Current Status and Future Development of Nonionic Surfactant Market

Non-ionic surfactant is a surfactant that does not generate ions in an aqueous solution. Different from anionic surfactants and cationic surfactants. Compared with Anionic Surfactants, nonionic surfactants have higher emulsifying ability and a certain resistance to hard water. They are an indispensable ingredient in detergent and emulsifier formulations. Of course, compared with anionic surfactants, non-ionic surfactants also have some disadvantages, such as cloud point limitation, non-alkali resistance, and higher price.

Most Non-Ionic Surfactants are in liquid and slurry state, and their solubility in water decreases with increasing temperature. Non-ionic surfactants have good washing, dispersing, emulsifying, wetting, solubilizing, leveling, anti-corrosion, and protective colloid properties. The data shows that the surfactant industry in my country is developing rapidly and is widely used in textiles. , Paper, food, plastic, leather, fur, glass, petroleum, chemical fiber, medicine, pesticide, paint, dye, fertilizer, film, photography, metal processing, mineral processing, building materials, environmental protection, cosmetics, fire protection and agriculture. In agriculture, surfactants are widely used mainly as pesticide additives; in the washing industry, surfactants are the main components of detergents; in the cosmetics manufacturing industry, surfactants are important raw materials for cosmetics; in the textile industry , Surfactants are widely used in various processes of printing and dyeing. In the petroleum industry, surfactants are used in almost every production link, and they have become essential chemicals in the exploitation of petroleum and shale gas. Surfactants have become an indispensable functionally loaded new material for my country to promote the development of various important industries, and are expanding to various high-tech fields, providing strong support for new materials, biology, energy, information and other high-tech industries.

Non-Ionic Surfactants

In recent years, natural oil-based green surfactants have gradually replaced petroleum-based surfactants. The amount of natural oil-based anionic surfactants represented by AES, SAS and MES is increasing year by year, gradually replacing petroleum-based anionic surfactants. Moreover, non-ionic surfactants based on natural alcohols such as APG, AEO, FMEE, etc. have developed rapidly, becoming the fastest-growing surfactant product in China.

Greening of surfactants

The core of the green development of surfactants is sustainable development and environmental friendliness. In recent years, with the increasing demand for "green chemistry", the theoretical research and application development of grease-based surfactants have made continuous progress. The 9th World Surfactant Conference held in Barcelona in 2013 proposed that the ecological degree of the product should be calibrated according to the source of the raw material of the product, and it is recommended that this requirement be reflected in the product standard. In the foreseeable future, the development of the surfactant industry will still focus on greening (ecological), and new surfactants that are gentle to the human body, environmentally and ecologically compatible will still become the international research hotspot of surfactants. Direction of development.

High-quality surfactants

At present, the international surfactant system has basically formed a relatively stable pattern. From the development experience of multinational companies, high stability control of product quality and high stability of product quality is a necessary means to build a company’s brand. In the future, How to further improve the quality of products, reduce the content of by-products, and pay attention to reducing production costs and improving product quality in the selection of raw materials, optimization of process routes, and reduction of consumption during the preparation process, will become surfactant manufacturers to improve their market competitiveness. Important method.

Higher value of surfactants

With the rapid development of social economy, the application of surfactants has become more and more extensive. In the fields of petroleum, construction, crude oil development, steel, food, medicine, agrochemicals, etc., the requirements for surfactants are also getting higher and higher. , And special industries such as cosmetics, medicine, and electronics industries require high-purity surfactants, and even the salt content must be particularly low. The optimization of the synthesis process combined with breakthroughs in key technologies such as purification and separation can improve the purity and efficiency of the products. It will become an inevitable means for the surfactant industry to increase profit margins, and it will also become the development trend of surfactants.

The refinement of surfactants

After years of cultivation, the surfactant industry has gradually expanded from playing a single role as the main active substance in traditional daily chemicals to an indispensable functionally loaded material in various important industrial sectors of the national economy. It is rapidly penetrating into various high-tech and industrial fields, improving the efficiency of various economic fields. Nearly 70% of the total amount in developed countries is used as industrial additives.

With the widespread use of surfactants, the requirements for the subdivision and specialization of surfactants in various fields are becoming higher and higher, such as high foam, high alkali resistance, low foam and easy rinsing, and high electrolyte resistance. , High wettability, high emulsification, etc. In the past, Surfactants were mostly classified academically according to the types of surfactants. In the future, they will be classified in terms of their performance, efficacy and application areas, and strengthen the structure The research on the effect relationship and the molecular design on the process route for research and development will become the development trend of surfactants.