed to degrade PrPSc in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate or other industrial surfactants. Although several proteases degrading PrPSc have been reported, practical decontamination procedures using enzymes are not available. This report aims to provide basic information for the practical use of a proteolytic enzyme for PrPSc degradation.

Wettability Alteration in Carbonate Rocks by Implementing New Derived Natural Surfactant: Enhanced Oil Recovery Applications

One of the robust and high-performance EOR methods which use chemical agents is chemical flooding. Environmental impacts, surfactant cost, and oil price are the three main parameters that affect on the robustness of the surfactant flooding in oil reservoirs. Interfacial tension reduction and wettability alteration of the reservoir rocks are the two main mechanisms of the oil recovery via employing surfactant flooding. The preliminary study about adsorption and environmental impacts of the new natural-based surfactant which derived from roots of Glycyrrhiza Glabra was investigated systematically by the authors and proved the ability of the aforementioned surfactant for EOR goals. Thanks to this point that throughout the current study, core displacement tests and qualitative and quantitative wettability experiments were carried out to specify performance of the above-mentioned natural surfactant in oil recovery. For wettability alteration measurements, contact angle measurement as a quantitative method, and floatation and two-phase separation experiments as qualitative methods were utilized. In addition, three commonly industrial surfactants were implemented throughout the wettability alteration experiments to contrast performance of the used surfactants. Thanks to the outcomes obtained from qualitative and quantitative wettability alteration experiments, and the surfactant suggested in this study could change wettability of carbonate rock from strongly oil-wet toward water-wet state. In addition, based on the core displacement experiments, it is robust, cheap, and high performance in comparison with other conventional industrial surfactants for surfactant flooding purposes. There is a hypothesis that the addressed raw surfactant can be utilized in chemical flooding of oil reservoirs owing to very low cost and availability around the world compared to other currently implemented surfactants.

Hepatic Mitochondrial Alteration in CD-1 Mice Associated with Prenatal Exposures to Low Doses of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA).

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a perfluoroalkyl acid primarily used as an industrial surfactant. It persists in the environment and has been linked to potentially toxic and/or carcinogenic effects in animals and people. As a known activator of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), PFOA exposure can induce defects in fatty acid oxidation, lipid transport, and inflammation. Here, pregnant CD-1 mice were orally gavaged with 0, 0.01, 0.1, 0.3, and 1 mg/kg of PFOA from gestation days (GD) 1 through 17. On postnatal day (PND) 21, histopathologic changes in the livers of offspring included hepatocellular hypertrophy and periportal inflammation that increased in severity by PND 91 in an apparent dose-dependent response. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of selected liver sections from PND 91 mice revealed PFOA-induced cellular damage and mitochondrial abnormalities with no evidence of peroxisome proliferation. Within hypertrophied hepatocytes, mitochondria were not only increased in number but also exhibited altered morphologies suggestive of increased and/or uncontrolled fission and fusion reactions. These findings suggest that peroxisome proliferation is not a component of PFOA-induced hepatic toxicity in animals that are prenatally exposed to low doses of PFOA.