Application of Surfactants - Fatty Amine Ethoxylates

Surfactants are the surface active agents that are widely used in form of
cleansing agents, emulsifiers and wetting agents for various applications in
industries. They can be used in formation of other surfactant products or
derivatives and are often employed in processes as solubilizing and coupling
agents, fiber lubricants and dyeing assists in textile processes, leveling agents
and in various other applications.
Talking about the surfactant products widely used in industries, ethoxylates are
widely used in industries as surfactants. Ethoxylates derived from ethoxylation of
substances like fatty alcohols, fatty acids or amines are employed in industries
for applications like cleaning, emulsifying, wetting, scouring etc. Let us now have
a look at the fatty amine ethoxylate surfactants used in industrial processes.
What are Fatty Amine Ethoxylates and Where are They Used?
Fatty amine ethoxylates are nonionic surfactants used as wetting and dispersing
agents, stabilizers, sanitizers and defoaming agents in various industries like
textile, paper, drilling, chemical, paint, metal etc. The fatty amine
ethoxylates are used as emulsifiers and can also be employed in formulation of
emulsifier blends. They play an important role as emulsifiers in agrochemical
industries, cleaners in industrial processes especially in metal industry, oil field
chemicals, fabric softeners, petroleum additives and for applications in textile
and leather processing, paper de-inking, mining & drilling.
How are Fatty Amines Ethoxylates Formulated?
Production of fatty amines ethoxylate products takes place when the amines like
amino acids, tallow amines, oleyl amine, coco amine, stearyl amines etc are
made to react with ethylene oxide in presence of a catalyst in ethoxylation
process. Fatty amines are nitrogen derivatives of fatty acids, olefins, or alcohols
prepared from natural sources, fats and oils, or petrochemical raw materials. The
commercially available fatty amines are prepared by either distillation of fatty
acids or when fatty alcohols are reacted with ammonia or primary, secondary
amines.
Types of Fatty Amine Ethoxylates
Some of the popular forms of ethoxylated amines widely used in industrial
processes include the tallow amines, coco amines, stearyl amines and oleyl
amines.
The popular product used for soaps, leather dressings, candles, food, and
lubricant applications in industries, tallow amine ethoxylate is derived from
ethoxylation of tallow amine which is prepared from tallow, a hard fat usually
extracted from fatty deposits of animals. Tallow consists chiefly of glyceryl esters
of oleic, palmitic, and stearic acids.

The oleyl amine ethoxylates are best used in textile applications. With high
affinity for surfaces these products are good for coating applications and as such
are used for coating cloth, yarn etc. They are good emulsifiers and are used in
many cleaning and detergent formulations due to their antistatic behaviour and
dispersing abilities. In the similar way stearyl amine ethoxylates and coco amine
ethoxylates are the two other widely used industrial surfactant products
employed in different forms for various applications in diverse industries.
Those looking to buy high quality surfactants for industrial applications, can get
them at most competitive prices from Rimpro. Rimpro-India is one of the leading
suppliers of oilfield chemicals, surfactants, cosmetic waxes and specialty
chemicals in India.
This article has been written by Govindbhai Mathurdas Patel.
http://www.rimpro-india.com/articles1/application-of-surfactants-fatty-amineethoxylates.html