RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NONIONIC SURFACTAN TS

Since many years ethylene oxide based products are predominant within the group of nonionic surfactants. Alcohol ethoxylates, which exhibit the highest market volume, are widely used in different applications. New requirements lead to a continuous optimisation of these products. Therefore, new manufacturing procedures for improved alcohol ethoxylat es are under investigation world-wide. Ethoxylates with a narrow homol ogue distribution provide a way to modify the properties of the produc ts These products are available by using special catalysts during The manufacturing of ethoxylates Narrow range ethoxylates proved to be adv antageous in different applications. In contrast to alcohols methylest ers have not reacted with ethylene oxide to the corresponding ethoxyla tes so far. Now new catalysts enable this reaction so that these methy lester-ethoxylates are available in industrial quantities. Due to the fact that these new nonionic surfactants possess no free hydroxyl grou p as alcohol ethoxylates do, methylester-ethoxylates exhibit new advan tageous properties, e.g. their high solution rate in water.