ChE 547 Fundamental and Applied Surfactant Science

Instructor: Dr. John O'Haver
Office Number: Anderson Hall 14
E-mail address: johaver@olemiss.edu
Phone: 915-5347
Class Meeting Times/Dates: T/Th 8 to 9:15
This course is offered in the Fall of even-numbered years.
Office Hours: Daily 8 to 4

Prerequisite: General Chemistry
Texts: "Surfactants and Interfacial Phenomena, 2nd Ed." by Rosen, Wiley
The course will primarily utilize the text given, but I will supplement these texts from other sources, including:
Laughlin, "The Aqueous Phase Behavior of Surfactants", Academic Press.
Clint, " Surfactant Aggregation", Blackie.
Lange, "Surfactants, A Practical Handbook", Hanser Gardner.
Lange, "Detergents and Cleaners" , Hanser Gardner.
Holmberg, Jonsson, Kronberg, and Lindman, Surfactants and Polymers in Aqueous Solution , Wiley, 2003.

Course Objectives & Outcomes

Objective: To introduce the fundamental concepts of surfactant science as well as industrial uses.

Desired Outcomes:

To understand the general types, characteristics and uses of surfactants.
To understand the mechanisms of surfactant adsorption at interfaces including the concepts of effectiveness and efficiency.
To understand the factors that effect the critical micelle concentration of a surfactant
To understand factors effecting solubilization and adsolubilization including the use of partition coefficients
To understand why surfactants reduce the surface tension of solutions
To understand wetting by surfactant solutions
To understand the nature of surfactant-facilitated foams and the factors that effect foam formation and stability
To understand the various types of emulsions and the factors that effect emulsion stability
To understand the nature of surfactant-facilitated dispersions adn the factors that effect dispersion formation and stability
To understand the process of detergency including detergent formulation
To understand the interactions in mixtures of surfactant including the impact on CMC and adsorption.
To understand the impact of fundamental surfactant properties on a variety of industrial applications.

Homework Assignments

Overall Course Grading

70 % tests (homework counts as 1 exam)
30% final exam

87/80/74/67 for graduate students
80/70/60/50 for undergraduate students