Synthesis Characterization and Application of Polyglycerol Esters of Fatty Acids: Biodegradable Surfactants

Surfactant-based separations are attracting interest due to simple operations and viable economics. The present work focuses on the synthesis of two nonionic surfactants, polyglycerol fatty acid esters of cotton seed oil and castor seed oil, its characterization using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and liquid spectroscopy-mass spectroscopy. The synthesized surfactant is used in breaking azeotropic composition of n-propanol–water mixture via cloud point separation. The separation obtained from the synthesized surfactants is compared with the separation obtained from Tween 20 and it is found that both the synthesized surfactants are capable of breaking the azeotrope of n-propanol–water mixture.