Surfactants
or wetting agents are organic compounds, which when added to water or any other
liquid, reduces its surface tension, thereby causing the liquid to easily
spread over the surface of a material or increase the ability of a liquid to
penetrate into the material. Textile Surfactants can be manufactured from
renewable raw materials such as natural oils, fatty acids, lignin,
polyglycerol, sugar by-products and oleochemicals and petroleum products.
Surfactants find applications as key ingredient in industrial and consumer
cleaning substances, which include cleansing agents, emulsifiers, dispersants,
foaming and de-foaming agents. Surfactants are widely used in personal care
products, in detergents, in paints and coatings, in agrochemicals, in metal
works, in construction, in oil field and other applications.
Apart from
these, textile
surfactants play an important role in textile industry as one of the
chemicals to enhance the manufacturing process. In industry, textile
surfactants are used as antistatic, untangling and softening agents in
different processes of textile manufacturing such as scouring, lubrication,
dyeing and finishing. Textile surfactants contain both water loving
(hydrophilic) and water hating (hydrophobic) parts. Based on hydrophilic part,
textile surfactants are segmented into anionic, cationic, non-ionic and
amphoteric surfactants. Anionic surfactants such as carboxylates, sulphonates
and alkyl ether phosphates are used as dye dispersants; cationic surfactants
such as alkylamine ethoxylates and quaternary ammonium compounds are used for
fabric softening; non-ionic surfactants such as ethoxylates, fatty acids
ethoxylate, fatty alcohol ethoxylates and fatty amine ethoxylates are used as
washing/dispersing agents, whereas amphoteric surfactants are applied in
combination with cationic or anionic surfactants.
Increased spending, in terms
of fashion and high-class interiors, has increased demand for textiles, as a
result of which there is strong demand for textile surfactants in the industry.
As there are many players in the textile industry, owing to continuous change
in preferences of people, competition among them would constantly bring more
advancement in textile quality and thus is expected to drive the market for
textile surfactants in near future. Technical textile includes medical
applications, geotextiles, agro-textiles, etc. Rising demand from these
segments would stimulate the growth of textile, which ultimately would
accelerate the textile surfactants demand in textile industries. Technical
textiles are also used in environmental protection applications and such
environmental beneficial projects are expected to boost eco-tech textiles,
which would keep demand for surfactants rising.
The main restraint, which may hamper the
demand for use of textile surfactants is government regulations for utilization
of eco-friendly products. Disposal of synthetic surfactants into lakes and
rivers leave adverse environmental impact, which limits the growth of synthetic
textile surfactants market. This in-turn has raised the demand for bio-based
textile surfactants, which will bring opportunities for market growth.With
growing economies and increasing population of developing countries of Asia
Pacific and continuous demand for new trends in textile segment, this region
leads the market of textile manufacturing, owing to which there is high demand
for surfactants in textile sector. Also, India and China lie among top
exporters of textiles, so manufacturers in this region are expected to witness
significant rise in demand for surfactants.
Western
Europe and North America possess a large base of key players in surfactants
manufacturing. The surfactant market is stagnant in this region. European
commission encourages the policies that are beneficial for environment, owing
to which surfactants produced from renewable raw materials is expected to find large
market in this region. Japan Textile Federation is aiming to push development
in Japan textile industries, which is also expected to bolster the demand for
surfactants in this region during the forecast period.
Source: News Times, United Kingdom Thursday, 16 November 2017