Application of cationic surfactant derived from fatty acid methyl ester

• Published in: Proceedings of Oleo & Specialty Chemicals Conference: PIPOC 2007: International Palm Oil Congress: Palm Oil: Empowering Change pp. 40 - 43
• Main Authors: Egawa, Naoyuki, Kikukawa, Masazumi
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Malaysian Palm oil Board 2007
• Subjects: Biodegradability; Esters; Fatty acids; Hydrolysis; Surfactants

We investigated the performance of TEQ esterquat from fatty acid methyl ester and triethanolamine and examined the influence of the nature of alkyl chain and the number of alkyl chains on the softening effect and water absorbency. Esterquats which are readily biodegradable has been the main ingredient of fabric softener in Japan for several years because of environmental concern about dialkyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DADMAC). When the methyl stearate (C180) and methyl palmitate (C160) were used to prepare TEQ, the TEQ showed good softening effect. When the methyl oleate (C181) was used, the softening effect was slightly lower; but the water absorbency was good compared with C180 and C160. Triesterquat, which is a key ingredient of TEQ has shown good softening effects, especially for synthetic fabrics, and also shown the same water absorbency performance as diesterquat. The problem with using TEQ is hydrolysis of the ester groups in the softeners. In this study we also investigates the influence of pH and found that when the pH was from 2.0 to 2.5, hydrolysis of the ester group was suppressed efficiently.