Seminar Committee
Surfactant Workshop – 20 February
Seminar Committee Members 2016
Janine Wilson Kirsten Scott Liezanne van der Walt Johrinda van Rensburg
Chairperson
Last year the basic refresher mornings were a huge success, this year we however returned our focus to morning seminars and one Saturday workshop. The seminar committee lead by Janine Wilson, hosted a myriad of interesting and very well supported seminars. We were proud to utilise the Coschem facilities for these events. A number of members have logged in via the webinar system throughout the year.
The overall feedback on these events has only been positive and we would like to thank our presenters for sharing their wealth of knowledge with our members.
Presenters included Liezanne van der Walt and Gillian Kuhn. The day was initiated with a short presentation on the key role that surfactants play in the cosmetics industry as well as a historical overview. The technical basics of formulating with surfactants were addressed, from basic chemistry through to commonly used surfactant types.
The presenters also discussed the different roles surfactants play in personal and home care products, and reviewed various surfactant group types for each role. Other technical aspects such as HLB values, surfactant classification and surfactant packing types were addressed. Delegates were then given an opportunity to work directly with surfactant systems providing a first-hand experience of the technical information presented. The experiments included surfactant system thickening, looking at cloud points; the role of a surfactant as an emulsifier and a comparative performance of standard surfactants.
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