Preparation and the Foaming Activity Study of Hydroxymethyl Cetyltrimethyl Ammonium Chloride

In this paper, hydroxymethyl cetyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (HM- CTAC) was prepared from cetyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (CTAC) and formaldehyde with different molar ratios (1: 1 to 1: 4). The effects of reaction conditions (molar ratio) on surface properties were studied, including surface tension, foaming ability, high temperature resistance, methanol resistance and salt resistance. The results show that the minimum surface tension of HM-CTAC is lower than that of CTAC, and HM- CTAC (1: 1) has the lowest surface tension of 31.89 mN . m(-1). The foam volume of HM-CTAC with different molar ratios is higher than that of CTAC, and HM-CTAC (1:4) has a high foam volume of 435 mL. Compared to CTAC, the HM-CTAC under different reaction conditions has higher temperature resistance. At the methanol content of 10 wt.%, the initial foam volume of HM-CTAC is higher than that of CTAC, and the initial foam volume of HM-CTAC (1: 2) is the highest with a volume of 21.5 mL. Among all the surfactants prepared under different reaction conditions, HM-CTAC (1: 3) has the highest salt resistance with a relatively stable change in foam volume under different salt contents.