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Alkyl aryl sulfonates is the largest in quantity among all surfactants produced. Their importance lies in its power of reducing oil-water interfacial tension. They have wide applications based on their functional properties, i.e., de- emulsification & de-emulsification, dispersion, wetting, solubilization, inhibition of rust and corrosion. Petroleum sulfonates originally were produced as by-products of petroleum refining. But refineries are now adopting solvent extraction in place of acid treatment and petroleum sulfonate is no more available as by-product. In the search of alternatives, scientists are working on different source and molecular design. Aimed at the ultimate design and development of suitable sulfonates for a particular application, extensive studies were initiated regarding the effect of structural parameter on their surface-active properties. In this connection, several alkyl aryl sulfonates have been synthesized having different structures in aromatic portion and evaluated for their surface-active, micellar, hydrodynamic, thermodynamic, detergency and solubilization properties to establish a correlation between the structural parameters and these properties.
About the author
Dr. A.K.Singh, Ph.D. Chemistry, scientist at Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun (India), expert in petroleum chemistry and eco-friendly products. 35 research papers and 25 patents. Visited USA for business development and study program on "Gasoline quality control and additives".
