I don’t know if everyone has the habit of reading the ingredient list when buying things. I have this habit. When I was cleaning at the weekend, I found the words surfactant as the main ingredient on the bottles of laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid. Out of curiosity, I searched around my house and found that these words were found in the main ingredients of washing powder, soap and softener. As a curious baby, the editor went to ask the R&D guy for advice. Of course, my little brother was very generous and gave me all-round popular science teaching. Of course, I still want to share it with everyone. Friendly reminder from
: If you can’t read it, you can jump directly to the final summary, but I still encourage you to read the entire content and express your gratitude to our R&D brother~
What is surfactant?
surfactant is known as " "Industrial monosodium glutamate" refers to substances with fixed hydrophilic and lipophilic groups, which can be oriented and arranged on the surface of the solution, and can significantly reduce the surface tension of . Surfactants are added to detergents because they have a series of physical and chemical functions such as wetting or anti-sticking, emulsification or demulsification, foaming or defoaming, solubilization, dispersion, washing, antisepsis, and antistatic, and their corresponding practical applications. .
Classification of surfactants
Friendly reminder: If you can’t understand, you can jump directly to the end of the summary~
Alkyl glycoside (APG) is a category Nonionic surfactant is produced by the reaction of fatty alcohol and glucose. It has low surface tension, no cloud point, adjustable HLB value, strong wetting power, strong detergency, rich and delicate foam, strong compatibility, non-toxic and non-toxic. It is non-toxic, non-irritating to the skin, biodegrades rapidly and completely, and can be combined with any type of surfactant to achieve obvious synergistic effects. The product has significant thickening effect, is easy to dilute, has no gelling phenomenon and is easy to use. It is also resistant to strong alkali, strong acid, hard water and salt. It can be used as the main raw material for daily chemicals such as shampoo, shower gel, facial cleanser, laundry detergent, hand soap, tableware detergent, vegetable and fruit cleaning agent, etc. It can also be used in soap powder, phosphorus-free detergent, phosphorus-free washing powder, etc. in synthetic detergents.
Alkyl betaine: It is a kind of amphoteric surfactant with good application performance. In the actual application process, its washing, emulsifying and wetting properties are all good, but its irritation is slightly higher, which limits its application in personal care products to a certain extent.
amide propyl betaine : cocamidopropyl betaine is a light yellow transparent liquid with little irritation, mild performance, rich and stable foam, viscosity adjustment and bactericidal effect, and can strengthen hair and skin Its softness can be used as detergent, conditioner, wetting agent, bactericide, thickening agent and antistatic agent. Coconut oil (or palm oil) amidopropyl betaine has good human compatibility and has been used in formulas such as shampoo, body wash, facial cleanser, and baby products.
Amino acid surfactant: It is a protein-like surfactant. In addition to the basic properties of surfactants such as wetting, emulsification, foaming, solubilization, washing, and dispersion, it also has low irritation, Low toxicity, softness, antibacterial properties, corrosion and rust prevention, biodegradability and good affinity to the human body. At present, there are several amino acid surfactants mainly including sodium lauroyl glutamate and sodium cocoyl glutamate in the domestic market. These amino acid surfactants are widely used in the field of personal care, such as: amino acid facial cleanser, body wash, etc.
Fatty acid methyl ester ethoxylate (FMEE) is a nonionic surfactant. FMES is the product of ethoxylation and then sulfonation of fatty acid methyl ester, which is an anionic surfactant . They both have the advantages of low-temperature fluidity and large gel area, which are more suitable for the preparation of high-concentration concentrated detergents. They all have good cleaning power, alkali resistance, dispersion performance, oil removal and wax removal performance. , good hard water resistance.
How to choose when buying toiletries?
Those who can persist in reading the above instructions must be brave men chosen by God.Can’t finish it and think it’s too obscure? It doesn’t matter, you can just read the summary!
Alkyl glycoside (APG): non-toxic, harmless, non-irritating to the skin, suitable for personal care and detergents.
Alkyl betaine: has better performance, but is slightly more irritating and is not suitable for general personal care products.
Cocamidopropyl Betaine: It can enhance the softness of hair and skin, has good human compatibility, and is suitable for personal care products and baby products.
amino acid surfactant: low irritation, low toxicity, mildness, suitable for personal care products.
Fatty acid methyl ester ethoxylate (FMEE): suitable for high concentration concentrated detergents.
The above is the surfactant content compiled by the editor for everyone. Before purchasing the product, you can use it as a reference to read the main ingredient list and choose the appropriate product.
Part of the content is excerpted from "Overview. China Detergent Products Industry Association"
