KONION NP and OP are nonionic surfactants, and have the following characteristics.
① Solubility
Solubility in water increases as polyoxyethylene ether chains become longer. When diluting the KONION NP and OP with water, the viscosity tends to rise at the initial stage. It becomes a gel-type solution that cannot be diluted with cold water, it should be diluted by placing it in warm or hot water, alternately.
It is also possible to prevent solidification as a gel-type by adding alcohols, glycols, other solvents or salts. The solubility of KONION NP and OP in organic solvents and oils also differs depending on the level of added ethylene
oxide, and the solubility of aliphatic hydrocarbon rapidly decreases if the number of additional moles of ethylene oxide increases. Products with a small number of additional moles of ethylene oxide are dissolved with mineral oil or paraffinic hydrocarbon, and all the KONION NP and OP products are melted with aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene and ketone, alcohol or chlorinated hydrocarbon.
② Cloud Point
The solubility of KONION NP and OP in water decreases as the temperature rises. When heating the water solution, which is transparent at room temperature, it changes into the opaque liquid at the certain temperature. The temperature at this point defines as a cloud point. Cloud point becomes higher as the length of polyoxyethylene ether increases.
In particular, in case of the product with the high degree of ethylene oxide polymerization (e.g. 30 mole added product), the cloud point of water solution will not be created until it reaches the boiling point, however, the cloud point may be lowered when salts such as sodium chloride are added. As the cloud point is both physical and reversible phenomenon, the water solution becomes transparent or opaque as it is cooled or heated, and in most cases, it is possible to be used at temperatures above the cloud point.
③ Safety
As it is a nonionic compound, it is greatly resistant to acid, alkali, reducing agents and peroxide oxidizers.
④ Compatibility
As it has an excellent compatibility with all nonionic, anionic and cationic surfactants, it is possible to realize a synergy effect when using them together.
⑤ Solubility
The detergency changes depending on the degree of ethylene oxide added. Surface tension is the lowest when there are 6 moles of ethylene oxide, and it increases as the number of additional moles increases. The dispersion force of KONION NP and OP differs depending on the dispersive medium, however, their dispersibility is excellent in general. The wetting force of KONION NP and OP differs depending on the degree of adding ethylene oxides, and in particular KONION NP-8.5 and KONION NP-10 is excellent. The foaming force of KONION NP and OP maintains a medium level of various surfactants.
The foaming force increases depending on the degree of ethoxylation, however, it does not reach that of anion compounds such as alkyl sulfate.
As KONION NP and OP have an excellent emulsification process, they can create stable emulsions. As the characteristics of emulsification can differ depending on the types of oil or organic solvents, and other components emulsified by solvents, we have to decide whether KONION NP or OP are suitable for emulsification. Especially, as KONION OP is a surfactant with an excellent penetration force comparing to others, the product with a large number
of added ethylene oxides has an excellent performance in emulsion polymerization.
The water solution of KONION NP and OP has an excellent detergency, and KONION NP-6 and NP-8 especially are used as a detergent removing oily pollutants at a low temperature. If there are a lot of electrolytes, it is desirable to use the product with high degree of added ethylene oxides (more than 20 moles), and if having a lot of alkali, silicate or phosphorus compounds, it is effective to clean by heating with KONION NP-9 ~ NP-15.
It is more effective to use KONION NP with anionic surfactants.