| |
Surfactants are molecules that reduce surface tension and possess both a hydrophobic group (normally a hydrocarbon chain) and a more water-soluble hydrophilic group (most often containing oxygen or nitrogen atoms). Surfactants are most commonly used for their detergency but may also be used for other properties such as emulsification, foaming, wetting and softening.
This report provides an overview of the surfactant industry and all major surfactant types except soaps (i.e., salts of fatty acids), lignosulfonates, organosilicone and fluorosurfactants. Soaps have been excluded because most are produced by the large detergent manufacturers for direct consumption by household consumers. The report includes sulfonated anionic surfactants used in bar and liquid soap production, including body washes.
Lignosulfonates have been excluded because they are a low-value by-product of the wood pulping industry and their producers are not part of the surfactant industry.
The large-volume surfactants sold to the household detergent industry and for some industrial applications are frequently treated as commodities. These include linear alkylbenzene sulfonates, alcohol sulfates, alcohol ether sulfates, linear alcohol ethoxylates and alkylphenol ethoxylates. However, even these large-volume surfactant product types include many smaller-volume products that are sold as specialties for niche applications. Examples include calcium or other salts of the anionic surfactants (instead of the more common sodium salt) and nonionic ethoxylates with high or narrow-range ethoxylation levels, special chain lengths, and unique blends or concentrates. These modifications of commodity surfactants provide their producers with added value that results from special processing or other conditions of their production or distribution. These considerations, combined with the large number of surfactant types and the nearly unlimited variations possible within any type, complicate any effort to assign a precise definition to the term specialty surfactant.
Most surfactant manufacturers produce both commodity and specialty types. Captive consumption can be significant in some cases. Most captive consumption is accounted for by the large household detergent manufacturers, who produce sulfated anionic surfactants for captive consumption in their own products. There might also be a shift between captive and merchant portions of the market; therefore the study’s emphasis is on total consumption, which indeed represents the potential merchant market for surfactants.
World consumption of surfactants was valued at nearly $20 billion in 2006. The following pie chart shows consumption in the major regions on a volume basis:
A detailed market analysis of the surfactant industry is complicated by other factors: (1) the number of surfactants and their end-use applications is enormous; (2) there are many suppliers; (3) the surfactant industry is stratified, with producers that vary in size selling not only to end users but also to each other; and (4) end users in a given industry segment are frequently unable to provide accurate market information because the products they buy are often complex formulations and many do not know the true composition of such formulations. Furthermore, many end users also have a proprietary interest in not disclosing information about the surfactants they employ and are unwilling to discuss their use in any detail. Because of all of these considerations, any assignment of total quantities, market shares and end-user distribution patterns is quite difficult.
|
