ABSTRACT
In the 1940s, S. R. Epton and T. Barr et al. almost simultaneously reported the determination of anionic surfactants with eight or more carbon atoms in the alkyl chain by titration with a cationic surfactant using methylene blue or bromophenol blue as the indicator and using a second phase, chloroform. With the principal task of finding a more appropriate indicator, members of the Comite Internationale des Derives Tensio Actifs representing 10 of Europe’s most prominent surfactant producers, combined under the chairmanship of Reid to make a thorough study of the total titration process. D. C. Cullum preferred the use of an indicator carrying the same charge as the surfactant ion being titrated. Institutions such as hospitals use large quantities of both anionic surfactants, e.g., alkylbenzenesulfonates, in detergents and quats, e.g., benzethonium and benzalkonium chlorides, as germicides and disinfectants. Consequently their effluents contain a rich mixture of the two types, either of which could be in excess.
