Formulating Cleaning Products with Microemulsions.

Microemulsions are thermodynamically stable, optically isotropic dispersions, consisting of nanometer size domains of oil and/or water stabilized by an interfacial film of surface active agent. Although these systems were first described by Schulman in 1943, only in the last 20 years have they attracted much scientific and technological attention. Their potential applications range from enhanced oil recovery to pharmaceuticals. Only recently has work on microemulsion systems in detergent applications been addressed. This paper aims to cover recent work on single phase microemulsion systems in different cleaning applications. Extended chain surfactants have been developed which enhance the hydrophobic interactions on the oil side of the interface, by incorporating a linker molecule between the hydrocarbon chain and the hydrophilic head group. Structure property relationships have been developed and the effect of different structural parameters on the solubilization of non-polar oils as it relates to cleaning performance will be discussed