Do You Really Know What the Surfactant Chemicals Are?
Surfactants are the kind of materials that can lower surface tension between 2 liquids or also between any liquid and solid. Generally, any material that affects interfacial surface tension, are considered as surfactant, however practically surfactants will act as:
- Dispersants
- Emulsifiers
- Foaming agents
- Wetting agents
Any surfactant chemicals can be used as cleaning, wetting, foaming, emulsifying and dispersing agents in various products like inks, paints, emulsions adhesives, biocides.
Any kind of hydrogen sulfide scavenger MSDS product can be extremely flammable and toxic, which can easily be ignited by heat, flame or sparks. Explosive mixtures can form when vapors will mix with air. Also, vapors may travel to any source of ignition to flash back which can be fatal too, if inhaled.
Hydrogen sulfide is extremely flammable and toxic gas even at low concentration. With exposure to hydrogen sulfide even at 100 ppm level can be dangerous to health and life as well.
In order to do H2S removal from biogas, surfactant chemicals can be effectively used. The dynamics of its adsorption of the surface-active agent can be of great importance.
Particularly, for certain practical applications like coating processes or emulsifying and also foaming, where drops or bubbles are rapidly generated that need to be properly stabilized.
There are four different types of surfactants that are as follows:
- Nonionic surfactant
There are quite a few chain alcohols that may exhibit surfactant properties. Few of them are
- Triton™ X-100
- Nonoxynol-9
- Span®
- Poloxamers, Tergitol™
- Antarox®
- Anionic surfactant
Any anionic surfactants may contain certain anionic functional groups in their head e.g.
- Carboxylates
- Phosphate
- Sulfate
- Sulfonat
- Cationic surfactant
Usually, cationic surfactants comprise of positively charged head. Mostly, it will find use anti-fungals or anti-microbials etc.
- Benzalkonium chloride
- Benzethonium chloride
- Cetylpyridinium chloride
- Zwitterionic surfactants
Zwitterionic surfactants have both anionic and cationic centers attached to same molecule.
