Background on Surface Tension Wetting
Reducing surface tension of aqueous solutions is of critical importance in applications ranging from cleaning solutions, coatings, inks, agricultural products, adhesives, fountain solutions, catalysts and catalytic processes, pet litter, fabric processing, cutting fluids, oil/water separation and oil extraction, and many other uses.

Typically, surface tension is reduced in aqueous solutions by the addition of surfactants or solvents. A reduction in surface tension improves the wetting of the substrate material, which allows the chemical processes being used to be more effective. The performance variables that benefit from the use of surfactants include improved chemical penetration to the substrate, enhanced surface coverage, reduced number of defects, improved biological uptake, improved oil/water separation and others.

Alcohols and solvents can be used to reduce surface tension, but due to environmental VOC issues, evaporation, biodegradability and toxicity concerns, surfactants have displaced alcohols and solvents in a wide number of applications.

In many applications, a minimum surface tension has to be achieved for the process to be effective. Generally, the lower the level of surfactants to achieve a particular surface tension, the better. Cost is an issue, but surfactants tend to "get in the way" once they have performed their function.


Improved Wetting with the C.O.D.E. Technology
Advanced BioCatalytics Corp.'s C.O.D.E. technology has achieved the ability to "leverage" surfactants by blending them with its protein bundle. The leveraging effect creates a more versatile "thinking surfactant" system with several benefits.

Reduction in surface tension can be achieved with lower levels of surfactants. Value added improvements in process performance and yields lead to cost reduction. In some cases direct reduction in surfactant costs can be realized. Finally, the thinking surfactant phenomenon means that the product is self-adapting to variations in a wide range of use conditions.

A major benefit of combining the protein bundle with surfactants is the reduction in interfacial tension. This feature facilitates improved surfactant contact with grease and oil in cleaning compositions and other applications where removal or elimination of oil and grease is required.

While surface tension is important, other mechanisms are evident which help to enhance wetting and biological processes. One example is a profound reduction in the critical micelle concentration with ABC's technology.

When foaming is beneficial, performance can be improved by creating foam that typically has a very fine structure, and optimized with a surfactant system to control foaming tendency. Due to the lower levels of surfactant typically needed than in conventional systems, and the finer foam structure, the user has a larger degree of flexibility to optimize performance of wetting agents with C.O.D.E. based products.

Products with the C.O.D.E. inside can significantly reduce both equilibrium and dynamic surface tension, and at reduced levels of surfactants in a variety of applications.

These attributes describe fundamental paths leading to efficiency improvements in applications ranging from bio-chemical to cleaning processes.

If you are interested in specific details of ABC's surface tension and wetting technology or have an application area in mind, please contact us at: info@abiocat.com


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