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48226-SE
Surfactants from Renewable Resources, at the ACS National Meeting, April 6-10, 2008, New Orleans, LA

Robert D. Tilton, Carnegie Mellon University

Surfactants are widely used in industrial, household and personal care products and materials. The intention of the ACS-PRF – supported symposium was to drive research that will ultimately reduce the burden of these industrial sectors on world petroleum supplies. Natural surfactants also often have advantageous biodegradability properties, and new research stimulated by this session might also lead to products with lessened environmental impact.

This SE award partially defrayed travel and meeting registration expenses for three international experts to attend this symposium at the Spring 2008 ACS National Meeting in New Orleans, LA. Consistent with the highlighted “Energy and the Environment” theme of this National Meeting, this symposium focused on the production, fundamental properties and applications of surfactants derived from renewable resources. Presentations dealt with both synthetic and natural surface active materials that were derived in whole or in part from plants or other organisms that are amenable to agriculture or biotechnological production.  This session focused attention on the unique behaviors, advantages, or disadvantages of such surfactants compared to conventional petroleum-derived surfactants.  Strategies to formulate these surfactant systems to overcome their disadvantages relative to conventional surfactants or to exploit their advantageous properties for novel applications were a central theme of this symposium. The three international speakers supported by this award were Dr. Krister Holmberg, Professor, of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden, Dr. Robert Meszaros, Assistant Professor, of the Department of Physical Chemistry, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary, and Dr. Shamim Momin, Professor, Department of Oils, Oleochemicals and Surfactant Technology, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India.   Professor Holmberg gave a presentation on betaine ester surfactants.  Professor Meszaros gave a presentation on novel nanocomposites of hyperbranched poly(ethyleneimine), sodium dodecyl sulfate and dodecyl maltoside.  Professor Momin presented the effect of ionic derivatives of alkyl polyglycosides on its surface active properties and studies in biosurfactants: sophorolipids.  The ACS Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry matched the ACS-PRF award with its own funds to partially defray meeting expenses for five additional speakers, including both faculty and students. Approximately 60 people were in attendance for this symposium. 

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