ABSTRACT
Lime soap dispersants function in a physical manner, to be discussed in Sec. III, without covalent or ionic bounding. By contrast, a chelating agent or an ion-exchange agent forms chemical bonds with calcium, magnesium, or other polyvalent ions. The Borghetty-Bergman test was used in the systematic study because it is relatively simple and provides a single value, the lime soap dispersant requirement (LSDR) for each surfactant. Cationic surfactants are unsuitable as lime soap dispersants because they form water-insoluble precipitates with soaps. When an amido group is introduced into the molecule to form compounds of structure 18, the lime soap dispersing power is usually enhanced and the LSDR drops to 2. These types of compounds are the most potent lime soap dispersants encountered so far. A comparison of amine oxides with sulfobetaines shows the latter to be far superior as lime soap dispersing agent and detergents.
