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Surfactants, Emulsifiers and Polyglycols

High Performance Products

High-performing materials including TERGITOL™, TRITON™, ECOSURF™ and DOWSIL™ Surfactants

Our robust portfolio of both organic and silicone-based products is designed to meet your stringent performance and regulatory requirements in a wide variety of applications. Our surfactants act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming or defoaming agents, and dispersants across a range of consumer and industrial applications.

Many of our products are alternatives to alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs) and polyalcohol ethoxylates (PAEs), readily biodegradable, bio-based and offer low aquatic toxicity.

Person with rubber gloves on cleaning a window

Benefits of Dow surfactants include:

  • Enhanced wetting, emulsification and dispersion/suspension
  • Improved performance and efficiency in formulations, including cleaning, personal care, crop protection, and many other applications
  • Enhanced environmental profile of end products

 

Should I choose an organic or silicone-based surfactant?

Choosing a surfactant is based on your unique formulation and application needs. Both organic and silicone-based, surfactants can deliver performance benefits. Silicone surfactants, or super wetters, are particularly helpful in agrichemical formulations, coatings, and personal care applications.

Person putting on lotion on their wrist

Silicone surfactants offer:

  • Greater surface tension reduction
  • More effective surface wetting
  • Equal wetting performance at lower concentrations
  • Improved solubility at high temperatures

 

What is the difference between anionic and nonionic surfactants?

Two main differences are foam and type of soil removal. Anionic surfactants are helpful when you want foam in an application while nonionic surfactants are appropriate when you are looking to limit foam. In cleaning formulations, anionic surfactants are beneficial for particulate soil removal and nonionic surfactants are beneficial for oily soil removal.

Looking for a polyglycol supplier?

Our range of polypropylene glycols (PPGs) are widely used as a solvent, heat transfer medium or chemical intermediate in food and fermentation, lubrication, mining and other applications.

Our portfolio of CARBOWAX™ and CARBOWAX™ SENTRY™ Polyethylene Glycols (PEGs) includes a broad range of viscosities and melting points for flexibility to optimize a wide variety of formulations, including pharmaceutical, personal care and cleaning.


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