Methyl ester ethoxylates are vegetable-oil-based surfactants.

Two billion pounds of surfactants are used in the United States annually¹. Non-ionic surfactants comprise 40% of the total and are among the fastest growing due to their compatibility in blends and efficacy in liquid formulations.

Ethoxylated detergent-range alcohols (C12 – C18) derived from vegetable oil are widely employed as hydrophobes for the manufacture of non-ionic surfactants but require multiple manufacturing steps. Ethoxylated surfactants derived from vegetable oils or their esters require fewer process steps, but using standard catalysts result in slow, low-yield reactions that prohibits the use of vegetable oils and their esters as starting materials for non-ionic surfactants.

Huntsman Corporation has developed a novel alkaline earth-based catalyst named G2 that enables direct insertion of ethylene oxide? into fatty acid methyl esters (biodiesel) and vegetable oils for the production of sustainably derived non-ionic surfactants.

Biodiesel is a methyl ester of vegetable oil fatty acids, and its production has increased dramatically in the last few years. This catalyst technology is positioned to capitalize on the growing trend of biodiesel and utilize biodiesel to make high value, high performance, biodegradable, and safe surfactants.

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¹ Huntsman Corporation Nicholas Kob, in a presentation at the Next Generation Bio-Based Chemicals Summit 2010