ALKYL BENZENE SULFONIC ACID

It is one of the most important and cheapest surfactants in powder formulation and detergent fluids. It has excellent cleansing properties. It is soluble in water and emulsifying agent. Alkyl benzene sulfonic acid is one of the most widely used anionic surfactants due to its low cost, high efficiency and biocompatibility due to its linear chain. This anionic surfactant has hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups.

These are non-volatile compounds produced by the sulfonation process. These compounds consist of mixtures of carbon chains of 10 to 14 carbon lengths that are a phenyl group with a sulfonate group. Surfactants are used in the industry to increase the contact of polar and non-polar phases, such as oil, water, or water and minerals. Linear alkyl benzene sulfonate is mainly used for the manufacture of household detergents such as laundry powder, washing liquid, dishwashing liquid and other household cleaners and other industrial uses.

Linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS), the world’s largest-volume synthetic surfactant, which includes the various salts of sulfonated alkylbenzenes, is widely used in household detergents as well as in numerous industrial applications. The LABSA market is driven by the markets for LAS, primarily household detergents. Linear alkylbenzene sulfonate was developed as a biodegradable replacement for nonlinear (branched) alkylbenzene sulfonate (BAS) and has largely replaced BAS in household detergents throughout the world.

The pattern of LAS consumption demonstrates the overwhelming preference by consumers for liquid laundry detergents in North America, whereas powders continue to be the dominant products in Western Europe, Japan, and China. Comparable and reliable data in other world regions are generally unavailable. In these less-developed world areas, LAS is essentially used only in laundry powders (particularly in India and Indonesia) and hand dishwashing liquids. The latter are often used as general-purpose cleaners.

About 82–87% of LAS is used in household detergents, including laundry powders, laundry liquids, dishwashing liquids, and other household cleaners. Industrial, institutional, and commercial cleaners account for most of the other applications, but LAS is also used as an emulsifier (e.g., for agricultural herbicides and in emulsion polymerization) and as a wetting agent. Very small volumes are also used in personal care applications.

Demand in the North American household segment fell sharply in 2000–11, as a result of several developments, including reformulations away from LAS to alternative surfactants because of cost considerations, the greater use of enzymes, and adverse economic conditions that resulted in lower overall surfactant levels in detergents. Although consumption of LAS will likely stabilize or decline slightly in the highly developed regions, it will increase by 3.0–5.0% in some less-developed regions or countries, such as the Middle East, Africa, India, and China, as well as Southeast Asia. As a result of the rapid growth of LAS demand in the Asia Pacific region, demand in the region accounted for over half of global demand in 2017.

The worldwide growth of LAS will be negatively impacted by the efforts of detergent manufacturers to reduce the active content in their surfactant formulations, by the shift to liquid detergents in some countries (which benefits competing surfactants), and by less consumer overdosing (particularly in North America with unit dose laundry products, assuming they continue to take some market share from traditional liquid detergents).

However, consumption of LAS will be positively affected in countries/regions such as India, China, Africa, and the Middle East, where powder detergents are still a very large part of the laundry detergent market. Linear alkylbenzene sulfonate competes with several other major surfactants for use in household detergents. Some of the competitive surfactants have greater hard-water tolerance and better compatibility with enzymes and are milder than LAS. Historically, however, LAS has most often been lower in cost and has had other more favorable properties compared with competing surfactants. During 2002–06, very high crude oil prices made LAS far less competitive than had been true in most years since its introduction. During 2007–11, LAS prices tracked more closely those of the competitive surfactants.

This led to a more stable pattern of consumption, even as prices for all surfactants continued to be very volatile. From late 2014 through 2017, low crude oil prices helped LAS become more competitive. LABSA/LAS production is impacted by the supply situation for competing products—mainly alcohol ether sulfates (AES). Shortages in AES supply or its high price has usually favored the use of LABSA/LAS. In the developing world, LAS competes with soaps.

It is highly efficient versatile surfactant suitable for use separately as detergent in acidic environments. As intermediate it is usually neutralized with various bases to produce sulfonates that are used in numerous industries, most commonly in the production of liquid and powder detergents, household and I&I cleaners, laundry detergents, dishwashing liquids, car wash products, hard surface cleaners etc. 

Chemical name: Dodecylbenzene Sulfonic Acid

Molecular Formula: C18H30O3S

INCI: Dodecylobenzene Sulfonic Acid

ABS acid is an anionic surfactant of the alkylbenzene sulfonate group, in acid form. Due to its acidic form, the product is available with an active content of more than 96%. ABS acid is a light brown to dark brown liquid. Thanks to the concentrated form, it is very cost-effective in terms of reducing transport costs.

The product is used primarily for the production of various types of alkylbenzene sulfonic acid salts, e.g. sodium or ethanolamine salts. The product’s usable form is a neutralized form. It can be neutralized during the preparation of the finished product formulation. After neutralization, ABS acid has excellent wetting and degreasing properties, both on fabrics and on hard surfaces. Its main properties are the emulsification and dispersing of dirt particles of various origins. ABS acid also has good foaming properties. Its neutralized form is used for the preparation of liquid and powder formulas of washing and cleaning agents and detergents. As a finished product (without neutralization), ABS acid is used in low pH formulations.

In comparison to sulphated alcohols, ABS acid is resistant to hydrolysis in an alkaline environment, making it suitable also for the preparation of highly alkaline washing and cleaning agents for professional use. The product is completely anaerobically biodegradable, and thus also complies with the Directive No. 648/2004 regarding detergents and cosmetics.

The product is also used as a component of mixtures dedicated to the surface treatment of metal as a metalworking coolant and lubricant, as well as a component of flame retardant hydraulic fluids.

Product applications:

laundry detergents for household use,
washing and cleaning detergents for professional use,
metal cleaning,
fire resistant hydraulic fluids,
emulsion polymerization,
plant protection products,
textiles.

Industrial detergent. Emulsifier for emulsion polymerization. Base for laundry detergent.