🧹 Explaining Amphoteric Surfactants: Speciality surfactants manufactured by Lakeland in Manchester

29 Feb 2024

Amphoteric surfactants offer excellent dirt-lifting and free-rinsing qualities, alongside good environmental profiles and low aquatic toxicity, used by a wide cross-section of industries. Lakeland's team explains more about amphoteric surfactants, how they're used and how Lakeland's amphoteric surfactant manufacturing in Manchester benefits our clients.

🧹 Explaining Amphoteric Surfactants: Speciality surfactants manufactured by Lakeland in Manchester

Amphoteric surfactant chemicals manufactured by Lakeland Laboratories are incredibly multifunctional, carrying a broad range of uses thanks to their versatility.

Lakeland Laboratories works with clients across sectors from automotive to industrial and institutional cleaning, oil field and metal working to develop and manufacture bespoke, consistently-reliable amphoteric surfactants that support private businesses, public sector organisations and essential energy and materials production worldwide.

What are amphoteric surfactants, how are they used and what benefits do they carry?

What are amphoteric surfactant chemicals?

Amphoteric surfactants contain anionic and cationic hydrophilic groups within the same molecule, giving them a dual - both positive and negative - charge which results in a net charge of zero. This is known as 'zwitterionic'.

How amphoteric surfactants react depends on the solution they're used in, specifically its pH.

• Amphoteric surfactants are positively charged in acidic solutions, performing like cationic surfactants.
• Amphoterics become negatively charged in alkaline solutions, performing like anionic surfactants.

Amphoteric surfactants are frequently used in personal care and cleaning products and detergents owing to their low toxicity and low levels of irritation, good environmental and biodegradable properties and excellent emulsification.

How safe are amphoteric surfactants?

Amphoteric surfactants are not only versatile and reliable, but they're safe for use across a huge range of applications from personal care to oil field. Amphoterics have good resistance to hard water, allowing them to be applied to good effect even in seawater for oil and gas pipeline uses, have good biodegradable qualities to support eco-friendly processes, and are pH stable. 

Crucially, amphoterics are frequently used safely in personal care products, including shampoos and products for children. Presenting low irritation to skin and eyes, pH stability, and working well in blends with other formulations, amphoterics perform well in personal care.

Applying similar properties, amphoterics are also used safely in detergent, washing, and industrial cleaning products requiring foam cleaning properties to lift dirt and remove different types of soils.    

What benefits do amphoteric surfactants offer?

Amphoterics are highly developed, with benefits which include:

• Dirt-lifting and free-rinsing qualities
• Biodegradable and good environmental profiles
• Low aquatic toxicity
• Custom-developed formulations for high or low foaming
• Powerful emulsification, wetting and foaming 
• pH stable in a range of pH
• Low irritation to skin, eyes and mucus membranes
• Resistance to hard water
• Antistatic properties

How are amphoteric surfactants used in industry?

Salt-free diproprionate and monoproprionate amphoterics are an essential component in automotive care, household cleaning products, hard surface cleaners and detergents, with high and low-foaming variants, corrosion inhibition and anti-static dispersant properties that suit a huge range of applications in, for example, automotive, industrial and institutional cleaning, oil field and metal working sectors.

Lakeland's customers and other industries use amphoteric surfactants:

• In the manufacturing of automotive shampoos and other car care and car cleaning products, including traffic film removers 
• In the cleaning and protection of oil and gas pipelines
• In high-pressure detergents
• As foam cleaners for a range of surfaces
• In fabric and household detergents, including mild dishwasher detergents
• In personal care shampoos, shower and bathing products
• Textiles manufacturing and cleaning, including dyeing and dry cleaning
• In agriculture as a dispersing agent
• In metalworking as a lubricant

Amphoteric surfactant manufacture by Lakeland Laboratories

Lakeland Laboratories' in-house team manufactures our range of amphoteric surfactants at our plant in Manchester, producing a standard range of amphoterics as well as custom-developed products to suit specific purposes.

Manufactured using quality raw materials sourced to strict standards, and with exceptional compliance and technical support, Manchester’s Lakeland Laboratories distributes high-performance amphoterics and surfactant chemicals proucts manufactured in Manchester to industries worldwide, supplied directly and through our distribution network.

Backed by over 60 years of chemical expertise and our in-house product research and development laboratory, Lakeland Laboratories has established an unmatched reputation for independent, speciality amphoterics manufacture in Manchester, ensuring the quality of our products and their performance remains reliably consistent.

A commitment to research, and with chemistry at the heart of what we do, Lakeland's team is driven to continue to develop our amphoteric product range to achieve greater performance and to suit ever-changing industry needs and end user demands.

Find out more about amphoteric surfactant manufacture in Manchester from Lakeland Laboratories

With chemistry at the heart of our business, Lakeland’s surfactant manufacturing team in Manchester is dedicated to continual improvement and delivering reliable, consistent and high-performance amphoteric, phosphate ester, wax emulsion and speciality surfactants which support industry, food production, cleaning and manufacturing processes worldwide.

Contact us to request a sample!