What other industries can biosurfactants be used in?

2020-10-12 09:02:40

The molecular structure of amphoteric surfactants has hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups. The properties related to surface tension can be adjusted by changing the structure of hydrophilic part of surfactant molecule. For example, polymethylsiloxane (silicone resin) is more effective, and the unique surface activity of silicone oil is due to the hydrophobic Si - O group being shielded by hydrophilic methyl groups. Fluorinated alkyl group can further reduce the surface tension, fluorine atom has the appropriate covalent radius to shield the carbon chain from space, and the fluoroalkyl group has little interaction with other groups. Fluorosurfactants can be seen from the example of perfluorooctanoic acid [n - c7f15cooh], where the mass fraction of perfluorooctanoic acid is 0101%, the surface tension of water decreases from 72 Mn / m to 1512 Mn / m.

In synthetic detergents, detergent aids usually soften the hardness of water and improve the acidity and alkalinity of washing solution. The amount of additives is generally large, and the amount of additives is small, which is often called "small materials". Detergent aids are mostly used in washing powder, and the amount added in liquid washing is very limited, unless it is structural liquid washing. STPP (sodium tripolyphosphate) as a softener has comprehensive performance and is an incomparable detergent aid. However, STPP can not be used as a green detergent because it can aggravate the eutrophication of closed water to a certain extent.

Biosurfactants can also be used in pulp and paper industry, textile industry, ceramics industry and uranium ore processing. Pellerin et al. Successfully used heteropolysaccharides produced by Macrocystis pyrifera and Azotobacter vinelandii as dispersants in ceramic industry.

The polymeric surfactant produced by Acinetobacter calcium acetate A2 is used in coating industry. In the presence of biosurfactant, the settling velocity of particles becomes slow and the preparation of suspension becomes easy. This is very useful for coatings because it increases the diffusion ability and mixing performance of coatings.