Eva Österberg, Product Stewardship & Regulatory Affairs Manager, ANSC Europe took part in a round table discussion on the topic: “Surfactants for the future – from raw materials to sustainable and responsible uses.” “It was really interesting to hear that we have a common view that innovation is key and that legislation is not a barrier for success; on the contrary we think it can stimulate the innovative climate. One thing that I believe is important is that we need more young people to study chemistry and we need to catch their interest at an early age,” says Eva Österberg.

Jan Rosenblom, External Affairs Manager, shared his experiences on working together and setting up consortia within REACH, the EU legislation that came into effect on June 1, 2007.  “Efficient structures and working procedures are needed to cope with the short timeline given by the legislation,” says Jan Rosenblom.

As a major sponsor of the event AkzoNobel Surface Chemistry participated in giving lectures, poster sessions and had a booth at the exhibition.

We are presently developing a new family of demulsifiers with the intention that a number of these products should fulfil the North Sea environmental regulations.

More environmentally adapted demulsifiers

The primary aim with our new demulsifiers is to improve the biodegradation properties and still offer optimal performance.

Present status

We have promising lab results indicating that a number of the development products will fulfil these goals. This is the basis for the planned commercialization.

Some demulsification results for a North Sea crude with the new products as measured with a Turbiscan instrument are displayed below. Total sample volume is 20 mL, demulsifier dosage 10 ppm and the timescale (to the right) is in minutes. The horizontal scale shows the water separation.

Akzo Nobel degradable demulsifier performance

Benchmark demulsifier performance

As a result, Elotex will become part of AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals, while Alco and Personal Care will join AkzoNobel Surfactants, which will be renamed AkzoNobel Surface Chemistry. These changes are aimed at better capturing the available business opportunities within the new businesses.

The integration will allow AkzoNobel to more easily capture product line synergies while sharing support infrastructure. It is well in line with the company’s strategy to become a more focused, leading player in the chemicals industry.

“The integration of the Personal Care and Alco businesses considerably boosts our position in the market,” explained Frank Sherman, manager of AkzoNobel’s Surfactants business. ”The union of these two units will create a group that spans technologies in natural polymers, synthetic polymers and specialty surfactants under one roof. We see this as a significant step forward in our strategy to become a more valued strategic partner to our key customers.”

Added Bob Margevich, manager of AkzoNobel Functional Chemicals: “We already have good relationships with most of Elotex’s key customers, which is an important factor in being able to successfully integrate the business into our operations. Our immediate task is to sit down with our new colleagues and find the external synergies, as well as working out the various day-to-day internal business processes and harmonizing them with ours. From what we have seen so far, we expect a smooth integration.” The integration process will start immediately.

A Gemini (or dimeric) surfactant is a molecule composed of two identical hydrophilic head groups and hydrophobic tail groups. Gemini surfactants have unusual solution and interfacial properties; CMC values one to two orders of magnitude lower than that of corresponding single-chain surfactants, and much more efficient than their corresponding monomeric surfactants at decreasing the surface tension of water.

Adsorbed surfactant aggregates of cationic Gemini surfactants have shown to be effective dispersing agents of aqueous particulate suspensions in industrial operations which require processing in extreme environments such as high ionic strength, low or high pH, and high shear rates.  It has also been shown that the dispersion stability of Gemini (or dimeric) surfactants can be achieved at very low surfactant concentrations (ca.0.02 mM).

This work was published in Journal of Colloids and Interface Science 288 (2005) 583-590. For further information contact Hans Oskarsson;hans.oskarsson@sc.akzonobel.com.

An industrially important family of surfactants is the ester quaternaries. These are typically derived from methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) or triethanolamine (TEA) and fatty acids or esters. Esterquaternaries and their precursors, esteramines, can potentially be used in a variety of applications, including fabric care where the substantivity of these molecules is employed to treat fabrics.  Performance in this application is superior to amidoamines. These same properties can also be used in personal care applications and wherever substantivity is a key objective.

The hydrophobic chain typically derives from a natural, renewable source, such as vegetable oil or tallow. These chemical structures are sustainable.  Some examples are shown below.

 Akzo Nobel has substantial experience in the synthesis and manufacture of esteramine and ester quaternary surfactants.  We can tailor the product performance in a variety of ways according to your needs:  fatty chain source, modification of chain unsaturation, mole ratio of the acid to amine, counter ion type, and solvent.

For ester quaternaries derived from TEA the product is a distribution of mono, di, and triesters.  Akzo Nobel can adjust this distribution by the careful control of process conditions, including the patented synthesis of high diester containing esteramines and quaternaries.

Let us provide you the technical support to explore the many possibilities of esteramine derivatives. Please contact your local Akzo Nobel Surfactants account manager, or visit us at the locations listed in this electronic publication.

 
At BU Surfactants we are committed to conduct business in a manner consistent with Akzo Nobel’s business principles while embracing the guiding principles of Responsible Care®.

Evidences of our strong commitment to the sustainability agenda is our proud membership in the CEO-led World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The WBCSD is a coalition of over 200 other international companies that share the commitment to sustainable development via the three pillars of economic growth, ecological balance and social progress.

Every year Akzo Nobel invites a young professional within the company to participate in a one year WBCSD project called the young managers team (YMT). The YMT is a unique learning experience that gives the participants an opportunity to develop leadership and professional skills while contributing to the WBCSD work program.

During last year’s project the YMT worked on developing pathways for a sustainable future focusing on three WBCSD focus areas: energy and climate, development and the business role. Global scenarios describing what role business should play when it comes to sustainable consumption were produced.

-Josefin Lannefors, Surfactants Europe

Please visit: http://www.surfactants.akzonobel.com/social.cfm to read about our social commitments.
     

As a manufacturer of products used in almost every aspect of everyday life, we recognize that how we treat our employees, our customers, and the communities in which we operate is just as important as what they make.

To this end, we are continually looking for new ways to protect the health and safety of our employees through behavioral based programs and to uphold its commitment to the environment through our Responsible Care® programs. We also support and promote health, education, and other social programs in the communities in which it does business.

Akzo Nobel’s environmental commitments are not limited to the United States (see April Technically Speaking Article). In fact all Akzo Nobel Surfactants sites throughout the world have had third party audits of our management systems.

Please join us in celebrating this milestone for Responsible Care® and if you should have any questions regarding our Responsible Care® programs please contact your Akzo Nobel Surfactants representative.
See related article in March 2008 issue.

For Surfactants Asia the Responsible Care has been implemented through national initiatives managed by Singapore Chemical Industry Councils (SCIC) as well as through Directives and Guidelines from Akzo Nobel. Being a signatory to the SCIC’s Responsible Care guiding principles, Surfactants Asia has committed itself to achieving third party verification of its Responsible Care processes implemented at Quat plant, sales office, and technical service lab.

Verification of Responsible Care implementation involved an assessment of various documents that are evidence of activities in line with the 6 Responsible Care management codes published in Singapore by SCIC. The site data that have been assessed include:

• The Integrated Management System (IMS) of Quat plant, which was in 2005 certified to ISO standards for quality, health and safety and environmental performance (ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001).
• 2007 Self-assessment results against SCIC’s 6 management codes.
• HSE Handbook and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) for SAS at Science Park II.
• Records on Akzo Nobel CSR activities and on participation in Singapore RC programs.
• Various operation procedures, including Simplified Stage & Gate process, NPC process, Product Stewardship program 2007, Policy for purchasing of chemicals etc.

In the process of implementing six Responsible Care management codes in the past two years, Responsible Care has become a key element of daily business operations within Surfactants Asia and involves all the various stakeholders, such as neighbors, NGOs and business partners along with our employees. Following the successful RC verification, Surfactants Asia will strive for continuous improvement in Health, Safety, and Environmental performances in the days coming.

Presentation of Being Responsible Award to SAS RC Committee

Akzo Nobel Surfactants and Rajasthan State Mines & Minerals Ltd, Rajasthan, India are developing a process for the dolomitic Jhamarkotra low-grade ore as an alternative to the presently used acidic reversed bulk flotation process.

In a paper presented at the conference “Beneficiation of Phosphates V” in Rio de Janeiro 17-22 February, 2008, laboratory results were presented from experiments using an amphoteric apatite collector working directly, without de-sliming, on a fine ground Jhamarkotra ore feed, in a neutral or slightly alkaline water, producing a high-grade apatite concentrate with relatively low MgO, and generating process water with a good re-circulation potential.

The goal is to develop a process producing an apatite concentrate of higher P2O5 grade and recovery and with lower MgO content than today and being suitable for use in the wet phosphoric acid manufacturing process.

This picture demonstrates Jhamarkotra low-grade ore mining: