Fatty Alcohol - The Main Raw Material of Surfactants

Fatty alcohols are alcohols with aliphatic groups of 8 to 22 carbon atomic chains. Fatty alcohols usually have an even number of carbon atoms and a hydroxyl group attached to the end of the carbon chain.

One of the raw materials of surfactants used in detergents. The general formula is ROH. The R of alcohols used in detergents is generally a hydrocarbon group of C12~C18. This high-carbon fatty alcohologen has amphiphilic properties, that is, there are hydrophobic groups such as hydrocarbon chains and hydrophilic groups such as hydroxyl groups in the molecule. However, because the solubility in water is very low, it is necessary to add a hydrophilic group or convert the hydroxyl group into a sulfuric acid group, so that the hydrophilic oil balance value reaches the necessary value, and the fatty alcohol derivative has enough hydrophilic groups to dissolve in water and can become a aggregate (micelle), this fatty alcohol derivative is a surfactant. For example, dodecyl alcohol is insoluble in water, but when it becomes sodium dodecyl sulfate, due to the attachment of a sulfuric acid group (-SO3-), the water solubility becomes good, and can form micelles in water, and at a certain concentration, it shows very good surface activity.

People are using this property, fatty alcohols as raw materials, to produce a variety of surfactants with various excellent properties.

Fatty alcohol development process: early fatty alcohol is made from whale wax, the resulting mixed fatty alcohol after sulfation and neutralization into sulfate, is an earlier anionic detergent. Later, it developed and used coconut oil, palm oil and butter from rich sources as raw materials. The fatty acids obtained by hydrolysis are then reduced to alcohols. Collectively known as natural fatty alcohols. After the development of petrochemical industry, fatty alcohols produced by petroleum products as raw materials are called synthetic fatty alcohols. The important methods for producing fatty alcohols are high-pressure hydrogenation, Ziegler process and carbonyl synthesis. If the hair mask contains unsaturated fatty alcohol, it can repair and nourish hair; Adding fatty alcohol to lip gloss can enhance the smoothness of the product when used.