Alkyl Phenol Ethoxylate (APEO) Surfactant Dilemma: Environmental Friendly vs Colour Development
- March 4, 2019
- Posted by: MahaChem
- Category: Coating, ST
Have you heard of Alkyl Phenol Ethoxylate and its harmful effects?
Alkyl Phenol Ethoxylate (APEO) surfactants are versatile and cost-effective. In addition, they can be used for wide range of applications. Hence, the surfactants have been used much historically.
However, these surfactants are not biodegradable and they are harmful to the environment and marine life.
Dilemma and Solutions
After knowing such aspects of APEO surfactants, many paint manufacturers have attempted to move away from APEO surfactants to APEO-free surfactants. However, such move may resulted in poor colour development as APEO plays a significant role in colour development.
However, our key supplier is able to supply the surfactant that can overcome such dilemma.
APEO vs Our APEO-Free Products
Here we compared three of our supplier’s surfactants, Ultranex NP 95, Alkamol L 408, and Alkamol L 603 with one of the market reference (a nonionic, APEO containing surfactant in paint applications).
Below are the product specifications.
| Product | Type | HLB | Active Content | APEO Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market Reference | Nonionic | 12.6 | 1 | APEO |
| Ultranex NP 95 | Nonionic Nonylphenol Ethoxylate | 13 | No Data | APEO |
| Alkamol L 408 | Fatty Alcohol Ethoxylate and Propoxylate | 6.1 | No Data | No |
| Alkamol L 408 L 603 | Fatty Alcohol Ethoxylate and Propoxylate | 9.3 | No Data | No |
The above four surfactant samples were tested in a 70% PVC emulsion paint formulation. Below are the test results.
| Raw Materials | 70PVC-Reference | 70PVC-NP 95 | 70PVC-L 408 | 70PVC-L 603 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N.V.M. (%) | 49.62 | 49.55 | 49.66 | 49.64 |
| Stormer Viscosity (KU) | 91.2 | 89 | 93.5 | 92.9 |
| Foaming Test, Foam Height (ml) Before Test = 38ml After Test Test = |
39.5 | 39.5 | 38.5 | 39 |
| Dry Opacity @ 100um | 83.9 | 83.8 | 84.3 | 83.5 |
| Colour Development | ||||
| Colanyl Black N131-TH | Std | Same as Std | Same as Std | Same as Std |
| Colanyl Violet RL LA-TH | Std | Stronger than Std | Stronger than Std | Stronger than Std |
| Colanyl Blue ARU-TH | Std | Same as Std | Same as Std | Same as Std |
| Colour Floating | ||||
| Colanyl Black N131-TH | NO | NO | NO | NO |
| Colanyl Violet RL LA-TH | NO | NO | NO | NO |
| Colanyl Blue ARU-TH | NO | NO | NO | NO |
The result showed that the three APEO-free surfactants have stronger colour development than the market reference when tested with Colanyl Violet RL RA-TH. Meanwhile, the colour development of our APEO-free and APEO surfactants were similar. In addition, the rest of the performance properties were comparable.
Are you interested in our solution? Please click below to see our surfactants for paint applications in details.
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