Surface Phenomena

and Surfactant
Fayola Adel Talitsa
Masiya Zatil Hulwani
Muhammad Fazil Shah Taufiq
Rayhan Fairuz B. R. T.
Rizky Fildzatunnafsi Nur
Topic 5
Surfactant

● Surfactants, a contraction of the term surface-active­ agents, are amphiphilic (dual-

natured) molecules and are thus absorbed in the air-water interface.
● Surfactants are substances with molecular structures consisting of a hydrophilic and a
hydrophobic part.
● The hydrophobic part is normally a hydrocarbon (linear or branched), whereas the
hydrophilic part consists of ionic or strongly polar groups.
Structure
● A surfactant molecule posses both a polar “water-loving” headgroup attached to a non-
polar “water-hating” (or “oil-loving”) tail.
● At the interface, they align themselves so that the hydrophobic part is in the air and
hydrophilic part is in water.
● This will cause the decrease in surface or interfacial tensions.
Types of Surfactant

Surfactants are typically classified based on their polar head as the hydrophobic tails are often
similar. If the head group has no charge, the surfactant is called non-ionic. If the head group
has negative or positive charge, it is called anionic or cationic, respectively. If it contains both
positive and negative groups, then the surfactant is called zwitterionic.

Anionic : sulfates, sulfonates, and gluconates

Cationic : alkyl ammonium chlorides.

Nonionic : ethoxylates, alkoxylates, and cocamides.

Zwitterionic / Amphoteric : betaines and amino oxides.

The Application of Surfactant in Detergent and
Cosmetic Industries
● In cosmetics, surfactants are used for cleansing, foaming, thickening, emulsifying,
solubilizing, penetration enhancement, antimicrobial effects, and other special effects.
The key property of surfactant molecules that makes them useful cosmetic ingredients is
that they are compatible with both water and oil.
● The detergents and personal care products use nearly 60% of all surfactants. These
compounds have a distinct toxic activity on aquatic organisms on account of their
surface activity. Their function is to remove soil from solid surfaces and to keep it in
suspension in the wash solution, preventing redeposition on clothes.
HLB for Anti-Foaming Agent

● The hydrophilic-lipophilic balance of a surfactant is a measure of the degree to which it

is hydrophilic or lipophilic, determined by calculating values for the different regions of
the molecule, as described by Griffin in 1949.
● An HLB value of 0 corresponds to a completely lipophilic/hydrophobic molecule, and a
value of 20 corresponds to a completely hydrophilic/lipophobic molecule.
● The HLB value can be used to predict the surfactant properties of a molecule: 1 to 3:
anti-foaming agent.
Wetting Agents

● Wetting agents are from a class of chemical compounds known as surface active agents
or ‘surfactants.
● Wetting agent lowers the surface tension-that is, the tendency of its molecules to adhere
to each other allowing it to spread and penetrate properties of a liquid.
● Wetting agents do this by weakening water’s cohesive properties and strengthening its
adhesive properties.
Correlation to Contact Angle

● When an interface exists between a liquid and a solid, the angle between the surface of
the liquid and the outline of the contact surface is described as the contact angle θ (lower
case theta).
● The contact angle (wetting angle) is a measure of the wettability of a solid by a liquid.
● Adding "wetting" agents to lower the contact angle and allow liquids to spread are also
useful in many areas.
● Wetting agents increase the ability of paints and other coatings to spread and penetrate
surfaces. They improve the surface contact, and therefore improve adhesion, of cements
and glues.
How to Make Soap
Topic 6
Surfactant applications and utilization

● The surfactants in detergents improve water's ability to wet things, spread over surfaces,
and seep into dirty clothes fibers.
● Wetting agent, also called surfactant, increases the spreading and penetrating properties
of a liquid by lowering its surface tension—that is, the tendency of its molecules to
adhere to each other.
● Surfactants adsorb at the interface between oil and water, thereby decreasing the surface
tension. An emulsifier is a surfactant that stabilizes emulsions. Emulsifiers coat droplets
within an emulsion and prevent them from coming together, or coalescing.
● A foaming agent is a material that facilitates the formation of foam such as a surfactant
or a blowing agent. A surfactant, when present in small amounts, reduces
surface tension of a liquid (reduces the work needed to create the foam) or increases its
colloidal stability by inhibiting coalescence of bubbles.
● A dispersant or a dispersing agent is a substance, typically a surfactant, that is added to a
suspension of solid or liquid particles in a liquid (such as a colloid or emulsion) to
improve the separation of the particles and to prevent their settling or clumping.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Lignin
Based Surfactant
Advantages
The reason for developing lignin-based surfactant is to lower the cost of chemicals as it does
not tie to the price of crude oil as compared to petroleum-based surfactants. Besides, lignin is
biodegradable and easily extracted from plant waste.
Disadvantages
Topic 7
Critical and Supercritical Conditions
Dubinin-Radushkevich Equation

Where ε is Polanyi potential, β is Dubinin-Radushkevich constant, R is gas constant (8.31 Jmol−1 k−1),

T is absolute temperature, and E is mean adsorption energy.
Adsorption of Gas Using DR Equation

The D-R isotherm assumes a Gaussian-type distribution for the characteristic curve and the model can
be described by equation:

where qs is the D-R constant (mol g-1) and B gives the mean sorption free energy E (kJ mol-1) per
molecule of sorbate at the moment of its transfer to the solid surface from the bulk solution and can be
computed using equation:

Values of qs and B can be determined through linearization of the D-R isotherm. Plotting ln qe versus ε
2 , using the previous equation, results in a straight line of slope B and intercept ln(qs).
Topic 8
 Absorption and Adsorption
Parameter Absorption Adsorption

Definition It is a process in which any substance (atoms, Gases, liquids, and dissolved solids bind to the
ions, or molecules) is taken up by or consumed surface of another material, which may be
by another substance, most often in solid or solid or liquid, in a loose manner.
liquid form.

Phenomenon Bulk Surface

Process Endothermic Exothermic

Rate of Reaction Uniform Rate increases slowly and attains equilibrium

Concentration Doesn’t change Varies from bulk to the bottom of the

absorbent

Temperature Effect No effect Works at the lower temperature

Application Cold storage, ice production, turbine inlet Air conditioning, water purification, synthetic
cooling, refrigerants, etc resin, chillers, etc
Difference between The Isotherm Models

- Langmuir adsorption which was primarily designed to describe gas-solid phase adsorption is also used to
quantify and contrast the adsorptive capacity of various adsorbents. Langmuir isotherm accounts for the
surface coverage by balancing the relative rates of adsorption and desorption (dynamic equilibrium).
Adsorption is proportional to the fraction of the surface of the adsorbent that is open while desorption is
proportional to the fraction of the adsorbent surface that is covered
- Freundlich isotherm is applicable to adsorption processes that occur on heterogeneous surfaces. This
isotherm gives an expression which defines the surface heterogeneity and the exponential distribution of
active sites and their energies.
- Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm model is an empirical adsorption model that is generally applied to
express adsorption mechanism with Gaussian energy distribution onto heterogeneous surfaces. This
isotherm is only suitable for intermediate range of adsorbate concentrations because it exhibits unrealistic
asymptotic behavior and does not predict Henry’s laws at low pressure.
Example
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