Surfactants and Interfacial Phenomena

The past decade has seen significant developments in surfactant chemistry: the emergence of gemini surfactants, superwetting agents, and green surfactants. Coverage of their structure and applications makes this new Third Edition of Surfactants and Interfacial Phenomena, already the best available text on the subject, especially timely.

Using a minimum of mathematics, this book clearly describes the properties and applications of surfactants. It explains the mechanisms by which these materials operate in interfacial processes such as foaming, wetting, emulsion formation, and detergency, and shows the correlations between a surfactant’s chemical structure and its action.

The new Third Edition features updates and revisions including:

• Coverage of relevant new literature appearing after the Second Edition
• An entire chapter on gemini surfactants
• Guidelines for selection of surfactant pairs to optimize surfactant properties
• A section on biodegradable surfactants in the context of renewable resources (green surfactants)
• Estimations of marine organism toxicity and bioconcentration from the physicochemical properties of surfactants
• Dynamic surface tension reduction
• Synergy in wetting and superwetting by surfactant mixtures
• Foaming of aqueous dispersions of finely divided solids
• Demulsification by surfactants
• Expanded tables of data not compiled in any other text
• Additional problems at the end of each chapter

Written by Milton Rosen, a widely known expert in the field, Surfactants and Interfacial Phenomena, Third Edition provides an easy-to-read, user-friendly resource for industrial chemists and a text for classroom use, and is an unparalleled tool for understanding and applying the latest information on surfactants.