Dubai, United Arab Emirates - April 08, 2009

Three new surfactants have joined the ECOSURF™ brand of specialty surfactants from The Dow Chemical Company. ECOSURF™ EH Specialty Surfactants are a new generation of high performance, readily biodegradable surfactants. They are designed for use in hard surface cleaning, textile processing, inks, paints and coatings, and agricultural chemicals. ECOSURF EH Surfactants have an excellent environmental profile, are biodegradable with low aquatic toxicity and meets the criteria for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Design for the Environment Surfactant Screen. ECOSURF EH Specialty Surfactants are another example of innovative, performance chemistry from Dow.

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.

What Are "Surfactants"?

A shortened form of three words "surface-active 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

There are three products in the ECOSURF™ EH family. While each has its own unique performance advantages in many different applications, all three ECOSURF EH Surfactants are excellent 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).

Oil & Gas Applications

ECOSURF™ EH Surfactants are excellent candidates for use in oil field chemicals with performance features such as drilling fluids, acidizing and stimulation, drilling cutting and well cleaning, enhanced oil recovery.

About Dow Chemical in the Middle East

Dow has several current and proposed Middle East joint ventures in the UAE, Egypt, Kuwait and Libya as well as in Saudi Arabia, where Saudi Aramco and Dow are in the formation process of a joint venture to build, own and operate a world-scale chemicals and plastics production complex in the Eastern Province. From the opening of its first commercial office in Cairo in the early 1970's to its facility in Jebel Ali in Dubai and its 10-year partnership in Kuwait with EQUATE, Dow has managed to establish a solid presence in the Middle East petrochemicals industry.

About Dow

For Editorial Information:

Mira Meghdessian
The Dow Chemical Company
009714 3123635