Chemistry of Surfactants

The chemistry of surfactants covers the complete ranges of anionic, cationic, amphoteric and non-ionic surfactants, which find various applications in daily life and industrial processes.

The importance of this product group is based on its interfacial activity, which is the essential property utilized in numerous process technologies and products.
CHEMAK Ltd. gives recommendations for suitable chemical and physical measuring procedures and devices, which allow a classification and a qualitative selection of raw materials. The appropriate methods for the exact determination of the surface and/or interfacial tension, such as the

• Ring-/Plate Method,
• Hanging- or Pending-Drop-Method,
• Spinning-Drop-Method,
• Contact Angle Measurement / Wettability,
• Capillary Depletion etc.

are always in the forefront of our considerations.
CHEMAK Ltd. discusses with the client the selection and application of surfactant formulations as well as the technologies requested.

Besides the traditional 2-phase emulsions, CHEMAK Ltd. assists its clients in the innovative area of the apparent mono-phase and stable microemulsions, which open the doors for numerous new areas of applications.

Some of such new applications for microemulsions are:

• Pharmaceutical Products (e.g. Aerosols, Lotions, Creams, difficult O/W-Systems, specific Mode of Action of active Substances)
• Tribology (e.g. Reduction of Friction, Optimisation of Lubricant Systems, water-miscible Drilling Aids)
• Combustion Technology (e.g. Improvement in Fuel Combustion by Additives)
• Transport (e.g. Improvement of Slurry Transport, Decrease in Pipe Friction, Flow Improvement, Prevention of Agglomeration)
• Oil Industry (e.g. enhanced Oil Recovery Methods [EOR] by Microemulsion Flooding)