Fatty acid methyl ester ethoxylate FMEE
Introduce：
The ethoxylated fabric of fatty acid methyl ester (FMEE) is a new non-ionic surfactant in recent years, which has unparalleled functions of low foam, emulsification, dispersion and cleaning. It has been widely used abroad, especially in the textile field, especially in the scouring pretreatment process of fabrics. FMEE is 18 carbon fatty acid methyl ester followed by ethylene oxide with different EO numbers. Because fatty acid methyl ester has ester based molecular structure similar to oil and wax, according to similar solubility mechanism, fatty acid methyl ester ethoxylate is the best oil and wax removal product among various surfactants, The degreasing capacity of fatty acid methyl ester ethoxylate FMEE is 1.5 times that of fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether and 2.5 times that of triethanolamine oleic acid soap. In terms of wax removal, the wax removal ability of FMEE is 1.6 times that of fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether and 1.4 times that of triethanolamine oleic acid soap.
FMEE has the following characteristics:
1. The molecular formula has an ester group, similar to the structure of oil and wax. According to the principle of similar solubility, it has strong solubility and removal ability for oil, mineral oil, and paraffin.
2. The cloud point is greater than 100 ℃. Because the non-ionic surfactant has the best performance at the temperature near the cloud point, it has the lowest foam performance and the highest cleaning capacity near the cloud point.
3. FMEE can be directly used under high-temperature process conditions.
4. It has strong dispersion performance and can disperse oil, wax, dirt, etc. in the working fluid to prevent anti fouling. Therefore, it is also suitable for oil and wax removal under low temperature conditions, compensating for the decrease in dispersion force of the working fluid caused by low temperature.
Application of FMEE in the field of printing and dyeing:
1. Currently, the commonly used scouring agent for knitted fabrics is the AEO series. The major drawback of AEO is its poor dispersion performance. In working fluids with small bath ratios, the scouring effect becomes worse due to the back contamination of impurities such as oil stains, resulting in uneven hair effect. However, FMEE has excellent oil removal performance, low foaming, and good dispersibility, making it particularly suitable for intermittent pre-treatment processes of knitted fabrics, The cleaning effect is significantly better than that of the fatty alcohol ether series.
2. Low temperature oil remover for chemical fibers
Due to its excellent dispersion and washing performance, FMEE also has excellent oil removal performance under low temperature conditions. It is suitable for low temperature/room temperature oil removal of chemical fiber fabrics such as polyester and spandex, and can achieve direct dyeing without liquid discharge.
3. Wax remover for cotton fibers
With the high price of cotton, the quality of yarn and its slurry is getting worse, leading to problems such as incomplete removal of cotton wax from grey fabrics. FMEE completely removes cotton wax and can be used as a fabric wax remover, effectively eliminating wax threads and spots on the fabric surface. Like all non ionic products, FMEE has poor alkali resistance. In order to improve its alkali resistance, FMEE is sulfonated to obtain its anionic sulfonate, known as FMES. FMES inherits the efficient oil and wax removal characteristics of FMEE, and after sulfonation, it also has high alkali resistance. FMES can withstand 100 ℃ hot alkali up to 50g/L and 40 ℃ hot alkali up to 150g/L.
FMES is suitable for the strong alkali desizing and scouring pre-treatment process of woven fabrics. The pre-treatment of woven fabrics is a relatively old topic that may not seem innovative, but as the pre-treatment process becomes shorter and people expect less and less use of flake alkali, the pre-treatment of woven fabrics has become a new challenge. At present, the pre-treatment agents for woven fabrics are mostly composed of non-ionic fatty alcohol ethers (AEO, TX, isomeric alcohol ethers) and anions (sodium secalkyl sulfonate SAS, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate LAS). In order to improve its alkaline resistance, phosphate ester products will continue to be compounded. Among the above raw materials, the wax removal performance of fatty alcohol ethers is far from sufficient, and the removal of slurry is not thorough, especially in rolling or washing tanks, which leads to slurry condensation and anti fouling. Sodium secondary alkyl sulfonate has good permeability due to its small molecular weight, but its cleaning performance, especially its emulsifying power, is poor. LAS is cheap, but the foam is very high, the hard water resistance is poor, and the water quality requirements are high. Compared to the above raw materials, FMES is a comprehensive and refined raw material with excellent alkali resistance, so there is no need to mix phosphate ester products. However, phosphate ester products such as OEP have very poor cleaning power, and excessive use will reduce gross efficiency. The biggest advantage of FMES is its high desizing rate for various slurries, thorough removal of cotton wax, and effective prevention of the agglomeration of slurries and other impurities in rolling and washing tanks. Therefore, FMES has many advantages such as low foaming, alkali resistance, high desizing rate, and high capillary efficiency, making it particularly suitable for the pre-treatment process of woven fabrics.