(742h) Self-Assembly, Rheology & Dynamics in Biosurfactant/Surfactant Mixed Systems

The global surfactant market is expected to reach $44.9 billion by 2022, of which 67% of the demand is from the personal care and detergents market . Due to consumers’ increasing awareness on product sustainability, the microbially produced biosurfactants are increasingly gaining the interest of the home and personal care industry as potential alternatives for traditional petroleum derived and chemically synthesized surfactants. The future of personal care and detergent products is the elimination of non-biodegradable, environmentally toxic surfactants. However, prior to that, an understanding of how performance criteria such as rheology and interfacial properties are affected by substitution of traditional surfactants with biosurfactants is required. In this study, the effect of rhamnolipid biosurfactant on the rheological response and interfacial properties of traditional surfactants such as sodium laureth sulfate and cocamidopropyl betaine is explored utilizing a range of advanced characterization techniques. These include diffusing wave spectroscopy, raman spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering etc. As will be highlighted in this talk, the combined utilization of these techniques especially diffusing wave spectroscopy, optical microrheology and Raman spectroscopy offers new insights into the mechanisms and pathways of the self-assembly process and understanding of the driving forces associated with changes in viscosity and viscoelasticity in these complex fluids based products.