Abstract
A general area of the chemical industry that manufactures most of the surfactants, soaps, and detergents is called Soaps, Cleaning Compounds, and Toilet Preparations (NAICS 3256), one of the seven major divisions of Chemical Manufacturing (see Fig. 20.1 for this summary). This amounts to over $50 billion and is 14% of all Chemical Manufacturing. We will concentrate primarily on a subsector of this division, Soaps and Other Detergents (NAICS 325611), although all subsectors of Soaps, Cleaning Compounds, and Toilet Preparations use surface active (surfactant) chemicals, which are further modified into finished products. Over 5 billion lb of surfactants serve all these sectors. In addition to household and industrial cleaning, oil field applications and personal care products are big users of surfactants.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Suggested Readings
Chemical and Engineering News, an annual product report entitled “Soaps and Detergents,” usually published in a January issue.
Kent, Riegel’s Handbook of Industrial Chemistry, pp. 1012–1049.
Wittcoff and Reuben, Industrial Organic Chemicals in Perspective. Part Two: Technology, Formulation, and Use, pp. 182–212.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chenier, P.J. (2002). Surfactants, Soaps, and Detergents. In: Survey of Industrial Chemistry. Topics in Applied Chemistry. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0603-4_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0603-4_24
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5153-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0603-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive