powdered surfactants

hi there 

Want more information on Surfactant Suppliers? Feel free to contact us.

Most suppliers will deliver their surfactants as Powders as well as in liquid form. (as long as the chemical form is Powder and not liquid:)) 

you just need to ask them for that. mostly it’s because Powder surfactants are very Agresssiv especially if you inhale them. 

Home | http://Www.stepan.com for example have a variety of surfactants that are sulfate-free I would guess you can get most of them in powder form

most of the other suppliers have them as well so if you already know which one you want to use just ask them. 

As an example of electrical applications, chemical and electrical engineers manipulate the surface tension of printer ink used in inkjet printers to specifically control the droplet size sprayed onto paper. Larger droplets require much larger surface tension to hold the droplets together. So engineers design ink that has low surface tension so that only small droplets can form, therefore enabling the creation of high-resolution images (high dots per inch, or dpi).

As another example, chemical engineers design soaps and cleaners to lower the surface tension of the water, which lowers the force between molecules, enabling water to more effectively bond with dirt and oil particles during washing, and thus achieve cleaner dishes and hands. Engineers in this field design soaps to be cost effective, good cleaning agents, non-toxic and efficient.

The study of surfactants, surface tension and the critical micelle concentration has many engineering applications. In the search for more efficient extraction of oil from underground reservoirs, primary and secondary techniques (pumping and washing with water) only remove ~30% of the total oil present. Using enhanced oil recovery techniques, chemical and petroleum engineers design surfactants that are low-cost, safe and effective at greatly reducing the surface tension because when the surface tension is lowered enough, trapped underground oil can be more easily washed out of the small pores of rock structures.

Summary Student teams are challenged to evaluate the design of several liquid soaps to answer the question, “Which soap is the best?” Through two simple teacher class demonstrations and the activity investigation, students learn about surface tension and how it is measured, the properties of surfactants (soaps), and how surfactants change the surface properties of liquids. As they evaluate the engineering design of real-world products (different liquid dish washing soap brands), students see the range of design constraints such as cost, reliability, effectiveness and environmental impact. By investigating the critical micelle concentration of various soaps, students determine which requires less volume to be an effective cleaning agent, factors related to both the cost and environmental impact of the surfactant. By investigating the minimum surface tension of the soap, students determine which dissolves dirt and oil most effectively and thus cleans with the least effort. Students evaluate these competing criteria and make their own determination as to which of five liquid soaps make the “best” soap, giving their own evidence and scientific reasoning. They make the connection between gathered data and the real-world experience in using these liquid soaps.

Although this paper clip is denser than water, it floats on the surface due to surface tension. copyright Copyright © 2009 Alvesgaspar, Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Surface_tension_March_2009-3.jpg

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New technologies can have deep impacts on society and the environment, including some that were not anticipated. Analysis of costs and benefits is a critical aspect of decisions about technology.

When evaluating solutions it is important to take into account a range of constraints including cost, safety, reliability and aesthetics and to consider social, cultural and environmental impacts.

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HS-ETS1-3. Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts. (Grades 9 - 12)

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

Students should be able to use a protractor to measure angles, a ruler to accurately measure distance, a graduated cylinder to accurately measure volume, their algebra skills to manipulate variables, and have a basic understanding of forces and static equilibrium.

Introduction/Motivation

(Introduce the concept of surface tension by conducting the following two class demonstrations.)

Demo 1

(For this demo, have ready a beaker of water, two paper clips, a small piece of toilet paper [somewhat bigger than a paper clip], and bottle of liquid hand dish soap. Hold the paper clip in your hand so that the class can see it.)

The company is the world’s best What Are Castor Oil Ethoxylates? supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.

I hold in my hand a bare paper clip, made of steel wire. In a moment I will lay this paper clip on top of the water in this beaker. What do you expect to happen to the paper clip?

(Expected student predictions: It will sink; it will float. Ask students to justify their reasoning. For example, “The paper clip will sink because steel is denser than water and more dense objects sink in liquids.”)

Watch carefully as I drop the paper clip in. Those of you in the front, please share what you observe.

(Lay the paper clip on the water and watch it sink to the bottom. No need to be careful here.)

You are already familiar with buoyant force: the force that acts upward on an object due to a pressure difference on the top and bottom of that object. How did the buoyant force on this paper clip compare to the weight of the paper clip?

(Answer: The upward buoyant force on the paper clip from the water displaced was not enough to overcome the weight of the paper clip and therefore it sank. From the perspective of forces, a net force downward existed and the paper clip began to accelerate downward through the liquid. It may or may not continue to accelerate depending on resistive forces [drag] in the water.)

(Now hold up a second paper clip and a piece of toilet paper.)

Now I am going to change the scenario. I will place the new paper clip on a single sheet of toilet paper and gently float it on the surface of the water. Watch how this behaves differently.

(Make sure the paper is not so large as to stick to the sides of the container. After a short time, expect the paper to become soaked and sink to the bottom. Without disturbances, the paper clip is left floating on top of the water surface.)

Does anyone have an explanation for why the paper clip now floats? Has the density of water or the paper clip changed? Try to explain what you see in terms of forces.

(You are trying to get students to realize that some new force must be present and acting on the paper clip, a force that did not previously exist. This force is called surface tension, and is related to how strongly the water molecules attract to one another.)

(Now hold up a bottle of hand dish soap. Now is also a good time to show the class Figure 1.)

Chemical engineers have designed hand and dish soap to do several things to water. The soap is made of molecules called surfactants—surface active agents—that travel to the surface of a liquid. One part of this molecule is hydrophobic—water fearing—and one part of this molecule is hydrophilic—water loving. These molecules build up at the liquid-gas boundary so that the hydrophobic portions stick into the air away from the water molecules while the hydrophilic portions are still submerged. This concentration of surfactant on the surface greatly reduces the surface tension of the liquid. What will happen to the paper clip if soap is added to the beaker?

(Expected student predictions: It will sink; it will float for a time and then sink; it will still float. Again ask for physical reasoning and the use of scientific terminology. For example, “I expect that the paper clip will begin to sink because as soap is added, the surface tension decreases between the water and air; causing less upward force on the paper clip. And since the downward force of gravity on the paper clip has not changed, the paper clip will accelerate downward through the water.”)

Now watch this. (Add a few drops of the soap [right from the bottle] to the water with the floating paper clip.) What happened? (Listen to student explanations.) The added soap reduces the surface tension of the water and causes the paper clip to sink.

Figure 1. As surfactant is added to a liquid, it migrates to the liquid-gas interface, which lowers surface tension. Eventually the surface is saturated with surfactant and micelles form in the liquid.copyright

Copyright © 2012 Schmin, Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CMC.pdf

Demo 2

(For this demo, have ready two beakers, food coloring, two small capillary tubes and liquid hand dish soap. In advance, prepare two different solutions. In one beaker, place water with food coloring. In the other beaker, place water, soap and food coloring—a concentration of 5 ml of soap per 100 ml of water works great. Using a different color of food coloring for each solution helps to make the demonstration more visible to everyone in the class.)

I have two beakers on my desk. One contains colored water only. The other contains colored water with soap. Based on the last demonstration, how do you expect the surface tensions of these two solutions to compare?

(Expect students to say that the soap water probably has a lower surface tension.)

Does anyone have any ideas about how we might be able to measure this surface tension? How do we measure the force between these water molecules at the liquid-gas interface?

(Expect some interesting ideas from students; address the benefits and weaknesses of each. For instance, force scales can be used in lab settings to measure this, but they must be very sensitive. Spring scales will not work. Some students may suggest adding bigger and bigger paper clips until they sink—a good qualitative measure.)

I’ve heard some interesting ideas! I’m going to suggest an old method—the first method ever developed to measure surface tension somewhat reliably. I have in my hand two capillary tubes. They are simply thin glass pipes. Your previous chemistry experience will help you at this point. Why is measuring water in a graduated cylinder a little difficult? What happens to the water near the glass sides?

(Expect students to draw upon their hands-on experience in previous classes in which they learned about a meniscus and what it looks like for aqueous solutions. While students are usually taught to measure height from the bottom of a meniscus, they may not know why it happens.) Water bonds to the walls of the container and is pulled upward, even against the force of gravity. The stronger the surface tension, the stronger these bonds, and the higher the water will rise. This is capillary action as seen in plants, paper towels and thin tubes like these! I am about to insert one tube into each solution, in which do you think water will rise the highest? (Listen to student predictions.)

(Insert two clean, dry, identical capillary tubes into the two solutions and wait for the level to rise inside the tubes. Note that the thinner the tube, the higher the water will move and thus be more visible.)

Notice that the pure water rises higher than the water with soap and therefore has a higher surface tension!

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