Alkane diol foam controlling agents

Details Alkane diol foam controlling agents Alkane diol foam controlling agents

2001-10-01

2004-07-13

Metzmaier, Daniel S. (Department: 1712)

Colloid systems and wetting agents; subcombinations thereof; pro

Compositions containing an agent for breaking ; processes of...

Continuous liquid phase colloid system and discontinuous gas...

C516S204000, C106S018000, C106S031180, C106S031860, C208S205000, C504S358000, C508S459000, C508S506000, C508S561000, C510S245000, C510S505000, C510S535000, C430S331000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06762208

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to the use of the alkane diols as foam controlling agents.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Foam control or elimination in many waterborne applications and industrial processes is critical for obtaining optimal performance in application and high process efficiency. The importance of foam control and elimination in applications such as waterborne coatings, inks, adhesives, and agricultural formulations and in industrial processes such as oil well pumping, petroleum gas scrubbing, cleansing and disinfecting, food processing, pulp and paper processing, fermentation, metal treatment, polymer and chemical synthesis, waste-water treatment and textile dying and finishing is well-appreciated in the art.
Foam controlling agents are widely used in polymer production and processing, as foam can lead to reduced production capacity, efficiency and equipment problems. In particular, severe foaming problems commonly result upon stripping unreacted monomers from the polymer product.
Undesirable foam can lead to inefficient mixing, poor productivity, reduced vessel capacity and equipment failure in many common industrial processes. For instance, foaming in refinery processes such as drilling, production, stimulation, distillation, extraction, gas and liquid scrubbing and other operations leads to a number of operating difficulties and significant economic consequences. In acid gas sweetening, gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide are removed via scrubbing with an aqueous amine solution. Problematic foam can occur during both the scrubbing or regeneration steps in this process.
For applications such as coatings, the dynamic nature of spraying, rolling, or brushing the coating onto a substrate will introduce air into the system which can manifest itself as foam. This foam can cause coating failure due to factors such as low gloss or poor surface coverage. In cleaning applications, a small amount of controlled foam may be needed during cleaning, but too much foam can affect the perceived time to clean and rinse the soiled article. Defoamers and antifoams are additives that are used to reduce or eliminate problematic foam. The term “antifoam” refers to a long-acting additive that prevents foam formation. The term “defoamer” refers to an additive that eliminates, or at least reduces, existing foam. The term “foam controlling agent”, as used herein, refers to an additive that prevents and/or eliminates/reduces foam since many applications and processes require both foam prevention and foam elimination.
In many applications, it is desirable for foam controlling agents should impart positive ancillary surface properties, such as wetting, dispersion, emulsification, solubilization, flow and leveling, adhesion, and gloss. For example, defoamers and antifoams that act as wetting agents will greatly reduce surface defects in coatings, inks, adhesives and agricultural formulations. In addition, such multi-functional materials will allow for the reduction or elimination of wetting agents in a waterborne composition, thereby reducing the total amount of additives. The ability of a material to act as a wetting agent in waterborne formulations is determined by its ability to reduce the surface tension of water. Equilibrium surface tension performance is important when a system is at rest. However, the ability to reduce surface tension under dynamic conditions is of great importance in applications where high surface creation rates are utilized. Such applications include the spraying, rolling and brushing of coatings, adhesives or agricultural formulations, or high-speed gravure or ink-jet printing. Dynamic surface tension is a fundamental quantity which provides a measure of the ability of a substance to reduce surface tension and provide wetting under high-speed application conditions. Also, it is under such high speed application conditions where the entrainment of air and the creation of foam is a problem.
In order to achieve wetting, additives such as dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DOSS) are often employed. An adverse effect that often accompanies its use is a large amount of foam, which may cause a need for the use of a second additive as a defoamer to control that foam. Thus, the ability of a single agent to impart superior foam control and to strongly influence other performance attributes such as wetting, flow and leveling, corrosion inhibition, emulsification, adhesion, gloss, and/or dispersion is highly valued in application areas such as coatings, inks, adhesives, cleaning, semiconductor, dye, or pigment manufacture, metalworking and finishing, agricultural formulations, pulp and paper, oil and gas applications, chemical, emulsion, and pharmaceutical manufacturing, food and beverage processing, wastewater treatment, and textile manufacturing and processing.
Alkane diols such as ethylene or propylene glycol are most commonly known as solvents in areas such as coatings, inks, and adhesives formulations. Although their addition to formulations is sometimes for the purpose of reducing solid levels, providing freeze-thaw benefits, or (at higher use levels) to enhance wetting, they have not been reported as multi-functional foam controlling agents.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,278 describes a process for the production of 1,4-saturated diols.
J. Org. Chem.,
1962, 27, 2398 further elaborates on the hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis of symmetrically substituted 1,4-acetylenic glycols. Neither discusses the performance of these products.
2,4,7,9-tetramethyldecane-4,7-diol (HTMDD) has been reported in
I
&
EC Product Research and Development,
1965, 4, 236 as a wetting agent, albeit one with inferior wetting properties relative to its acetylenic analogue, 2,4,7,9-tetramethyldecyne-4,7-diol (TMDD). Although foam control data is reported for various ethoxylated derivatives of HTMDD, no foam control information is reported for HTMDD itself.
GB 843,379 describes acetylenic diols and alkane diols as compatible solubilizers, which when used in conjunction with sulfonate surfactants, impart foam stability to a shampoo composition. Specifically disclosed are shampoo compositions containing 3,6-dimethyl-4-octyne-3,6-diol (DMOD or Surfynol® 82), 2,5-dimethyl-3-hexyne-2,5-diol (DMHD or DH), or 3,6-dimethyloctane-3,6-diol (HDMOD) in amounts from 6-50% by weight, with 8-20% by weight of a surfactant, and from 6-50% by weight of an alkylolamide of a fatty acid. These formulations are said to impart a large volume of foam of good stability. Since this combination of products is said to be effective in these performance attributes because of the combination of components contained within the formulation, the alkane diol, HDMOD, is actually adding to the foam, not controlling or reducing it.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,080 describes improved detergent compositions. An integral part of these compositions is a component which, in its broadest description, is 0.5-50% of a tertiary alcohol having at least 5 carbon atoms and less than 100 carbon atoms per molecule. Numerous tertiary alcohols are described with no mention of any performance differences among such examples as 1-methylcyclohexanol, 2-methyl-2-propanol, and 2,5-dimethyl-2,5-hexanediol (HDMHD).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,692,277 discloses C
8
-C
12
diols that are included as components in a hard surface liquid cleaner with no mention of their foaming performance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,110, U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,871, and WO Pat. 93/18431 discuss the use of alkane diols as safety solvents or as additives for liquid crystals. None of these disclosures mention their use as foam controlling agents or as wetting or flow and leveling agents for coating, ink, and adhesive applications.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a method for controlling the foaming of a waterborne composition or an industrial process by the incorporation of a foam controlling agent. The method comprises utilizing as the foam controlling agent a compound of the formula:
HOR
1
R
3
C—[CH
2
]
n
—CR
2
R
4
OH
R
1
and R
2
are independently selected f

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