The Dow Chemical Company (Dow Chemical) has introduced three new ECOSURF EH Specialty Surfactants, ECOSURF EH-3, 6, & 9 surfactants, to its ECOSURF brand. The new high performance surfactants are readily biodegradable with low aquatic toxicity and are developed to use in hard surface cleaning, textile processing, inks, paints and coatings, and agricultural chemicals. These surfactants meet the criteria for the US Environmental Protection Agency's Design for the Environment Surfactant Screen.

ECOSURF EH Specialty Surfactants are another example of Dow Chemical’s performance chemistry.

ECOSURF EH Surfactants are designed to help formulators meet rising expectations for performance and convenience, while at the same time complying with more stringent and demanding environmental safety regulations.

The ‘Surfactants’ is a shortened form of three words, surface, active and agent. Surfactants stabilize mixtures of oil and water by reducing the surface tension at the interface between the oil and water molecules. Because water and oil do not dissolve in each other, a stable mixture requires a surfactant to keep it from separating into layers.

ECOSURF EH-3, 6, & 9 Surfactants

Each has its own performance advantages in many different applications, all three ECOSURF EH Surfactants are oil-soluble emulsifiers with fast dynamic surface tension reduction. They are low foaming, have very low odor and a narrow gel range, making them ideally suited for ultra-concentrated formulations.

Hard Surface Cleaning Performance

For hard surface cleaning of cross-linked triglycerides (kitchen soil) and mineral oil (industrial petroleum based grease), ECOSURF EH Surfactants have demonstrated exceptional cleaning performance in Dow tests, when compared with other, traditionally used products.

Paints & Coatings Applications

ECOSURF EH Surfactants feature narrow aqueous gel ranges and favorable handling and formulating properties, making them ideally suited for many paints and coatings systems.

Textile Applications

Dow studies have shown that fabrics finished by silicone softeners emulsified with ECOSURF EH Surfactants exhibited improved hand-feel. Using real world application testing for textile processing, the wetting times and penetration time for real-use concentrations are much faster for ECOSURF EH Surfactants relative to primary alcohol ethoxylates (PAE’s).

Other Applications

ECOSURF EH Surfactants are excellent candidates for use in a number of other applications including: emulsifiers for agricultural insecticides and herbicides, paper processing, and oil and gas applications.