Non-ionic Fatliquoring and Lubricating Agents Based on Ethoxylated Jojoba Fatty Acids

Abstract Jojoba oil is a non-edible oil that has great importance for industrial applications. Naturally fatty acids derivatives were utilized as intermediate feed stocks in many industrial applications to replace harmful and costly petrochemicals. The aim of this work was to utilize jojoba fatty acids through an ethoxylation reaction to obtain natural fatty ethoxylates, which can be used in the preparation of non-ionic surfactants as a stable and good fat-liquoring agent with a harmless and healthy effect to replace the synthetic oil employed. The ethoxylation of fatty acids derived from jojoba oil was carried out using ethylene oxide gas in the presence of potassium carbonate, which is a cheap conventional catalyst, under different conditions to obtain an economical and valuable ethoxylated material. The obtained products were evaluated for their chemical and physical properties as well as their application as a nonionic fatliquoring agent for the chrome-tanned leather industry. The data obtained revealed that the ethoxylation reaction managed to introduce ethylene oxide moles into the fatty acids to obtain a nonionic surfactant. The number of introduced ethylene oxide moles differs depending on the reaction conditions. The ethoxylated jojoba fatty acids products were observed to be good fat-liquors with favorable hydrophile-lipophile balance values, which produce stable oil in water emulsions. Ethoxylated jojoba fatty acids improved the strength properties of fat-liquored leather. Furthermore, a significant improvement in the grain surface of the treated leather was achieved by the prepared ethoxylated fat-liquors evidenced by scanning electron microscopy images. The prepared ethoxylated products proved to be effective fat liquoring agents. Graphical Abstract