Introducing a new generation of lightly branched detergent alcohols

ExxonMobil’s innovation in hydrophobe production technology has enabled tunable branching in detergent alcohols that can potentially unlock large scale supply of high-performing lightly branched C13 alcohols as an alternative to both existing natural and synthetic linear alcohol technologies.  Branches along the backbone carbon chain in detergent range alcohols have been known to enhance surfactant performance, for example by increasing wetting speed, solubility, hard water tolerance, and reducing undesired foaming.  Industry innovation for detergent range alcohols with 1 to 2 branches per molecule has not resulted in solutions with sufficient supply availability to be used as hydrophobes in large volume applications like household detergents, cleaners, and even personal care.  ExxonMobil’s new platform of lightly branched alcohols is introduced here with 1.5 branches/molecule developmental grade of C13 alcohol.  This developmental alcohol has been used to make surfactant derivatives including alcohol ethoxylates (AE), alcohol sulfates (AS), and alcohol ether sulfates (AES).  The 1.5 branched alcohol surfactant derivatives are not available at commercial scale today with similar level of branching and performance.  These new products are benchmarked to similar carbon chain length linear alcohol-based surfactants and are shown to meet the same biodegradability requirements and exhibit lower foaming and enhanced cold water cleaning, thus making them suitable for a broad range of applications, such as laundry detergents, hand and auto-dishwash products and surface cleaners.  These 1.5 branched alcohols are an innovative alternative to conventional linear alcohols to enhance surfactant performance.  This new generation of lightly branched alcohols is poised to fill a white space in the market for hydrophobes for large volume cleaning applications and other industrial uses.