About Various Surfactants and Their Applications in Textile Industry
Surfactants and Their Role in the Textile Industry
What are Surfactants?
These are compounds that lower the surface tension of a liquid. Surfactants are organic compounds that have amphiphilic molecules this implies that hey have both a hydrophobic and a hydrophilic group or vice versa. They lower surface tension between two liquids or a liquid and a solid. Surfactant may be used as detergents, wetting agents, forming agents, emulsifiers and so on. There are different types of surfactants such as the ethoxylates, fatty alcohol ethoxylate, fatty acid ethoxylate and fatty amines ethoxylate.
What is the Importance of Surfactants in The Textile Industry?
In the textile industry surfactants are used for three main processes as discussed below.
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Scouring- in the textile industry, scouring for natural and synthetic fibers is very paramount. Scouring is aimed at ensuring the fabric is well prepared and impurities, either man made or natural are removed.
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Lubrication- after the scouring operation, the fats in the initial fabric are eliminated. This implies that materials have to be added which will serve as lubricants. This is because lubrication is very important in the spinning, cording, and weaving operation. Surfactants act as lubricants and softeners.
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Dying and finishing - these process uses most of the surfactants in the textile industry. Surfactants act as wetting agents, dying agents and as penetrates.
These are the major uses of surfactants in the textile industry amongst many more uses. This shows that surfactants play a very important role in the textile industry.
Various Surfactants used in the Textile Industry
There are many types of surfactants, below are some of the surfactants that are used in the textile industry.
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Ethoxylates - These are produced from the ethoxylation processes. In the textile industries, the ethoxylates are used for scouring, lubricating, finishing and dying of the fabrics.
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Fatty Alcohol Ethoxylate - These range from clear yellowish liquids to wax solids, depending on their length of the alkyl chain. Fatty alcohol ethoxylates are used for scouring and emulsifying in the textile industry. They are also used in dye leveling and as wetting agents. The major function of fatty alcohol ethoxylates is emulsification.
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Fatty Acid Ethoxylate - They are used as non ionic surfactants in a number of processes in the textile industry. Fatty acid ethoxylates are used as emulsifiers, water softeners, wetting agents and as spin dying agents.
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Fatty Amines Ethoxylate - They are good oil emulsifiers, and dye dispersants. They are also good as wetting agents. Fatty amine ethoxylates are important in the textile industry in for they act as fiber lubricants and also as dying agents.
These are some of the most commonly used surfactants used in the textile industry. All of them have a very important role to play.
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Ethoxylates, fatty alcohol ethoxylates, fatty acid ethoxylates and fatty amines ethoxylates are very significant in the textile industry. Without them the textile industry cannot be complete. Their significance cannot be underestimated. They ensure that the textile industry is efficient. Every textile industry therefore needs surfactants for they are paramount in their operations.
This article has been written by
Govind Patel.
