Stable, low viscosity imidazoline amphoteric surfactant concentrate

摘要

Production of a highly fluid, storage-stable amphoteric surfactant involves quaternising or carboxymethylating a 1-hydroxyethyl-2-alkyl-2-imidazoline (or its ring-opened product) with a halogenated carboxylic acid salt at pH 8-11 while simultaneously hydrolysing with an aqueous base. The novel features are that (i) the reaction is halted after addition of 70-90 mol.% (based on the acid salt) of the base; (ii) the amount of the base is made up to 100-105 mol.%; and (iii) reaction is continued at 120-150 deg C and the product is adjusted to pH 7-9.