Surfactant in Modern Applications

During the last decades or so, new surfactant molecules have been synthesized to parallel the emphasis on increasing the basic performance of surfactant formulations and the provision of new surfactant technologies to a diverse range of disciplines. Political and economic forces have brought about demands for environmentally friendly 'green' products that are user friendly, mild in concentration and pose less potential damage to the environment. Now-a-days, even though many areas of application such as detergents and cleaning products are considered to be 'mature' industries, the demand of the increasing population, changing lifestyle, availability of alternative raw materials and market demands have caused the technology of surfactants and surfactant application to flourish at a healthy rate. Generally, surfactant's major role was concerned with cleaning operations, with the passage of time, the demand of new technological areas has enhanced the role of surfactants in modern aspect of life. Personal care products are not the only ones that are becoming greater economic force in terms of volume and money; diverse applications such as petroleum recovery processes, pharmaceuticals, medicines etc. are placing more demands on our ability to better understand the actions and applications of surface-active-agents. This review provides a basic nature of surfactants and the range of their use in modern science and technology while focusing on more sustainable routes of manufacturing such products.