If you have ever experimented with oil and water, you have seen firsthand how the oil will simply float on top of the water. No matter how much you mix it, the oil will not combine with the water. This can make degreasing and other cleaning processes more difficult. However, there are products called surfactants that work to change the surface tension so two products that normally won’t mix will be able to bond to each other.
Soaps
One of the most common uses of this type of product is in soaps. For example, when you wash your dishes at home, the surfactant in your dish soap will allow you to easily and efficiently remove the grease and oils from the dishes you used for your cooking. Likewise, there are many detergents and other soaps that are used for industrial applications to help with grease and oil removal on machines and other pieces of equipment used in a variety of industries.
Personal Care Products
Personal care products, such as shampoo, toothpaste and shaving creams, are also known to contain surfactants to help remove dirt, oils and debris from the skin and hair. A surfactant can also have a foaming effect, which is often used in hand soaps, as well as some other types of soap. In some cases, these products can also be used in cosmetics as a way to allow the makeup to adhere to the skin more easily without rubbing off.
Sanitation
Being able to kill off germs is a critical aspect to life today with all the illnesses that are always running rampant. In certain industries, such as the medical field, it is even more important to keep things as sanitary as possible. Adding a surfactant to these sanitizing products will allow the product to more easily remove the germs, as well as any skin oils that are left behind, reducing the risks of making others ill.
There are many uses for quality surfactants. Many of them boil down to the ability to safely and effectively remove oils and grease of varying types, both for personal and industrial uses. In addition to using these products in soaps, a surfactant can also create foaming action and sanitize products by removing the germs that are present. In general, any situation that requires two elements that typically repel each other to work together will benefit from the use of a surfactant.
