In addition to being widely used in the detergent and cosmetics industries, surfactants are also used as adjuvants or additives in traditional industries such as food, dairy, papermaking, leather, glass, petroleum, chemical fibers, textiles, printing and dyeing, painting, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, film, photography, electroplating, metal processing, mineral processing, new materials, industrial cleaning, construction, as well as high-tech fields. Although they are often not the mainstay of the industrial product, they can play a crucial role in adding the finishing touch to the production of various products. Although its usage is not large, it can play a key role in increasing product variety, reducing consumption, saving energy, and improving quality.

 

1、 The Application of Surfactants in the Textile Industry

Surfactants are widely used in the textile industry. In various textile processing steps such as spinning, spinning, sizing, weaving or knitting, refining (bleaching), dyeing, printing, and finishing, surfactants or surfactants as the main additives should be used to improve efficiency, simplify processes, improve performance, and enhance quality. In practical applications, surfactants are used as detergents, wetting agents, penetrating agents, emulsifiers, solubilizers, foaming agents, defoamers, smoothing agents, dispersants, leveling agents, dyeing retarders, fixing agents, refining agents, softeners, anti-static agents, waterproofing agents, disinfectants, etc. The earliest application in the textile industry is non-ionic surfactants. Although their consumption ratio has gradually decreased in recent years, their usage is still relatively large compared to other industrial sectors. They are widely used as solubilizers, detergents, wetting agents, dispersants, emulsifiers, leveling agents, refining agents, softeners, anti-static agents, etc. Anionic surfactants are mainly used as detergents, penetrants, wetting agents, emulsifiers, and dispersants in ionic surfactants; Cationic surfactants, which can firmly adsorb onto fabrics due to the negative charge of fibers, are commonly used as fabric softeners, leveling agents, waterproofing agents, anti-static agents, and color fixing agents; Bipolar surfactants are generally used as leveling agents for metal complex dyes, fabric softeners, and anti-static agents.

 

2、 The Application of Surfactants in Leather and Fur Industry

The leather making process is quite complex and tedious, requiring multiple steps from bare skin to finished leather. Before tanning, preparation work such as soaking in water, soaking in ash, enzymatic softening, soaking in acid, deacidification, and defatting should be carried out; After tanning, dyeing, fatliquoring, and finishing are also required. All of these processes require the use of surfactants as additives to promote the physicochemical effects and processes of each process, shorten production cycles, improve leather quality, and save chemical raw materials.

Fur processing also requires multiple processes, including soaking, degreasing, softening, tanning, bleaching, dyeing, fatliquoring, and finishing, all of which require the use of surfactants as additives. Leather making requires the removal of animal hair, while fur processing requires minimal damage to the original structure of the hair. The use of surfactants can provide good protection.

The main functions of surfactants in leather production and fur processing are solubilization, emulsification, wetting, permeation, foaming, defoaming, washing, leveling, and color fixation. In each process, the requirements for its role are different. For example, in immersion, it is mainly required to have wetting and permeation effects; In degreasing, it is required to have emulsifying, wetting, and penetrating effects; In decontamination, it is required to have good solubilization effect; It is required to have good diffusion, penetration and foam effect in dyeing; In the process of adding fat, it is required to have good emulsifying properties.

 

3. Application of surfactants in the coating industry

Coatings refer to engineering materials that can be applied to the surface of an object to form a coating with protective, decorative, or special properties. The commonly known paint is a type of coating. Coatings have multiple functions: in daily life, building construction, wooden furniture, daily industry, etc., brightly colored coatings are used for decoration, which can give objects a sense of beauty and enhance their commercial value; Coating building materials, wood, metal, etc. with coatings to provide protection, increase durability, and prevent corrosion; Paint is used as a color symbol and can be used as a traffic signal, dangerous goods sign, etc; Coatings with different compositions can also serve various special purposes, such as fire prevention, moisture resistance, mold prevention, camouflage, discoloration, insulation, radiation protection, and gas pollution prevention.

Coatings are generally composed of four categories of raw materials: film-forming substances, pigments, solvents, and additives. The film-forming substance is the basis for composing coatings; Pigments are generally fine colored substances in powder form; Except for solvent-free coatings, various liquid coatings generally contain solvents. Currently, the components used as coating solvents include water, aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, esters, ethers, ketones, terpenes, chlorinated organic compounds, etc; Additives are auxiliary components of coatings, and they are generally surfactants that play a significant role in coatings.

According to their effects on coatings, surfactants used in coatings can be divided into the following types: (1) defoamers, wetting agents, dispersants, emulsifiers, etc. during the coating production process; (2) anti caking agents, anti settling agents, etc. during the coating storage process; (3) coating construction film-forming agents: drying agents, curing agents, leveling agents, anti sagging agents, etc.; (4) plasticizers, leveling agents, mold inhibitors, flame retardants, anti-static agents, UV absorbers, etc. that affect the coating performance.

 

4. Application of surfactants in chemical catalysis

The rate of any chemical reaction is closely related to the properties of the chemical reaction environment. It has been found that adding certain surfactants to a reaction system composed of two reactants that are easily soluble in water and oil can significantly increase the rate of chemical reaction, and this effect is called surface active catalysis. The chemical reaction process catalyzed by surfactants mainly includes micelle catalysis and phase transfer catalysis, among which micelle catalysis has similarities with enzyme catalysis. The catalytic effect of surfactants on organic reactions is generally believed to be related to the formation of micelles, known as micelle catalysis.

 

 

5. Application of surfactant in enzyme catalyzed reaction in micro lotion

The addition of surfactants can enhance enzyme activity in organic solvents, mainly manifested in the following three aspects: (1) the polarity head of surfactant molecules tightly binds to enzyme molecules, thereby dispersing enzyme molecules in the organic phase and increasing the collision rate between enzyme molecules and substrates; (2) The hydrophobic tail of surfactant molecules can effectively attract hydrophobic substrates in organic phases, making them easily accessible to enzymes; (3) Effectively avoiding the inhibition of enzymes by substrates and products. The surfactants used to study the enzyme catalytic reaction in the micro lotion are generally anionic, cationic, amphoteric or non-ionic surfactants, such as sodium di - (2-ethylhexyl) succinate sulfonate (AOT), dodecyl polyoxyethylene ether (C12E4), ovophorate, hexadecyl trimethyl bromide (CTAB), etc.

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