Prediction of foam stability for synthetic anionic ammonium-based surfactants having identical hydrophilic head group

Abstract

The commercially using synthetic surfactants have better foaming behavior at lower concentrations with the only drawback of forming a thin film wall around the foam bubbles. This leads to the rupture of foam by the attraction at the interface of bubbles and the air. Hence alternative anionic ammonium-based synthetic surfactants having the same hydrophilic head used for foam generation are investigated in this research. ALS and TLS are anionic synthetic surfactants having negatively charged Sulfate ion as their hydrophilic part and having a greater affinity towards the positively charged ions. The stability of TLS-foam increased up to 80% with a concentration of about 1.00 mol/L (M). The foam drainage test was performed to assess the characteristic behavior of the preformed foam. The regression model demonstrating the relationship between foam stability and various response parameters was examined using statistical analysis software. The results indicate that the surfactant concentration and foam expansion ratio significantly impact foam stability, as indicated by the regression equation's R2 value, which is almost equal to 1.00.