Anionic Surfactant

Overview of Anionic surfactants

Anionic surfactants are a class of surface-active agents that bear a negative charge on their hydrophilic head groups. They are widely used in detergents, personal care products, emulsifiers, and various industrial processes due to their effective cleaning, wetting, and foaming properties.

Anionic Surfactant

Features of Anionic surfactants

Charge Density: Refers to the number of charges per molecular weight. It influences the surfactant’s ability to interact with other surfaces and ions in solution, affecting cleaning efficiency and compatibility with other formulation ingredients.
Hydrophobic Tail Length: The length and structure of the hydrocarbon chain (tail) determine the surfactant’s solubility in oils and its effectiveness in reducing surface tension. Longer chains generally increase the surfactant’s hydrophobicity and improve oil removal capabilities.
Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC): The concentration at which surfactant molecules start to aggregate into micelles, which is crucial for cleaning and emulsifying actions. Lower CMC values indicate greater efficiency as less surfactant is needed to achieve the desired effect.
Foaming Properties: The ability to generate and stabilize foam, which is important in cleaning and personal care products. Factors like tail length, head group, and formulation can influence foam height and stability.
Emulsifying Capacity: The capability to stabilize oil-water mixtures, influenced by the surfactant’s structure, particularly the balance between hydrophilic and hydrophobic portions.
pH Stability: The range of pH values over which the surfactant maintains its effectiveness. Anionic surfactants generally function best in alkaline conditions but can vary depending on the specific compound.
Biodegradability: The extent to which the surfactant can be broken down by microorganisms in the environment, an important factor for environmental sustainability.
Solubility: How well the surfactant dissolves in water or other solvents, which impacts its ease of use and effectiveness in formulations.
Compatibility: The ability to mix with other surfactants and formulation ingredients without causing precipitation or loss of function.
Krafft Point: The temperature above which anionic surfactants become soluble in water, indicating the minimum temperature at which they can effectively function.
Surface Tension Reduction: The degree to which the surfactant can lower the surface tension of water, affecting its wetting and spreading properties.
Corrosivity: The potential of the surfactant to corrode surfaces it comes into contact with, which is relevant for industrial cleaning applications.

Specifications of Anionic surfactants

Application of anionic surfactants

Anionic surfactants are widely used in the following fields due to their excellent detergency, emulsification, foaming and wetting properties:

Detergents & Cleansers: laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, hand soap (such as LAS, AES).

Personal care: shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste (such as SLS, SLES).

Industrial cleaning: metal degreasing, textile printing and dyeing auxiliaries (such as sulfonates).

Petroleum industry: oilfield flooding agent, drilling fluid emulsifier (such as petroleum sulfonate).

Agriculture: pesticide emulsifier, insecticide dispersant (such as alkylbenzene sulfonate).

Construction & coatings: cement water reducer, latex paint dispersant (such as lignin sulfonate).

Company Profile

Surfactant is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12-year-experience in providing super high-quality surfactant and relative products.

The company has a professional technical department and Quality Supervision Department, a well-equipped laboratory, and equipped with advanced testing equipment and after-sales customer service center.

If you are looking for high-quality surfactant and relative products, please feel free to contact us or click on the needed products to send an inquiry.

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Shipment

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Five FAQs of anionic surfactants

Why do anionic surfactants have strong detergency?

The molecular structure contains hydrophilic groups (such as -SO₃⁻, -COO⁻) and hydrophobic groups, which can reduce the surface tension of water and effectively remove oil stains.

Is it irritating to the skin?

Some products (such as SLS) may irritate the skin, but modified products such as SLES are milder and suitable for sensitive skin.

Can it be mixed with cationic surfactants?

Usually they cannot be mixed, and precipitation will occur due to charge neutralization (such as shampoo + conditioner need to be used separately).

How environmentally friendly?

Straight-chain types (such as LAS) are easily biodegradable, while branched types (such as ABS) may pollute the environment and must comply with environmental regulations.

How to choose a suitable anionic surfactant?

Determined by pH value (such as carboxylates are suitable for alkaline), hard water tolerance (such as AES anti-hard water) and use (emulsification/foaming).