Nonionic surfactants act as cleaners, emulsifiers, wetting agents, foaming agents or defoaming agents, depending on their structure, as well as dispersing agents, solubilizers or thickening agents. These surfactants are used by all our business divisions: Cleaning Specialties, Industrial Specialties, Personal Care, Ceramic Auxiliaries, Leather Auxiliaries, Fiber & Textile Auxiliaries and Lubricants.

We have more than 50 years of experience in the design and production of alkoxylates. We produce a large variety of alkoxylates with different starting materials (natural and synthetic feedstocks: fatty alcohols, fatty acids, triglycerides, fatty amines) and varying degrees of ethylene oxide (EO) and propylene oxide (PO). EO and PO can be introduced in blocks or randomly distributed.

Our nonionic surfactants are used as raw materials for reactions or for blends. We continuously optimize our products and develop new alkoxylates to fulfil the needs of our customers.

AMINO ACID SURFACTANTS

Amino acid surfactants are based on the natural components amino acids and fatty acids (from vegetable oils). In Personal Care applications, amino acid surfactants are useful as cleansing agents (e.g. in shower gels and hair shampoos). For applications in Cleaning Specialties, Z&S has discovered that sodium cocoyl glutamate is an excellent hydrotropic surfactant to clear up cloudy cleanser formulations.

SUGAR SURFACTANTS 

Sugar surfactants are entirely based on renewable raw materials – sugars and fatty acids or fatty alcohols (from vegetable oils). 

Amino acid surfactants as well as sugar surfactants are becoming increasingly important due to their “green“ characteristics and their excellent properties: they are very mild and versatile.

Anionic surfactants are the most widely used class of surfactants in cleaning applications. In addition to their ability to emulsify oily soils into wash solutions, they can lift soils including particulates from surfaces. 

Anionics can be classified according to their polar group. We produce the following anionic surfactants:

• Sulphosuccinates
• Sulphates
• Soaps

Sulphosuccinates are not particularly effective detergents, but they are good wetting agents with very low irritancy and excellent rinsability.

Alkyl and alkyl ether sulphates have been widely used in personal care products for many years, as well as in household, I&I and in many other applications. Their use generates a dense, long-lasting foam, and they have excellent detergent power.

Soaps are obtained by neutralization of fatty acids with a base.

Amphoteric surfactants have a variety of functions and are used in products that require minimal irritation potential.

Synthetic esters have outstanding performance properties including high thermo-oxidative stability, low volatility and biodegradability. Certain esters can be selected to provide excellent hydrolytic stability and a high viscosity index. Compared to mineral oil-based lubricants, esters typically deliver enhanced low-temperature properties, lubricity and fire resistance. 

We produce a wide variety of esters from different starting materials (natural and synthetic feedstocks) with phosphoric and carboxylic acid esters applicable across multiple applications: home care, industrial cleaning, agrochemicals, pulp and paper, construction chemicals, water treatment, oil and gas, personal care, ceramics, leather auxiliaries, fiber and textile auxiliaries, lubricants for e.g. hydraulic fluids, compressor oils, metalworking.

Phosphonates are characterized by an extraordinary combination of properties and are therefore used in nearly all aqueous industrial, institutional or even domestic applications where water hardness or other dissolved metal ions need to be treated to avoid undesired effects.

Our work focuses mainly on hydroxybisphosphonates and a wide range of aminomethylenephosphonates in both acid and neutralized forms. We also produce high-quality solid phosphonate products using modern granulation and crystallization technologies.

With more than 40 years of experience in the synthesis of phosphonates, our research activities focus on customer-centric product adjustments, increasing the use of raw materials with higher proportions of renewable carbon and developing chelating agents with improved ecological profiles.

Emulsion and solution polymerization are used to produce products across a wide range of applications. Our environmentally friendly processes utilize water as a solvent, promoting more sustainable practices. Polymers with a wide range of performance characteristics can be created using monomers capable of free radical polymerization. 

From our origins in floor-finish and cleaning applications, our product line has expanded into personal care and coatings. This has driven advancements in both our technology and performance. By understanding our customers’ needs and working closely with our application development teams, we continuously develop our portfolio to meet evolving market demands. Our acrylic and styrene-acrylic product line supports an ever-expanding list of applications in our target markets.

The Leather Auxiliaries R&D group focuses on developing new chemicals across the entire portfolio of products for turning raw hides into finished leather:

• Huge variety of products in beamhouse, tanning, wet-end and finishing
• Several technical centers across the globe to tailor the products to the requirements of local customers
• Broad expertise in developing bio-based leather chemicals for a sustainable chemical portfolio
• Leather analytical lab to measure the performance of new chemicals in the final products

In addition to the usual product optimizations for our customers with a wide range of ceramic applications, our current focus is on:

• Fire protection interlayers for glass
• Surface design of concrete plates using digital printing
• Testing and evaluation of alternative raw materials in connection with possible process optimizations

The Fiber & Textile Auxiliaries R&D group develops chemical solutions for synthetic fiber production and textile processing, combining technical expertise with a strong focus on sustainability and performance:

Fiber Auxiliaries:

• Long-standing expertise in spin finishes for polypropylene, polyester (including recycled), polyamide, aramid and carbon fibers
• Two BARMAG spinning lines and advanced analytics for product testing and optimization
• Application fields include carpets, technical textiles, hygiene, composites and automotive

Textile Auxiliaries:

• Focus on environmentally friendly auxiliaries for processes such as pretreatment, dyeing, softening and sewing
• Use of renewable raw materials and biodegradable components to reduce the ecological impact
• Development of technologies that improve application efficiency, including low-add-on and spray application methods
• Focus on innovative application technologies (e.g. spray techniques)

Our R&D group specializes in developing high-performance inks for several applications, tailored to your needs:

• Ink formulation: expertise in water-based, solvent-based, organic and inorganic inks
• Backward chemical integration: ensuring quality and consistency from raw materials to the final product
• State-of-the-art facilities: multiple R&D and inkjet manufacturing sites equipped with the latest technology

The Analytical department acts as an enabling service laboratory for our new solutions development initiatives across the Z&S Group. 

We support the development projects of the individual specialist departments from the very beginning – starting with the identification of the composition of initial test syntheses or formulations to the development of new methods for qualitative and / or quantitative detection of individual ingredients to supporting the registration process with various official authorities. Analytics accompanies the path of a new product.

In addition, we always aim to respond to analytical questions from all our customers and provide our analytical expertise. The Analytical department has a wide range of physicochemical, wet-chemical and instrumental methods at its disposal to fulfil these tasks. The following is an exemplary overview of the methods we use:

• Spectroscopic methods, e.g. NIR and FTIR techniques, UV/VIS spectrometer, NMR
• Determination of physicochemical parameters as well as wet chemistry methods
• Chromatographic methods with various detector systems, e.g. HPLC-DAD/-RI/-FLD, LC- and GC-MS, capillary electrophoresis
• Elemental analysis using XRF and ICP-OES

With the variety of analysis systems available to us, coupled with a strong team, we aim to develop customized solutions for all analytical issues.

Production Support provides assistance to the production plants in cases of deviations in quality control data or problems during the production process.

We implement corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) in order to solve these problems immediately and to prevent the recurrence of nonconformities or their occurrence elsewhere. The steps are as follows:

• Cause analysis
• CAPA definition
• CAPA implementation

Furthermore, we define the control of nonconforming products using the following options:

• General release
• Corrective action
• Release for selected customers
• Waste removal

Production Support is the technical contact for the staff of the production plants for all chemical-related questions.

We optimize manufacturing processes and share our knowledge of manufacturing methods and product properties with other departments.