Rakshitha Srinivasan

1University of Southampton, United Kingdom.

Title: Green Surfactants and Sustainability

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Biography

Rakshitha Srinivasan is an Advanced Chemical Engineering postgraduate student at the University of Southampton. She was born in India and raised in Oman and India. She worked as a Research Associate in a skincare start-up company for over a year. She then briefly worked as a Process Engineer in a petrochemical consultancy before moving to the United Kingdom to pursue her master’s degree.

Growing up in the Middle East, she was always passionate about pursuing a career in the petrochemical and energy sectors. She wanted to prove the importance of chemical engineers in society. With the current transitions with respect to energy and emphasis on sustainability, Rakshitha wants to design innovative processes with safety considerations to meet the current needs of the people and make life better for the upcoming generations.

In her free time, she enjoys hiking, traveling and practicing yoga. 

Abstract

In recent times there has been a huge rise in the number of problems caused by surfactants. Surfactants are surface active agents that reduce the interfacial tension between two surfaces. They have several applications, and they are predominantly used in the laundry industry. Since the use of conventional surfactants causes many environmental issues such as water pollution, threat to aquatic life, climate change, etc., a shift towards green and sustainable surfactants is required.

In order to emphasize the need for green surfactants, a case study was chosen. The case study highlights the problems caused by conventional surfactants which led to the foaming of a lake in India. The foams were highly toxic and flammable and eventually caused a fire to break out over the lake as a result of a spark. It was found that the foams contained a large amount of methane gas which is highly inflammable. Samples of the lake water were collected and studied. It was noticed that the lake’s surface tension was much lower than that of pure water, this indicated the presence of surfactant content. It was found that high levels of anionic surfactants along with phosphorus content led to the foaming of the lake. Additionally, the study showed that the BOD & COD levels surpassed the permissible limit.

From the case study, it is evident that green surfactants are highly necessary to overcome the pollution caused by conventional surfactants. Green surfactants are eco-friendly, plant-based surfactants that are synthesized using the principles of green chemistry. Alkyl Polyglucoside (APG) is one such surfactant that is popular. The raw material consists of an alcohol and sugar which react to form APG. Since the raw materials are plant-derived, it is biodegradable. It is less foaming and has a good cleansing ability. Currently, the APG process uses vegetable oils and wheat as raw materials. However, using these raw materials can be energy intensive and lead to emissions.

Though green surfactants are gaining popularity, more research is needed to develop surfactants with less energy consumption and aim at zero emissions. One way to achieve this is by the use of innovative catalysts. This will greatly affect the processing cost and the product cost, making it a more affordable alternative in the future.