A primary limitation to alkylbenzene sulfonation processes has been the lack of a rapid method to sense the quality of sulfonation. This is especially true for a process using sulfur trioxide where both the level of sulfonating agent and time are critical: too little reagent results in high oils; too much reagent degrades product color; and a delay in the process also degrades color. Although steam distillation of oils from the neutralized sulfonate can be conducted in about one and one-half hours for commercial dodecylbenzene derivatives, far greater time is required for higher molecular weight homologs. Extraction of oils requires about one hour and more operator time than distillation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.