Synthesis, Characterization and Performance of Tallow Fatty Acids and Triethanolamine Based Esterquats

In this study, an attempt has been made to synthesize esterquat by esterification of tallow fatty acids and triethanolamine (TEA) followed by quaternization with dimethyl sulfate (DMS). The optimum reaction conditions for esterification of tallow fatty acids and TEA were found to be 140°C reaction temperature and 2.6 kPa pressure. The obtained ester was subjected to quaternization with different molar ratios of DMS. The synthesized esterquats were evaluated for yield and cationic content. The results revealed that ester to DMS ratio of 1:1.50 yielded esterquat of maximum cationic content, i.e. 48.0%. The instrumental techniques, viz. FT-IR, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR verified the esterification and subsequent quaternization of the obtained ester. Further, the performance of dilutes of ‘Concentrate’ and ‘Ultra’ of above mentioned esterquat was also evaluated. The performance studies were carried out, on different fabric substrates viz., 100% cotton, 100% polyester and 65/35 cotton/polyester blend. The evaluated properties were softness, antistaticness, antiwrinkleness and rewettability. The dilutes of ‘ultra’ of esterquat showed good softness, antistaticness and antiwrinkleness but poor rewet on 100% cotton.