PLURAFAC LF 403

PLURAFAC LF 403 gives cleaning systems a controlled and efficient character by spreading quickly on surfaces while keeping foam formation at a low level.
PLURAFAC LF 403's nonionic alcohol alkoxylate structure makes it valuable in formulations where rinsing clarity, drying performance, and process stability are more important than visible foam.
PLURAFAC LF 403 is especially useful for machine-based and industrial cleaning products because it supports strong surface contact without creating foam that can slow down washing, spraying, or draining steps.

CAS Number: 120313-48-6

Synonyms: PLURAFAC LF 403, PLURAFAC LF 403, BASF PLURAFAC LF 403, Alcohol alkoxylate, Fatty alcohol alkoxylate, Alkoxylated alcohol surfactant, Nonionic alcohol alkoxylate, Nonionic surfactant, Low-foaming nonionic surfactant, Low-foam surfactant, Foam-control surfactant, Rinse-aid surfactant, Wetting agent, Industrial cleaning surfactant, Automatic dishwashing surfactant, Hard-surface cleaning surfactant, Nonionic detergent surfactant, Surface-active agent, Alcohol EO/PO adduct, Low-foam cleaning agent

PLURAFAC LF 403 is a low foaming nonionic surfactant.
PLURAFAC LF 403 consists of alkoxylated, predominantly unbranched fatty alcohols, and contains higher alkene oxides alongside ethylene oxide.
PLURAFAC LF 403 has a viscosity of approximately 60 mPa·s at 23°C.

PLURAFAC LF 403 is a low-foaming nonionic surfactant based on alkoxylated fatty alcohol chemistry.
PLURAFAC LF 403 is designed for cleaning formulations that need effective wetting, controlled foam, and reliable rinsing performance.
Because of its low-foam behavior, PLURAFAC LF 403 is especially suitable for automatic cleaning systems, industrial detergents, institutional cleaners, hard-surface cleaners, and rinse-aid formulations.

PLURAFAC LF 403 helps formulations spread more evenly on surfaces, reduce foam-related process problems, and support cleaner rinsing in demanding washing conditions.
PLURAFAC LF 403 as an alcohol alkoxylate liquid used in low-foaming, foam-control, and rinsing applications.

Appli­ca­tions of PLURAFAC LF 403:
PLURAFAC LF 403 is used in low-foaming detergent systems where foam control, fast wetting, and efficient rinsing are important.
PLURAFAC LF 403 is suitable for automatic dishwashing formulations, rinse aids, hard-surface cleaners, industrial cleaners, and institutional cleaning products.

PLURAFAC LF 403 can be applied in spray-cleaning, machine-washing, bottle-washing, and food-service hygiene systems where excessive foam may disturb the cleaning process.

PLURAFAC LF 403 supports better surface coverage, improved rinsing, reduced spotting, and smoother drying performance in demanding cleaning formulations.
PLURAFAC line as low-foaming surfactants used for foam control and drying speed in industrial and institutional cleaning.

PLURAFAC LF 403 is compatible with other nonionic surfactants, and used in combination with anionicand cationic surfactants.
PLURAFAC LF 403 doesn’t react with calcium, magnesium or any of the other cations in hard water, nor with soluble alkali salts, anionic polymers.

PLURAFAC LF 403 is very low-foaming nonionic surfactants.
PLURAFAC LF 403 isused in detergents and cleaners in which foaming has to be kept to a minimum.

PLURAFAC LF 403 can be used in powder, paste and liquid products.
And PLURAFAC LF 403 also have applications in cleaners and degreasers for the metal industry,in cosmetics, and in the oil industry

The PLURAFAC LF types are com­pat­ible with other non­ionic sur­fac­tants such as our Luten­sol® A, AO, AT, F, GD, ON, XA, XL, XP and TO types and our Plu­ronic® PE and RPE types.
PLURAFAC LF 403 can also be used in com­bi­na­tion with anionic (Luten­sit® A types) and cat­ionic sur­fac­tants (Lutensit TC-KLC types).

PLURAFAC LF 403 do not react with cal­cium, mag­ne­sium or any of the other cat­ions in hard water, nor with sol­u­ble alkali salts, anionic poly­mers such as car­boxyme­thyl cel­lu­lose, or poly­car­box­y­lates such as our Sok­a­lan® CP, HP, PM and PA types.
PLURAFAC LF 403s in the range that ter­mi­nate in a hydroxyl group are resist­ant to for­mal­de­hyde, chlo­rine com­pounds, phos­phates, sil­i­cates, soda ash, hydrochloric acid, phos­phoric acid, cit­ric acid and most other acids and alka­lis.

PLURAFAC LF 403 also applies to PLURAFAC LF 1430.
PLURAFAC LF 403 that ter­mi­nate in an alkyl group are resist­ant to strong alka­lis such as the alka­lis used in deter­gents for bot­tle-wash­ing machines.

The hydroxyl-ter­mi­nated PLURAFAC LF types can grad­u­ally turn yel­low over pro­longed peri­ods at ele­vated tem­per­a­tures in mod­er­ately alka­line for­mu­lations, but this has no effect on their deter­gency or foam­ing char­ac­ter­is­tics.
Yel­low­ing can often be avoided in pow­der dish­washer deter­gents, etc., by spray­ing the sur­fac­tants onto the phos­phates or carbonates before add­ing the other ingre­dients such as sodium met­a­sil­i­cate, sodium hydrox­ide and a sol­u­ble dich­lo­rois­oc­yan­u­rate.
All of the hydroxyl-ter­mi­nated PLURAFAC LF types are resist­ant to acids, but PLURAFAC LF 220, LF 221 and LF 711 are the most suit­able prod­ucts for use in strongly acidic solu­tions.

Foam­ing:
Non­ionic sur­fac­tants are renowned for their high deter­gency, wet­ting power and soil-dis­pers­ing capac­ity, but the dis­tin­guish­ing fea­ture of the PLURAFAC LF types is that they form very lit­tle foam.
Some of them can even be employed to inhibit foam for­ma­tion.

Foam­ing can often be a prob­lem in clean­ing pro­cesses that involve inten­sive mechan­i­cal action.
PLURAFAC LF 403 is dif­fi­cult to pre­dict the foam­ing beha­vi­our of sur­factants in advance with stan­dard test meth­ods because of the influ­ence of the type of soil, the type of machin­ery, dif­fer­ent tem­per­a­ture set­tings and the effects of the other ingre­dients in the for­mu­la­tion, etc.

The results obtained by the beater method described in EN 12728, Part 1, or the Ross-Miles method described in DIN 53902, Part 2, and ASTM D 1175-53, have to be sub­stan­tiated with meth­ods that cor­re­spond more closely to real con­di­tions.
One method of test­ing foam for­ma­tion which closely cor­re­sponds to the con­di­tions encoun­tered in prac­tice is to meas­ure the level of foam pro­duced in a dish­washer.

The rotat­ing spray arm is slowed down by foam, and the higher the rate of rev­o­lu­tion, the less foam is present.
Mix­tures of 5 parts of PLURAFAC LF and 95 parts of builder con­sist­ing of 50 % sodium met­a­sil­i­cate, 45 % pen­ta­so­dium tri­phos­phate and 5 % soda ash were tested at a con­cen­tra­tion of 20 g/l.

Foam­ing was encour­aged by add­ing 10 cm3 of egg.
The results are shown in the dia­grams overleaf.
This method gives a reli­able indi­ca­tion of the lev­els of foam­ing that can be expected in prac­tice.

Areas of Appli­ca­tion:
The PLURAFAC LF types are very low-foam­ing non­ionic sur­fac­tants.
PLURAFAC LF 403 is used in deter­gents and clean­ers in which foam­ing has to be kept to a min­i­mum.

PLURAFAC LF 403 can be used in pow­der, paste and liq­uid prod­ucts.
The most impor­tant prod­ucts in this cat­e­gory are deter­gents and rinse aids for domes­tic and com­mer­cial dish­wash­ers, deter­gents for bot­tle-wash­ing machines, and clean­ers for brew­er­ies and dair­ies.

Some of the PLURAFAC LF types can also be used as anti­foams and sur­fac­tants in laun­dry deter­gents.
The PLURAFAC LF types also have appli­ca­tions in clean­ers and degreas­ers for the metal indus­try, in cos­met­ics, and in the oil indus­try.

Chem­i­cal Nature of PLURAFAC LF 403:
The PLURAFAC LF types are low-foam­ing non­ionic sur­fac­tants.
PLURAFAC LF 403 con­sist of alkox­y­lated, pre­dom­i­nantly ­unbranched fatty alco­hols, and they con­tain higher alkene oxides along­side eth­y­lene oxide.

The fatty alco­hol chains of PLURAFAC LF 131, LF 132, LF 231, LF 431 and LF 1530 ter­mi­nate in an alkyl group.
PLURAFAC LF 731, 7319 and PLURAFAC LF 1430 are spe­cial alkox­y­late.

Prop­er­ties of PLURAFAC LF 403:
The PLURAFAC LF types – with exemption of PLURAFAC LF 731 – are clear or slightly cloudy liq­uids.

Viscosity of PLURAFAC LF 403:
PLURAFAC LF 403 is advisable to stir the surfactant into water when preparing aqueous solutions of PLURAFAC LF types.
The viscosity of solutions made up in the reverse order can be too high at certain concentrations.

Stability and Reactivity of PLURAFAC LF 403:

Chemical stability:
Plurafac LF 403 is stable when stored and handled under recommended conditions.

Reactivity:
No hazardous reactions are expected if the product is used and stored properly.

Conditions to avoid:
Humidity, excessive heat, and unsuitable storage conditions should be avoided.

Incompatible materials:
Caustic materials, halogens, alkalis, acids, and highly reactive chemicals should be avoided.

Hazardous decomposition products:
No hazardous decomposition products are expected under proper storage and handling conditions.

Thermal decomposition:
Thermal decomposition may occur above 300 °C.

Handling and Storage of PLURAFAC LF 403:

Handling:
Plurafac LF 403 should be handled according to good industrial hygiene and safety practices.

Safe handling:
Protect the product from moisture and close containers immediately after use.

Fire and explosion protection:
Take precautionary measures against static discharge.

Storage:
Keep the container tightly closed, dry, and stored in a cool place.

Storage temperature:
Protect from temperatures above 70 °C.

First Aid Measures of PLURAFAC LF 403:

Inhalation:
Move the person to fresh air and keep comfortable for breathing.

Skin contact:
Wash thoroughly with soap and water and seek medical attention if irritation occurs.

Eye contact:
Rinse eyes with running water for at least 15 minutes while keeping eyelids open.

Ingestion:
Rinse mouth and drink plenty of water.

Medical advice:
Treat symptomatically; no specific antidote is known.

Firefighting Measures of PLURAFAC LF 403:

Suitable extinguishing media:
Use water spray, dry powder, or foam.

Unsuitable extinguishing media:
Do not use a direct water jet.

Specific hazards:
Fire may produce harmful vapours, fumes, fog, and carbon oxides.

Protective equipment:
Firefighters should wear self-contained breathing apparatus.

Accidental Release Measures of PLURAFAC LF 403:

Personal precautions:
Use personal protective clothing and keep unnecessary people away.

Slip hazard:
Spilled product may create slippery surfaces, especially with water.

Environmental precautions:
Do not allow the product to enter drains, surface water, or groundwater.

Small spills:
Absorb with sand, sawdust, or a general-purpose binder.

Large spills:
Pump off the product and place contaminated material in suitable containers for disposal.

Exposure Controls / Personal Protection of PLURAFAC LF 403:

Exposure limits:
No occupational exposure limits are known.

Respiratory protection:
Use respiratory protection if ventilation is inadequate or aerosols are formed.

Hand protection:
Wear chemical-resistant protective gloves.

Eye protection:
Use tightly fitting safety goggles or a face shield if splashing may occur.

Body protection:
Wear suitable protective clothing based on exposure level.

Hygiene measures:
Do not eat, drink, or smoke in the working area, and wash hands after handling.

Identifiers of PLURAFAC LF 403:
Product Number (PRD): 30044016
Product CAS Details: 120313-48-6

Chemical Nature: Alcohol alkoxylate
CAS Number: 120313-48-6
EC Number: Not clearly assigned for this surfactant mixture

Properties of PLURAFAC LF 403:
Physical form (25°C): Liquid
Surface tension (1 g/l dist, water, 23)(mN/m): 30
pH (5% in water): 7
Cloud point (BDG) [°C]: 41
Wetting (2 g surfactant/l, 2 g soda ash/l, 23) (s): Ca. 60

Appearance: Liquid
Chemical Nature: Alcohol alkoxylate
Surfactant Type: Nonionic surfactant
Foaming Behavior: Low-foaming
Cloud Point: Approx. 41 °C
Viscosity: Approx. 60 mPa·s
Solubility: Dispersible in water-based cleaning formulations