JPS5856400B2 - surfactant - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a low foaming ether type nonionic surfactant composition.

Nonionic surfactants are used in a wide variety of applications, such as detergents, emulsifiers, dispersants, and penetrants, due to their excellent surfactant properties.

However, in industrial applications, the problem of foaming has become important with the recent promotion of rationalization and mechanization.

Various methods have been proposed to reduce the foaming of surfactants. Blend.

(2) Use an ether-type nonionic surfactant made by adding alkylene oxide to flucol or alkylphenol.

Two such methods are generally used.

Although it is certain that these have certain effects, they have certain drawbacks in achieving sufficient low foaming properties.

For example, regarding (1), in order to sufficiently reduce foam, it is necessary to add an extremely hydrophobic antifoaming agent, and in this case, the important detergency will decrease, and insoluble components will separate and adhere. .

In addition, when trying to suppress this phenomenon and maintain effective cleaning power, the problem of foaming often occurs.

Furthermore, considering the second case, it is common practice to add ethylene oxide and propylene oxide to higher alcohols (or alkylphenols), but it is possible to achieve sufficient low foaming properties simply by such an operation. In order to obtain this, it is necessary to increase the amount of propylene oxide added, which results in an unnecessarily low cloud point and poor detergency.

In addition, in order to maintain high detergency, it is necessary to add ethylene oxide at a higher proportion than propylene oxide, but in this case it is not possible to obtain sufficient low foaming properties.

In addition, for both (1) and (2), even if low foaming is achieved at temperatures above the cloud point, considerable foaming phenomenon is observed at temperatures below the cloud point, especially in low-temperature, low-concentration cases such as waste water. Under these conditions, foaming is large and stable foams are formed, which often causes foaming problems in wastewater treatment tanks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a surfactant that eliminates these drawbacks, has high detergency, and has sufficiently low foaming properties.

The surfactant of the present invention has a general formula (where R1 is an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms or a hydrogen atom, m is 3 or 4, and the oxyalkylene group represented by CmH2mO is a branched chain) as an essential component. n is a number from 5 to 25, preferably from 8 to 25, ■ is a number from 1 to 25, and l /
n is 0.3 to 1.0.

) Contains the compound shown in

The compound of general formula (1) can be obtained by oxyalkylenizing the corresponding phenol by a conventional method, and the compound of general formula (1)
The l/n ratio in ) is preferably 0.3 to 0.7 because it exhibits more preferable low foaming properties and detergency.

The compound of general formula (1), which is an essential component of the present invention, has an extremely low foaming property because it has a unique hydrophobic group represented by the formula, and has a polyoxyethylene chain represented by (C2H40)H. Since the proportion is relatively high, it has sufficient detergency and a high cloud point.

Further, even below the cloud point, the foaming property is small and there is no problem when using it in wastewater treatment.

As shown in the examples below, the surfactant of the present invention itself has both sufficient low foaming properties and detergency, and is superior to the currently commonly used alkylene oxide adducts of nonylphenol. This is a very unique compound compared to conventional surfactants, which require sacrificing detergency if low foaming properties are desired, and low foaming properties if desired detergency.

The surfactant of the present invention can not only be used alone, but also in combination with other surfactants, antifoaming agents, etc. within the scope of the purpose of the present invention.

The surfactant of the present invention is most suitable as a cleaning agent for contaminated surfaces such as metals, glass, plastics, and other hard surfaces, but also as a fiber scouring agent, waste paper deinking agent,
It can also be used in fields such as general cleaning agents.

The surfactant of the present invention can be used at any concentration depending on the method of use; for example, it can be used by dissolving about 0.005 to 5% in water.

The effect of the present invention is to provide a surfactant with high detergency and low foaming properties.

The following examples demonstrate that the surfactant of the present invention has low foaming power and good detergency.

The foaming power is measured by the Ross Miles method, and the cleaning power is measured by immersing a cold-hydraulic rolled steel plate in turbine oil, removing excess oil, weighing it, washing it, rinsing it with cold water, drying it, and then reapplying it. The degreasing rate (%) was measured by weighing and determining the degreasing rate (%) from the change in weight (the cleaning liquid used was a solution of 1.8? metasilicate sodium 9 hydrate and 0.21 g of surfactant dissolved in 98 g of water).

Example 1 A foaming power test was conducted as shown in Table 1.

As shown in Table 1, although the compound of the present invention has a relatively high cloud point, it has good low foaming and defoaming properties, and shows particularly good properties even at low temperatures and low concentrations, and can be used in wastewater treatment tanks, etc. can prevent foaming.

On the other hand, the currently used surfactants, which are said to have low foaming properties and are made by adding alkylene oxide to nonylphenol, have considerable foaming properties not only below the cloud point but also above the cloud point. In particular, it has a high initial foaming property.

Comparative control compounds (b) and (・→ show initial foaming properties similar to those of the compounds of the present invention among the comparative control compounds, but as is clear from the following detergency test, they sacrifice detergency. Although low foaming properties have been obtained, the compounds of the present invention have high detergency and favorable low foaming properties.

Furthermore, regarding the foam-disappearance properties at low temperatures and low concentrations, Comparative Compound (b) and ←→ are clearly inferior to the compounds of the present invention.

Also, as in Comparative Control Compound (A), l/
If the value of n does not fall within the range of 0.3 to 1.0, the foaming property will increase and the detergency will decrease.

Compound □, (B), (a) and compound (b), ←→, ni)
Comparing each of these, in the case of alkylene oxide compounds of nonylphenol, there is an inverse correlation between low foaming properties and detergency. There is no other choice but to discover and utilize the compounds (A) and (B) of the present invention through trial and error.
) has lower foaming property than (a) and at the same time has high detergency.

Example 2 Cleaning power test

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1 As an essential component, the general formula (wherein R1 is an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms or a hydrogen atom; m is 3 or 4 and the oxyalkylene group represented by CmH2mO is a branched chain) may be: n11 is a number indicating the degree of polymerization of each oxyalkylene group, n is a number from 5 to 25, and ■ is a number from 1 to 25, provided that 1/n is 0.3 to 1.0.
A surfactant containing a compound represented by